Can anyone tell me how much play there should be in the left/right movement of the trip odometer shaft in the housing? Or is there any spring anything that loads it towards the right?

I've got the thin metal "clip" piece on the left side of the shaft (same as what is on the regular odometer) but it is allowing everything to sit to the left just enough that the trip gear will disengage the idler gear and prevent it from moving.

Before I monkey fist it, is there something I'm missing?
M

 

Here's the issue


In the resting position, the unit can slip to the left enough that the two gears just miss (hard to see the idler in behind the bottom but it's there)

If I slide the unit to the right, the gears line up


But I just found out that if I hold it there it will not slide the cone to the left enough to engage the reset gear.

Either there is a fine line between the engage and reset or I'm thinking the stop collar here needs to be moved closer to the end to allow the cone to slide farther and give more travel



M

 

Mooser-

I'm ending a long night of no sleep but will answer this for you tomorrow. I'll see this in my recent topics in the morning. cheers.

 

Hi m,
Never saw these parts before.
Only thing I see….
When you move the shaft to the right it appears the 'frame' the shaft sits in moves too? …. is that right? … is the 'frame' loose in some way allowing the misalignment?
Notice the arrows.
Regards,
Alan

 

Good morning Alan
One of those stupid bits of trivia is that the odometer (not trip) actual has the 1/10 mile dial but it's not displayed in the front, guess they figured the cars would be going soooo fast that would spin like or slot-machine and be unreadable anyway

The frame is actually all one casting, it looks like it may have moved only because I must have shifted the camera angle a little. The part was laying on the table and still attached to the gauge face so was moving around.
I've pulled it apart farther and it really just seems that the odometer assy slips too far to the right (where that collar is beside the gear). Either that or the frame is bent outwards too far, neither one makes much sense but moving the collar is less likely to break something (cast frame)

Hoping Ernie might have a measurement of the shaft end to collar, I think that's where I'll have to make a change.
M

 

Mooser-

The measurement from the end of the trip odo shaft is 3/16" to the brass end. In the relaxed (resting) position the gear should be all the way to the right hand side engaged with the drive gear of the unit.

When you push up on the rest cable the nipple on the reset should push the gear inward so the teeth align with the teeth on the reset (lower right).

Your trip seems to be sticking in the engaged position for some reason. Now this could be one of two things. A) There is a build up on the trip shaft or B) The gears are just not in alignment and as soon as the speedo turns a bit it will fall in place. Spin it with a drill to see if this happens first. If it does great, put it back together. If it fails to move over to the right then you might try pushing the gear inward and apply a lubricant on the shaft to see if you can free it up.

It's becoming more and more common for use to see odometers and trip odometers as another cause of failure in the speedometers. When one or both lock up this will usually take out the 1st and 2nd worm gear in the head. (based on if the second worm is metal original or plastic replacement).


Willcox

 

Hi E,
That's a terrific sequence of photos and notes.
I'd love to be able to use that when needed. Would that be o.k.?
I'd certainly credit Willcox as the source even beyond your logo being part of the picture.
Regards,
Alan

 

Sure Alan, feel free to use any of the pictures on the site. Most have ownership marks on them anyway.

Ernie

 

Thanks for getting back to me Ernie.
Mine matches you 3/16" measure to the collar (maybe 7/32 but close enough)
The cone and gear sleeve all move freely and the unit slides to the left and resets properly using the cable.

If you look at those two pictures I've posted, that gap between the collar (fixed to the shaft) and the frame and then the second one when the collar is touching the frame is just free movement of the entire shaft/wheels/cone assembly. The whole thing is free to slide to the left in the free state.

I'm going to take the play out by installing some Teflon shims on the left between the retainer and the frame and see if that works, don't want to try bending the frame

Thanks for checking that measurement, I was hoping it was off, easier fix.
M

 

Ok so rather than shims I put a bit of an arc in the retaining clip so it acts as a spring/clip/washer and pushes the shaft towards the right.

Everything seems to work properly, just need to maybe at a drop of something (silicone??) to the shaft and cone sleeve.
Should there be anything (white grease?) at all on the cone where the reset slides up?
M

 

What ever lube you use, make sure it's a tiny amount!!! This is very important since the magnetic field of the speedo will generate static and collect airborne dirt and grime....

Glad you got it fixed.