1996 Odometer Gear Repair --Photos

[jay1028]

After reading about the cause of the odometer malfunction, I ordered the replacement worm gear and now the odometer is working again. The old worm gear is made from some kind of black plastic that does not hold up with time. It gradually begins to fall apart until the odometer no longer functions. The new one is made from Delrin and should last the life of the vehicle.

The motor that drives the odometer is removed by twisting it clockwise while carefully prying up the clear plastic fingers holding it in place with a small screwdriver. Do not break those fingers. They only have to move enough for the small flange on the motor to slip out. Disconnect small white connecter from circuit board. It pulls strait out.

After removing the old gear, clean the motor shaft and press on the new gear. It will not slip on easy. I tapped it with a small hammer. You need to seat it on the motor shaft until there is .035" between the motor body and the bottom of the gear. This will ensure that the gear teeth fully mesh with it mating gear in the odometer assembly. The mating gear is black in color and will most likely have remnants, of the old worm gear, still lodged in some of it's teeth. I used some q-tips and alcohol to clean up the black gear of the bits of gear material and some old grease. Make sure there are no fibers from the q-tip left in there. I applied some plastic safe lubricant with a tooth pick to the new worm gear. Place the motor and new gear into the assembly and twist counter clockwise until it clicks into place. Connect white connector to circuit board.

This thread illustrates very we

ll how to remove the instrument cluster

Indiglo gauges install, or HOW TO REMOVE CLUSTER!! ( warning 22 pictures )

While the cluster is out, you may want to replace all the 194 bulbs.

Good source for the new worm gear is ebay seller koonee, $10.99.

 

[YamahaRick]

Nice pics! I have already received my replacement worm gear and need to get it installed soon. I've probably added 20K additional miles beyond the odometer reading of 220K.

 

[bobflood]

I am doing this job right now. Have torn down to the insturment cluster. I'm going to try to take the plastic front off the cluster while it is still in the vehicle - have seen reference on this site that it can be done - and pull the speedo assembly out from the front. I will try to remember to report back on how it goes.

 

[jay1028]

It can be done in the vehicle if you can get your fingers in there and don't drop the screws.. I was thinking of doing that, but since I had already taken it out once before to replace the motor with another one from the salvage yard, I had experience in the process. The two gauge pods on either side of the speedometer pod have to come out first before you can remove the speedometer. Those two pods have tabs that overlap the speedometer. Don't know why they had to do that.

 

[bobflood]

Finished this job this weekend. I had to remove the cluster from the vehicle; there was no chance that I was going to be able to get my fat fingers in to get the bottom screws out. The pics were a great help, as was the tip about removing the front cover and pulling out the units from the front - much better than fooling around with the PCB on the back of the cluster.

Removing the cluster turned out to be a good thing, as I also fixed the mis-aligned shift indicator cable using the "10-24 nuts" solution found in another thread on this forum.

Finally, I used a kit from realbrightleds.com to fix the rear brake light - replaced the ballast and neon bulb with the LED strip. A great kit with excellent step by step instructions.

This forum is the greatest. I am on several others for my various vehicles and this is the best by far.

 

[96explorerxlt2wd]

Just saw this thread and was wondering if this is what is happening with mine. I have a '96 Explorer and when I reset the trip odometer for fuel mileage I started getting horrible mileage around 200 miles per tank. I noticed one time after leaving the gas station though that I got 5+ miles and the trip odometer still read 0.0. Eventually after playing with the reset button, it would start working. Sometimes it would also reset between 0.0 and 0.1. My question is, is this the same problem or is this something else?

 

[bobflood]

Just saw this thread and was wondering if this is what is happening with mine. I have a '96 Explorer and when I reset the trip odometer for fuel mileage I started getting horrible mileage around 200 miles per tank. I noticed one time after leaving the gas station though that I got 5+ miles and the trip odometer still read 0.0. Eventually after playing with the reset button, it would start working. Sometimes it would also reset between 0.0 and 0.1. My question is, is this the same problem or is this something else?

Most likely the same problem. This is not a hard fix. I found the new gear on Amazon for $17.50 (I know - ridiculous for one little piece of plastic, but it fixed the problem). The old black gear came out in peices.

You will need to unhook the shift indicator at the bottom end and dismount the adjustment wheel under the dash (one 5.5mm screw) to pull the cluster out, so plan on fixing the shift indicator alignment mechanism if it is broken. Some instructions says that you don't have to actually remove the plastic panel and steel underpanel under the wheel. I disagree - I needed the space and the visual access to remove the shift indicator and wheel. Good luck.

 

[96explorerxlt2wd]

Right now it's at a body shop. When I get it back, I will add that to my list of repairs. How do I know if my shift indicator alignment mechanism is broken? It does move when I shift through gears but it is off a little (usually a little to the right). If I push the shifter up a little, it usually stays lined up with the correct gear. I know there is a problem with something, but I was thinking it may be a stretched cable. Any ideas?

Also, is this something that will eventually happen to the '98 that I have?

 

[bobflood]

A misaligned indicator could be either a streched cable or a broken adjuster. The adjuster is used to compensate for a streched cable. Check out the thread below - great description of the problem and pics of the adjuster.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198087&highlight=shift+indicator

You will have to unhook the cable at the bottom and unbolt the adjuster to remove the cluster to fix the odometer gear. While you have it out, change out all of the illumination bulbs (the 6 larger holders on the back). Good luck.

 

[Stewartchiroprac]

Worm gear odometer

How important is it to get indicator needles back to the exact spot so the gauges are calibrated? Thanks Jeff

 

[bobflood]

How important is it to get indicator needles back to the exact spot so the gauges are calibrated? Thanks Jeff

I didn't have any issue with needles at all; you do not have to touch any needles to do these jobs. Replacing the odometer gear just requires you to pull out the speedometer section; you work on it from the back and never touch the needle. Fixing the shift indicator doesn't require moving any gauges at all. Good luck.

 

[allmyEXes]

Excuse me for bringing up an old thread however as a Gen 2 owner, I can tell you that this odometer problem has come up a lot. I need to fix my 2nd out of 3 and if you count the Ranger as a Gen 2 sort of (since it has the same speedo/odometer), 2 out of 4. It was ~ 4 years ago since I fixed the Mountaineer. The directions here remind me to undo the PRNOD21 cable, it can easily be broken and I see that there are 2 ways to access the little motor. Also I think I did my first one from the front by taking the left and right side gauges out the front to get the speedometer from the front. I hope to have a little time soon to repair this problem with this truck of mine.

 

[410Fortune]

take the cluster out of the truck do the work on a bench, so much easier!! The results will be far better as you can also clean the gauge faces and the "glass"

 

[EB4X]

Other (more) helpful link (Ranger....same setup)

TRS Magazine - Ford Ranger odometer worm gear replacement

www.therangerstation.com

**When putting cluster back in make sure to tilt TOP portion in first...

 

[allmyEXes]

@EB4X Thanks. Good pictures always help.
Thank you all for all of your input. I will finally have time mid next week to take care of this.