Cleaning/Lubing Speedometer Cable?

Weasels · October 10, 2008

Hi, Speedo on my 94 XLT bounces all the time, about 5-8 miles in either direction. Cruise control still works fine, so from what I've read on other posts I believe I need to clean and lube my speedo cable. How do I do this? Thanks for all help, greatly apprieciated!

techieman33 · October 10, 2008

pull the gauge cluster out, remove the cable from the speedo and shoot some lube down it, try searching on the forum there's lots of info about if you look

Weasels · October 10, 2008

thanks. had some trouble finding it when searching.

Maniak · October 10, 2008

It could also be the drive gear in the xfercase (transmission if your 2wd)..

If it wears the speedo will bounce as it spins the cable. BUT, if the cable is gummed up it will make the symptom worse so start with cleaning/lubing the cable.

I have a friend that used to own a speedo shop and he taught me to pull the instrucment cluster out, and disconnect the driven gear from the other end. Then spray cleaner down the sheath and then blow air through it to get it nice and dry.. Then lube the cable with bearing grease then put it backtogher..

~Mark

Weasels · October 10, 2008

i hope its just the cable. i just had the transmission (2wd) rebuilt so i would hope that if they saw something wrong they would have at least told me. is it hard to get to the cable once the cluster is out?

Maniak · October 10, 2008

The hardest part is taking the speedo cable off the back of the cluster which you do you pull the cluster.

Once the cluster is out, you just pull the speedo cable core and it comes right out.

The piece I can't remember is if I "neded" to take the driven gear off the bottom end of the cable. Its easy to do.. One 10mm bolt to pull it out of the transmission/trasfercase, one clip to pull the driven gear and that should be it..

~Mark

MikeLitt3810 · October 10, 2008

Weasels said:
i hope its just the cable. i just had the transmission (2wd) rebuilt so i would hope that if they saw something wrong they would have at least told me. is it hard to get to the cable once the cluster is out?

need small fingers, once you take out the 50th or so tork screw. peel off the tack first then the other side fuel gauge and then the amp gauge. only thing left is the speedo. tug on it gently there is a white collar that clips it in place. try to not spin it because you will never get it to be accurate again mine is off by about 5 mph when under 20mph. u can spin it all you want once the cluster is off. the cluster just happens to have a very senstive spring. i'll take a pic and up load it.. haha i have a spare cluster in my china case
http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Mike_Litt/?action=view&current=102_005700.jpg
http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Mike_Litt/?action=view&current=102_0056-1.jpg
http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Mike_Litt/?action=view&current=102_0056.jpg

Weasels · October 10, 2008

MikeLitt3810 said:
need small fingers, once you take out the 50th or so tork screw. peel off the tack first then the other side fuel gauge and then the amp gauge. only thing left is the speedo. tug on it gently there is a white collar that clips it in place. try to not spin it because you will never get it to be accurate again mine is off by about 5 mph when under 20mph. u can spin it all you want once the cluster is off. the cluster just happens to have a very senstive spring. i'll take a pic and up load it.. haha i have a spare cluster in my china case

a picture would be awesome. i need all the help i can get. lol. and bad news for me about needing little fingers, but oh well.

Maniak said:
The piece I can't remember is if I "neded" to take the driven gear off the bottom end of the cable. Its easy to do.. One 10mm bolt to pull it out of the transmission/trasfercase, one clip to pull the driven gear and that should be it..

~Mark

Do i need to open the transmission to do this?

dislexiclawyer · October 10, 2008

Weasels said:
Do i need to open the transmission to do this?

No just get under the truck with a 10mm socket and a pair of needle nose pliers and a rag. You will see where the speedo cable goes into the transfer case. Unbolt the bolt that holds it in and pull the cable out. If the gear is busted up you will need to replace it by pulling the c clip off of the gear w/ the needle nose pliers, then the gear comes right off the cable. If you do need a new gear they are less than $4 from your local ford dealer.

Maniak · October 10, 2008

This thread may help too.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152093&highlight=remove+instrument+cluster

~Mark

Weasels · October 10, 2008

dislexiclawyer said:
No just get under the truck with a 10mm socket and a pair of needle nose pliers and a rag. You will see where the speedo cable goes into the transfer case. Unbolt the bolt that holds it in and pull the cable out. If the gear is busted up you will need to replace it by pulling the c clip off of the gear w/ the needle nose pliers, then the gear comes right off the cable. If you do need a new gear they are less than $4 from your local ford dealer.

Thats goods news. Also good to hear that if i do need a new gear they are cheap.

My last question is once i have the cable off is it simple to put back together? Im assuming i need to pull the whole thing out to clean/lube it. Just wondering if there is a certain way to get it back to the right place. I could also just have a misconception and be over-complicating this in my head. Thanks again to everyone for putting up wtih me.

Maniak said:
This thread may help too.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152093&highlight=remove+instrument+cluster

~Mark

Thanks!

Maniak · October 10, 2008

The hardest part is just getting it to seat.. you just keep turning it slowly as you push it in that last 1/4" and it will flip right in.. sometimes I get it 1st or 2nd try.. other times its 30-40 times..

~Mark

Weasels · October 10, 2008

Maniak said:
The hardest part is just getting it to seat.. you just keep turning it slowly as you push it in that last 1/4" and it will flip right in.. sometimes I get it 1st or 2nd try.. other times its 30-40 times..

~Mark

Getting the cable or the gear to seat? Sorry, just dont wanna mess anything up.

Maniak · October 10, 2008

When you just about everything done with the cable you put it back in teh sheath.. getting it to seat in the sheath completly sometimes takes a little time, not hard to do, just have to "feel" it.. and the cable will slide the rest of the way in.

~Mark

Weasels · October 10, 2008

Ok, that clears it up. Thank you very much. Would have never even been able to attempt this without this forum.

boggs1227 · October 10, 2008

one thing i would like to add on a side note . . . . .

once you've got out the cluster and bezel this would be a good time to make sure all the bulbs in the dash are good or heck just replace them all for about 10$ also the cluster guages... when i had mine all out i got a lint free cloth and went over them with armor-all really good ( made my faded ones look like new ) and the bezel...i took some plastic polish and cleaned it really good ,once i had it all back together i could tell a difference in the way it all looked ....look like brand new ! and also since you got the tranmission selector into operative postion to be worked on you may want to see that when you go into the gear you want that the gear selector is right on the letter ....easy adjustment to do this ...did mine also when i had every thing all out of the dash.also a oring that fits over the trip odometer reset pin that goes through the bezel...sealed up a gap that lets dirt inside the bezel .

Maniak · October 10, 2008

You could always get a little creative too.. I don't remember "why" I took this pic but you can see the mods I did to the cluster one of the times I had it out..

I used a label maker and labed 20, 40 and 60psi on our modified oil pressure gauge (I used an air compressor w/ regulator to find where 20,40 and 60 were on the gauge)..

I also added the 6th digit on the odometer so it would read correctly...

And.. I painted the bezel...

For info on modifying your oil pressure gauge search for fake oil pressure gauge on the forum (I think it might be in useful threads too).. All you do it add one wire (short a resitor) and then replace the factory sending unit with a real one off a 70's ford pickup (bigger sending unit).. then your oil pressure gauge will move with the changes in pressure.

~Mark

boggs1227 · October 10, 2008

also good points when haveing the dash all apart...nothing like messing around with half a billion torx screws time and time again

...i think that in a front end collision and damage all the way up to the dash, cluster would stay intact .

Weasels · October 10, 2008

I like the green maniak, i was thinking about getting new guage faceplates that light up blue to match my new head unit. i might want to paint mine too. what kinda paint did you use?

boggs1227 said:
one thing i would like to add on a side note . . . . .

once you've got out the cluster and bezel this would be a good time to make sure all the bulbs in the dash are good or heck just replace them all for about 10$ also the cluster guages... when i had mine all out i got a lint free cloth and went over them with armor-all really good ( made my faded ones look like new ) and the bezel...i took some plastic polish and cleaned it really good ,once i had it all back together i could tell a difference in the way it all looked ....look like brand new ! and also since you got the tranmission selector into operative postion to be worked on you may want to see that when you go into the gear you want that the gear selector is right on the letter ....easy adjustment to do this ...did mine also when i had every thing all out of the dash.also a oring that fits over the trip odometer reset pin that goes through the bezel...sealed up a gap that lets dirt inside the bezel .

ill probably do this too. get it cleaned up and put in new lights.

Maniak · October 10, 2008

Its just flouresant green spray paint.. I haven't been able to find that exact color again as I wanted to use it on the roof rack cross braces. I don't even remember which store I was at.. It was 6 or so years ago when I painted that..

~Mark

Cleaning/Lubing Speedometer Cable?

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