Speedometer Replacement/Cable/Horrible Day

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LJS30

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Is it true that in order to remove the dash cluster the whole steering column has to be dropped? If so what kind of design is that? I ask because check this out guys. My speedometer has been slowly going out and finally would never rest on zero. So I swapped in a genuine Mopar speedo cable and the problem still continued. I then had the idea of possibly spinning the speedo with the old cable by using an electric drill. Well the problem still existed. Then upon trying to return the new speedo cable onto the speedometer I simply couldn't get it back on. I looked inside the cable and for some reason a little brass bearing is on the cable and not allowing it to seat all the way on the speedo. All that work for nothing!!!!
So now I am planning on swapping the speedo from an old Valiant I have on the ranch and hoping this solves the issue. But, according to my official manual I have to drop the column to achieve this and still deal with the issue with my new cable. Any assistance or encouragement would be appreciated.
 
it only needs to be dropped a couple inches. it takes about 10 minutes to take the 4 nuts off. one is on top of the other on the same stud where your ground wire is. it is only going to drop a couple inches. its easy. this is my column loose. if you dont, you are going to bust the cluster up
 

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73AbodEE said:
it only needs to be dropped a couple inches. it takes about 10 minutes to take the 4 nuts off. one is on top of the other on the same stud where your ground wire is. it is only going to drop a couple inches. its easy. this is my column loose. if you dont, you are going to bust the cluster up
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Thanks man I guess I'm just frustrated about the whole day. You know how that goes. Frustration makes the simply task immense. Any clue on my speedo cable?
 
Man, I just went through this. I couldn't get my cluster out, so I dropped the bolts for the column under the dash. It gave me a little wiggle room but I still couldn't get it out. I was scratching the piss out of my freshly painted column!!!

My fifteen year old daughter, sensing my frustration, pushed down on the steering wheel while I rotated the cluster forward, and it came right out. Now I just have to get everything back together...
 
It's a good idea to put some strips of masking tape on the top of the column so you don't scratch the paint.
 
We have done this on dads waaayyy too many times! As abv said, take out the 4 bolts that hold the steel collar, as well (67 cuda) we took out the 3 bolts that bolt into the floor/firewall, this will help a lot. Do yourself a favor and take the drivers seat out...for the extra 5 minutes of work its worth it!! As for the brass collar, that is supposed to be there, that is a "stop" so the cable doesnt bottom out in the speedo. What we found with dads new speedo cable is that the length after the stop was still too long, so we ground off about 1/8". New cable worked for a bit, but we still have issues. So it came back out before winter hibernation. We are sending his factory tach and his 150 speedo in to Mr Heaterbox. A company here in ONtario that rebuilds/calibrates them

Steve
 
Due to my back spine problems I've had to find my own methods.
Starting with the battery disconnected, wheel chocked if column shift, seat all the way back, on my knees in the drivers doorway. Ratchet with long extension gets me to the column plate to firewall bolts. Phillips head gets the 1 bolt holding the fusebox in place and the 2 lower screws in the column door. Then 1 of 3 upper column plate bolts at lower right side. ( and while on that subject, beware when reinstalling. There is a caged nut in a slot above that bolt. If you should crossthread or otherwise fubar that nut, nightmare to correct ). Set the fusebox out of its bracket, push the release button and pull the stem from the headlight switch. Remove that switch to bezel nut, move the switch out of my way too. This provides arm space for disconnecting the speedo cable, etc..I'll come back to this postion later to diconnect stuff since the inst' panel is comming out.
Up and into the drivers seat to remove more stuff including the wiper switch knob and bezel nut. Shop towels cover the column bells. Last 2 pieces of hardware at column support gets me complete control of it movement, straight down and straight back up again. Too much left and right movement is not good for all those unseen parts like pissy little upper bearing, signal switch, shifter linkage, etc..
I wont detail climate controls and radio since you didn't say yours is a rallye panel.

Oh yeah and to answer your original question, Some of the complicated aseembly design was meant to deter odometer tampering.
 
Thanks for the tips and input guys. I got my cluster out and am working on putting the functioning cluster from the donor Valiant. You know this got me thinking though. How hard would it be to totally go with a custom gauge setup? You know something so I could put all VDO type gauges instead of the stockers.
 
Hey guys I'm back at it and ready to reassemble my dash. There is only one thing that is a problem. Idiot here, meaning myself, forgot where the short, black, ground wire attaches from the column to another location I obviously forgot, goes exactly? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
It also helps to loosen the 4 bolts on the plate on the floor, it will give you a little more wiggle room.
 
The small black wire about halfway down the column? It attaches the column to the dash just for grounding purposes. So just hook it to one of the bolts on that side that held up the column.
 
Otateral said:
The small black wire about halfway down the column? It attaches the column to the dash just for grounding purposes. So just hook it to one of the bolts on that side that held up the column.
Click to expand...
yes, you should actually have 5 nuts to bolt the column to the dash. nut / wire ring / nut on one of the studs.
and incase it wasn't totally clear, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY before moving the cluster. sometimes you can get away with not shorting the ammeter studs on the dash, sometimes you don't :eek:ops:
 
Well gentlemen I installed a new cable and a speedometer from a donor car I thought was functioning okay. All that time and the speedo is twenty miles per hour too fast and bounces violently at low speeds. Do you guys know of a good speedometer rebuilder?
 
Dad and I are taking his factory speedo and tach to these guys, they are about 2 hour drive from us. You are in Cali so you probably drive your car year round ya lucky hound or I would say send it to me and I will take it up with dads stuff
http://www.mrheaterbox.com/
 
I don't know if this will help, but here goes. It's the best I could do on short notice from the edge of the world.

http://www.speedometerplus.com/repair

These guys are in LA and have been in business since 1967. The site has contact phone numbers so you can ask your burning questions about getting your speedometer fixed.

I've been quoted $150 for a complete refurbishment by my local guy. I know he's good, but it seems a little steep to me. I plan to call these guys in the next few days and see if I can get a better overall deal.
 
2 Darts said:
I don't know if this will help, but here goes. It's the best I could do on short notice from the edge of the world.

http://www.speedometerplus.com/repair

These guys are in LA and have been in business since 1967. The site has contact phone numbers so you can ask your burning questions about getting your speedometer fixed.

I've been quoted $150 for a complete refurbishment by my local guy. I know he's good, but it seems a little steep to me. I plan to call these guys in the next few days and see if I can get a better overall deal.
Click to expand...

Well I shot them an e-mail and they quoted me $175 which includes parts, labor, and a one year warranty.
 
4spdragtop said:
Dad and I are taking his factory speedo and tach to these guys, they are about 2 hour drive from us. You are in Cali so you probably drive your car year round ya lucky hound or I would say send it to me and I will take it up with dads stuff
http://www.mrheaterbox.com/
Click to expand...

Well the good news is it turned out to be a speedo cable issue. The cable I ordered off of e-bay was way too long and I guess any kink in the cable just wreaks havoc on the whole system. The bad news is with the original speedo cable my speedometer is off by about five mph. It's not a big deal but still an issue.
Mr. Heater box looks to do some awesome work though. Those are some pretty old gauges on their restoration pictures section.
 
I use Gails Speedometer Service in Costa Mesa...
(949)646-9120
 
Generally a tooth on the speedometer gear is worth a 3 mph change in reading. IIRC, increase the speedometer gear tooth count to slow it down, decrease to speed it up.
 
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