Testing speedometer with drill

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Bobacuda

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I recently had to have our 67 Barracuda’s speedometer repaired/rebuilt. Ma Mopar made pulling the speedometer out, and putting it back in the perfect opportunity to cuss in more than one language.

Anyhow, got the refurbished speedometer back, installed it, then it did nothing during a test drive - did not move. I am going to put it on the lift tomorrow to pull the cable to see if it’s OK. If it’s OK, I want to connect the trans end of the cable of my drill to check the speedometer.

And with that in mind, I’ve been reading everything I can find on the topic, I have yet to determine if the drill should be set on CW, or reverse (CCW).

For those of you that have done this, was your drill set to CW or CCW?
 
Don't know, but it's simple enough to test. Grab a partner/helper/assistant, and sit them in the driver's seat. From underneath the car, spin the cable in one direction with your fingers, and then ask your assistant if the needle moved. If not, spin it the other way.....

Seems safer than grabbing a drill and jumping right into it.
 
Got Barracuda on the lift and disconnected the cable housing at the trans - and the cable is twisted off. And the cable is totally seized in the housing…
When the speedometer cratered it took the cable with it.

No one locally has a new one, but Amazon did. Supposed to be here tomorrow.
 

The new cable with new housing arrived about 10:30 am, so I got to work. Got the “easy” end (bottom) hooked up, then began the unseen and backwards fight reaching behind the dash, trying to connect the upper end. No way in hell would it screw down. I wasted more than 3 hrs trying.

Finally, I disconnected it at the trans and about an hour later, I finally got the speedometer end connected.

Since the trans end was disconnected, I was eventually able to determine the new cable was roughly 1/4” too long. Once the cable was in, it’s length kept the housing from being screwed down.

I finally pulled the speedometer gear and housing from the trans, cut just over 1/4” off the cable, the fitted it all together. I then installed the speedometer housing and gear.

Road test - smooth, silent operating speedometer. This
4 hr job took about 25 hrs total.

Shout out to Deluxe Speedometer for the speedometer rebuild. The speedometer face did not need work. For the curious, the rebuild cost $213 + shipping.
 
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