Plays with Speedos... (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Pighead

Pighead

Shadetree Mechanic Lvl. II
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Threads
104
Messages
10,755
Location
Camino
Not my new tribal name, just what I'm doing to my Pig right now.
and, I found...I DO have an early screw-on cable type speedo for Jesse. Only trouble, the needle broke off. So, you can glue the needle back on, or maybe cut out a picture of a Mickey Mouse watch and paste it on the speedo.
Also, turns out the reason one of the odos didn't work, and maybe why the needle on the other clip-on type doesn't work is too much grease. I wonder if it's cable grease working it's way up or what...looks like I'll be taking one of them all the way apart.
100_0251.jpg
100_0252.jpg
100_0247.jpg
 
Here you can see the light-blocker things you need to remove if you want to see your needle at night.
100_0253.jpg
100_0248.jpg
 
Pighead said:
looks like I'll be taking one of them all the way apart.
Click to expand...


Well, not ALL the way apart. Took out the numbers, this is what they look like.
100_0255.jpg
100_0254.jpg
 
How they work...the rightermost gear has one notch in the inside rim which engages the white gear once per revolution, that gear turns 1/3 of a revolution and moves the leftermore gear 2 notches on it's inside the rim gear. Those little white gears DO come off and there's only one right way to put them back on. Now is a fine time to move around the numbers and white gears, move the most used to the left. and make any number you want read on the odo.
100_0261.jpg
 
Were you extremely bored? Holy crap! I would like my speedo to work also, but not that badly.......
Good work sir!
 
Is there a thread somewhere that I can see the rundown on your pig? I think it's neat.
 
uglyoinker said:
Were you extremely bored?
Click to expand...

Nope. It's been on my list of things to do to my Pig today for a long time. And now I got two Pigowners who need something to make their speedos work. And I'm not gonna send them these speedos until I make my odo work, in case I need parts...so it got bumped up.

I haven't done a Pig of the month yet, rig isn't done and there's always something too embarrassing to take pictures of. Check my sigline link to the Pigowners thread for my blurb.
 
Pighead said:
Not my new tribal name, just what I'm doing to my Pig right now.
and, I found...I DO have an early screw-on cable type speedo for Jesse. Only trouble, the needle broke off. So, you can glue the needle back on, or maybe cut out a picture of a Mickey Mouse watch and paste it on the speedo.
Also, turns out the reason one of the odos didn't work, and maybe why the needle on the other clip-on type doesn't work is too much grease. I wonder if it's cable grease working it's way up or what...looks like I'll be taking one of them all the way apart.
Click to expand...
Keep up the info Mr. Pighead, You are completly correct as the most often seen malfunction of the speedo's is the gunked up old grease in them. Take them apart folks, on the clean kitchen table and see what should mesh does not mesh. And if a gear is worn, time to isolate and look for that part. John Pardi (self exclaimed Toyota Land Cruiser Guru) Oh Yes, Very important!!!! Clean the kitchen table when done!
 
pardion said:
the most often seen malfunction of the speedo's is the gunked up old grease in them.
Click to expand...


Right, but where does that grease come from? Is it cable lube from the factory working it's way up? Doesn't look or smell like 90wt from the transfercase...

Anyway, I put a drill to the back of my clean speedo, ran a few miles on it at 75 MPH just to make sure it worked. I put it together sorta backwards, with the old tenths ring lefestmost, on purpose.
100_0265.jpg
 
Used to have that sticker, upper right corner of the tailgate, before I painted it...
100_0022.jpg
 
Back in the dash and around the block...speedo AND odo both working as they should! I'm amazed.
100_0266.jpg
 
"Little Plays With Speedo"

OK I feel better I'm not alone on this. My speedo shot craps on way home from SNT this year. Wiggled, screamed, then vibrated, face broke loose, then needle fell off and face just rotated. Couple of nice guys here sent me speedos. and i bought speedos and cables. So like you I have a collection.

Findings:
Late speedos will not read right for early pigs they read about 10MPH fast
Agree the issue with all of the odmometers seems to be some kind of grease contamination on the wheels
Different speedo cable lube seems to make no difference
Even if you get them cleaned and running again they seem to freeze again soon
My eyes are not good enough to make a career out of messin with these demons!

Hints
Don't disassemble the speedo in the drivers seat the little screws (lots of them and were talking really really little) drop into some kinda twilight zone triangle when you work there - never ever to be found again. Even if you pass a powerful magnet all over the area.

So Pighead you up to rebuilding them for us? If so I'd donate some cores for the cause I got an assortment. I finailly broke down and bought a new speedo and another new cable they go in this weekend, And then maybe next weekend will be my first weekend without speedo fever since SNT?
 
Last edited:
OldBeachBob said:
Wiggled, screamed, then vibrated, face broke loose,
Click to expand...

Hmmm, sounds like either catastrophic failure, or my last date...
Might be fun to see a postmortem on that one.
Rebuild speedos? Me? That's funny Bob. i rebuilt my speedo like I rebuild my carb, just take it apart, clean and reassemble. And I only fooled with the numbers. I didn't touch that fragile springy stuff farther inside. I'll help you play with your own numbers, might charge you parts or beer. Charging money would jeopardize my amateur status.
 
"So, you can glue the needle back on, or maybe cut out a picture of a Mickey Mouse watch and paste it on the speedo."

I was thinking a little more natural, like a chicken bone or piece of joshua tree.

And for those that missed it, that removing of the light blocking part really makes an enormous difference and is much more pleasant once modified.
 
I did this today to a spare to "practice" on. I took it apart and cleaned it all up and then put it back together. I set it up the regular way with the white on the right and the blacks on the left. I put the drill to it to make the speedometer work and it worked great! One thing.....the drill kind of bounces it around a bit, and the black numbers bounced around a little. Did I forget something that would keep these from bouncing around....? Thanks for the help and thanks for the write up....

What did you clean yours with? Did you put any lube on it when you put it together? Is the speedometer needle supposed to come off?

Randy
 
Last edited:
Note to self: Don't buy a car from pighead and trust the odo reading.

Good job tho, that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down. However, I do have a 70 speedo that I am not using and it works well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
SOLD Seattle area: FJ55 trailer project with title
Replies
9
Views
737
jestlurnin
jestlurnin
Rix 45
For Sale So. Calif '72 to '79 FJ55 Speedometer
Replies
2
Views
560
Rix 45
Rix 45

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom