Speedo Repair

[52dodge]

My speedo has always had a mind of its own,sometimes it would swing erraticly,sometimes it would read to slow,sometimes it would work great.I figured the speedo cable was getting old and wore.Well today the speedo completly died and just sits on zero,i figured the cable finally broke.Well thats not the case cause the odometer still works fine.Are there any places that service these old units or am i gonna have to buy a used one off ebay or somewhere?

[Young Ed]

I sent my P15 one off to Scotts speedometer in Michigan and now have a $300 paperweight. I believe others have used Bobs speedometer with good results.

[52dodge]

WOW $300? What happened that it became a paperweight?What have others payed to have theres repaired?Id rather take my chances with a $100 used one than pay that much

[Young Ed]

It came back and read high. I took it back out and sent it back and now it reads low. Yes I have 2 used ones now that I am going to get tested and then install the better of the two.

[52dodge]

did you get it completly restored for $300? or just repaired to working condition?

[Don Jordan]

I had my completely gone through and it works perfectly. I was pleased with their work.

VDO

North Hollywood Speedometer & Clock Co.

6111 Lankershim Blvd

No. Hollywood, CA 91606

818 761 4857

(e mail) info@nhspeedometer.com

www.nhspeedometer.com

[RobertKB]

I have several from parts cars. Same speedo from '52 to '54 which had a silver background. '51 was basically the same except if was black background with silver numbers. I usually find that most of the time they need oiling. There is a little holder on the back with a wick in it. I soak the wick in sewing machine oil and put a bit in the area where it fits and let it sit for a while to let the oil find its way to the parts that need it. This often solves a lot of problems. If you want a decent used one, I will sell you one for a lot less than $100. PM if interested.

[Oldguy48]

Since this thread is about speedometers, I've got a question.  The speedo on my P15 was working great...no bouncing or noise.  On the way home from Ocean City, MD, it starting indicating high, even though my speed was constant.  At first, it didn't bounce, but was steady but climbing.  At probably actual 60 MPH, it gradually and smoothly made it's way up to 100 MPH, and beyond.  Then it started bouncing wildly, and finally I heard a "snap", and the needle fell to zero.  I'm assuming that the cable broke, but I'm puzzled by the gradually increasing high readings.  I do have a "ratio adapter" installed to match the speedometer to the TH350 transmission, and all had been working great until last week.  I had oiled the speedo when I assembled the dashboard, about 2000 miles ago. I have not crawled under the car to check things out yet.  Any ideas ??  Thanks for any clues.

 

Wayne

[52b3b Joe]

Since this thread is about speedometers, I've got a question.  The speedo on my P15 was working great...no bouncing or noise.  On the way home from Ocean City, MD, it starting indicating high, even though my speed was constant.  At first, it didn't bounce, but was steady but climbing.  At probably actual 60 MPH, it gradually and smoothly made it's way up to 100 MPH, and beyond.  Then it started bouncing wildly, and finally I heard a "snap", and the needle fell to zero.  I'm assuming that the cable broke, but I'm puzzled by the gradually increasing high readings.  I do have a "ratio adapter" installed to match the speedometer to the TH350 transmission, and all had been working great until last week.  I had oiled the speedo when I assembled the dashboard, about 2000 miles ago. I have not crawled under the car to check things out yet.  Any ideas ??  Thanks for any clues.

 

Wayne

 

Sounds like the ratio adapter or the cable snapped. The cables will act crazy and read high like that when they are at the end of their life in my experience. 

 

I have used Bobs Speedometer with good results for internal work. 

[Oldguy48]

Thanks for the reply.  I hope to check things out in the next few days, and see what I need to get things back in shape.  It's not a major problem, because I tend to drive on the slow side anyway, but it bothers me that it's broken.  I doubt that I'll get a speeding ticket.

 

Wayne

[BobT-47P15]

In the meantime, you can use your GPS as a speedometer substitute.  

 

My speedo pretty consistently reads about 15 mph fast.  Checked it against speedo in the wife's car......driving

in front of her and asking about speed via cell phone.   So....I have been "living with it".   Have had others do just

what was described above.........jumping wildly and such stuff.  I did find that some of the things improved a bit

when I loosened the nut that holds the cable to the speedo just slightly.  

 

As far as I can tell, there is nobody in this part of the country who rebuilds speedos...........but have considered sending

to one of the ones mentioned.   

[martybose]

if you can provide a GPS corrected speed (say an actual GPS 60 MPH reads 74 MPH on the speedo), most speedo shops can make up a correction gearbox (for the example I cited it would be a 0.81 to 1 ratio) that would bolt onto the tranny to correct that.  You might need what I used, an extra 6 inch long speedo cable to space the correction gearbox off of the tranny due to space considerations.

 

Marty

[Redmond49]

Leveraging this older thread for a closely related question - my speedometer is making loud noises and is actually vibrating the other gauges in the cluster, so it seems pretty unhappy. I was going to remove it to send to the speedo shop mentioned earlier in this thread. Is the right way to remove the speedometer to remove the entire instrument panel, or do you unscrew just the panel behind the speedo? There's a lot of stiff old wiring up there so it looks like fun either way ?