Back to Zero

[Joe Flanagan]

I've got my speedometer apart and I'm wondering how you turn the numbers on the odometer back to zero. Anybody know how this is done? I feel like I'm messing around with a Rubik's Cube.

[Young Ed]

You have to split the numbers apart. Get all the 0s lines up and all the litte locking bars lined up to go on their bar.

[Don Coatney]

If there is a chop shop in your neighorhood contact them as I am sure they can help.

[RobertKB]

I personally like leaving them where they are as that is the history of the car. When I did a full restoration on my '38 Chrysler, the numbers did not change and after about 5,000+ miles I have added, it has just over 96,000 showing. Not sure if that is 96,000 or 196,000 but don't really care.

[55 Fargo]

I personally like leaving them where they are as that is the history of the car. When I did a full restoration on my '38 Chrysler, the numbers did not change and after about 5,000+ miles I have added, it has just over 96,000 showing. Not sure if that is 96,000 or 196,000 but don't really care.

I'm with you on this Robert, adds a little history to the car, why take it away....

[Joe Flanagan]

You have to split the numbers apart. Get all the 0s lines up and all the litte locking bars lined up to go on their bar.

Ed, so you have to pull the numbers off the shaft that goes through them? They seem to be on there pretty tight.

[Young Ed]

You don't necessarily have to pull them all the way off but you need to get a little space between them to disengage the gear in there. And I believe the couple I did slid off the shaft freely. To Fred and Robert-in my p15 where I felt the 76k miles was accurate I left it. In my 46 pickup the speedo was disconnected with a broken needle so I redid that one to 0.

[thrashingcows]

I personally like leaving them where they are as that is the history of the car. When I did a full restoration on my '38 Chrysler, the numbers did not change and after about 5,000+ miles I have added, it has just over 96,000 showing. Not sure if that is 96,000 or 196,000 but don't really care.

I concur as well.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Well I once tried to do a 1946-8 Chrysler odometer and ended up with this..... I gave up!

[Joe Flanagan]

I followed Young Ed's advice and managed to do it. Seeing the other posts here, though, gave me pause. I'd never thought that way about the odometer. Maybe I took a step into the Dark Side, though I do like just being able to look and see how many miles I have on my car without having to do any figuring. I have remained as true as possible to the rest of the car, though (if you don't count front disc brakes and an OD transmission that wasn't available on Plymouths in 1949 and woodgrain that isn't an exact match to the original).

[Young Ed]

Joe you are basically returning the rest of a car to a state of having 0 miles so why not the odometer too? Glad you got it figured out. Did you make sure you got all the little tabs back on that bar when you reinstalled it?

[Plymouthy Adams]

Joe..be careful of guys in black coats following you around...

[4852dodge]

In some states it is against the law to modify the odometer in any vehicle. I perfer to leave the mileage at what it is for the history.

[Joe Flanagan]

Ed, at first I missed one of the tabs and one of the numbers was a little cockeyed. My first thought was that I'd screwed up badly but then I realized what I had done. You need tiny tools and lots of light for this work as I'm sure you know. None of my usual ham-fisted shenanigans would do (right, Rodney?). The numbers themselves have a brownish tint to them so the antique patina is preserved, at any rate.

[Don Coatney]

In a 60 year old car how does anyone know that the odometer is showing original and historical mileage? You may think you have an 80 thousand mile car but it could be a 1-2-3-4-5 hundred eighty thousand mile car. Plus a prior owner could have swapped out the speedometer. I see nothing wrong with setting the miles to zero on a fresh car. However the law may not be on my side.

[Plymouthy Adams]

In most states the odometer law is null and void after X years as it is..and the only ture recording of actual annual mileage probably is only trackable through the state records of vehicle annual inspections if you were privy to those records for one and another if that car was always registered and stayed in the same state it's entire life..

[TodFitch]

... though I do like just being able to look and see how many miles I have on my car without having to do any figuring....

My solution was that I had 98000 showing on the odometer when I rebuilt everything. So when it rolled around to 00000 I figure I just had the engine broken in and was ready to start counting miles.

Not sure if that was 98,000 or 198,000 or 298,000... Probably 98,000 because the original factory standard size pistons were in there with CPDP stamped on them. Must have been hard miles though based on the condition of the running gear and body.

[RobertKB]

In a 60 year old car how does anyone know that the odometer is showing original and historical mileage? You may think you have an 80 thousand mile car but it could be a 1-2-3-4-5 hundred eighty thousand mile car. Plus a prior owner could have swapped out the speedometer. I see nothing wrong with setting the miles to zero on a fresh car. However the law may not be on my side.

It's a personal choice for the owner to make.........like everything else about our cars. I agree you never know for sure what the exact mileage may be. However, I have swapped out the speedometers in all three of my cars for various reasons. I reset all three to the mileage showing on the speedometer that was being replaced. Just my thing I guess.

[Niel Hoback]

I am almost certain that became a federal law many years ago. Turning back odometers and owning loose vin tags is federal. If you ever tried it on a 90's or later odometer, you will see a wick with blue ink on it that wipes the left 9 as it goes around.

[pipebomb]

if you hook up a spare speedo cable and put one end in the chuck of a drill press and leave it......... it will go back to 0... just takes a few days...or weeks.......

[aero3113]

if you hook up a spare speedo cable and put one end in the chuck of a drill press and leave it......... it will go back to 0... just takes a few days...or weeks.......

I change a Hobbs meter once in one of my airplanes at work, I had to match the times so I hooked the new one up to a power supply and let it run till it matched. I think it took about a week or two to get the correct number.

[P-12 Tommy]

My P-12 odometer read 65,486 miles when I got it and then I changed the speedo cause it was froze up. I have no idea how long it was broke before I put an NOS one in. Now I've got around 4,400 miles.

Tom

[TodFitch]

if you hook up a spare speedo cable and put one end in the chuck of a drill press and leave it......... it will go back to 0... just takes a few days...or weeks.......

1000 turns per mile on the typical American speedometer/odometer. If your drill turns 3600 RPM that would 3.6 miles for every minute the speedo is on the drill. But you'd be pegging the speedometer at 216 MPH.

[Don Coatney]

1000 turns per mile on the typical American speedometer/odometer. If your drill turns 3600 RPM that would 3.6 miles for every minute the speedo is on the drill. But you'd be pegging the speedometer at 216 MPH.

So if you run the drill motor in reverse you would be going 216 MPH backwards:D

Now if my math is correct and your odometer is at 50,000 miles and you want to use a drill motor to spin it up or back to zero it would take 9.64 days to do so.

[Rodney Bullock]

Ed, at first I missed one of the tabs and one of the numbers was a little cockeyed. My first thought was that I'd screwed up badly but then I realized what I had done. You need tiny tools and lots of light for this work as I'm sure you know. None of my usual ham-fisted shenanigans would do (right, Rodney?). The numbers themselves have a brownish tint to them so the antique patina is preserved, at any rate.

Joe, you have gotten quite good now. You no longer mess up. You are indeed a Zen master:) I never turn back the od on my cars I just put them in reverse until I hit zero;)