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Speedo floating mph

svastano

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Group,

My 77 after rebuild and new speedo head still has the needle float and seems to be off by 5 mph ( over) real speed 30 speedo shows 35ish Is the cable causing the floating? Can it also make the speed wrong? I am running stock gears with 35's I changed the gear on the end from Yellow to Purple when I did it.

Thanks in advance
 

stout22

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Most likely it's the cable gear. Maybe poor tooth engagement. I have the same issue and I know it's the gear.
 

BroncoBilly69

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May 19, 2012
Messages
50
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Whiskeytown Ca
"Needle float" problems usually lie in the cable-Sometimes adding speedo lube/graphite will lessen or solve, sometimes not. I have a Chevy G30 that had the dreaded speedo float accompanied by an obnoxious "tic, tick, tick. The cable itself was hanging up inside the cable sleeve as it spun. Rather than mess around with the lube or having to be right back fooling with the same issue 2 months down the road, just ordered a new one from Advanced Auto. (Was pleasantly surprised to learn a '85 G30 speedo cable could still be had!) Works great now. Done & done.

Generally speaking, yea, oversized tires will throw off your actual speed indication but creating the 'float" isn't commonly associated. Indicating the speed of the vehicle involves the trans, the speedometer and the cable itself. No computers, no Apps etc. Ya gotta remember, its an EB, not something NASA built. LOL

Tell ya how I determined it was my cable; I detached the cable at the trans. Then I attached a battery powered drill to the cable end. While watching the speedometer, I slowly spun the cable with the drill. The "float" was still there (at low speed) so it eliminated the trans as the problem. Increasing the drill speed made the "float" go away. At that point, I leaned toward the cable as the cause so I replaced it while hoping for the best. (Not too hard to replace because I already had the other end disconnected) Whew!, as it turned out, like I said-it was the cable!

I'd start by /servicing/replacing the cable. It's the easiest and least complicated place to start...
 
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svastano

svastano

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If I take the cable off the transfer case can I pull it out and lube it from there?


"Needle float" problems usually lie in the cable-Sometimes adding speedo lube/graphite will lessen or solve, sometimes not. I have a Chevy G30 that had the speedo float accompanied by an obnoxious "tic, tick, tick. The cable itself was hanging up inside the cable sleeve as it spun. Rather than mess around with the lube, just ordered a new one from Advanced Auto. Works great now.

Generally speaking, yea, oversized tires will throw off your actual speed indication but creating the 'float" isn't associated. Indicating the speed of the vehicle involves the trans, the speedometer and the cable itself. Ya gotta remember, its an EB, not something NASA built.

I'd start by /servicing/replacing the cable. It's the easiest and least complicated place to start...
 

1970 Palmer

Full Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2020
Messages
455
"Needle float" problems usually lie in the cable-Sometimes adding speedo lube/graphite will lessen or solve, sometimes not. I have a Chevy G30 that had the dreaded speedo float accompanied by an obnoxious "tic, tick, tick. The cable itself was hanging up inside the cable sleeve as it spun. Rather than mess around with the lube or having to be right back fooling with the same issue 2 months down the road, just ordered a new one from Advanced Auto. (Was pleasantly surprised to learn a '85 G30 speedo cable could still be had!) Works great now. Done & done.

Generally speaking, yea, oversized tires will throw off your actual speed indication but creating the 'float" isn't commonly associated. Indicating the speed of the vehicle involves the trans, the speedometer and the cable itself. No computers, no Apps etc. Ya gotta remember, its an EB, not something NASA built. LOL

Tell ya how I determined it was my cable; I detached the cable at the trans. Then I attached a battery powered drill to the cable end. While watching the speedometer, I slowly spun the cable with the drill. The "float" was still there (at low speed) so it eliminated the trans as the problem. Increasing the drill speed made the "float" go away. At that point, I leaned toward the cable as the cause so I replaced it while hoping for the best. (Not too hard to replace because I already had the other end disconnected) Whew!, as it turned out, like I said-it was the cable!

I'd start by /servicing/replacing the cable. It's the easiest and least complicated place to start...

X2 Agree!

I would add........make sure you take a look at the cable housing "routing". The cable needs to be routed with the least bends and using the largest radius for the bends. Many times when things are taken apart and put back together, or modified over the years you end up with kinks and tight bends in the speedo cable. Use the thickest grease available like old style wheel bearing grease.

John
 

1970 Palmer

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If I take the cable off the transfer case can I pull it out and lube it from there?

Most cables had a crimped on end sleeve. They have to be pulled up from the top.

It's kind of an art lubing a speedo cable without making a complete mess of the vehicle interior and yourself. One trick is to coil the cable as you pull it up out of the housing. Keep it coiled, add some grease to your hand palm and slide the cable back into the housing as you grease the cable. Since space is tight the trick is to do three things at one time in the limited space.

John
 
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Slowleak

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I disconnect mine at the speedo and pull it back thru the firewall hole. That makes it easy to lube from under the hood. It does have a crimped collar on the speedometer end.....
 

BroncoBilly69

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Whiskeytown Ca
X2 Agree!

I would add........make sure you take a look at the cable housing "routing". The cable needs to be routed with the least bends and using the largest radius for the bends. Many times when things are taken apart and put back together, or modified over the years you end up with kinks and tight bends in the speedo cable. Use the thickest grease available like old style wheel bearing grease.

John
Yea Jonh. I failed to mention a cable that is "binding" somewhere between the trans, transfer case or going thru the firewall to back of speedometer will cause the float. That was my case-too tight of radius going thru fire-wall...
 

BroncoBilly69

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I disconnect mine at the speedo and pull it back thru the firewall hole. That makes it easy to lube from under the hood. It does have a crimped collar on the speedometer end.....

Right- If you're going to lube while the cable is in place, it needs to be lubed from the highest point in order for the lube to work it's way thru the entire cable sheathe. You'll still need to disconnect the trans end in order to spin the rod while loading the lube-This makes sure the lube is evenly dispersed thru out the cable.

Caution: On the EB's, accessing the cable end thru the dash isnt impossible and you avoid the risk of messing up the cable trying to get it thru the firewall. Especially if you have to navigate around a power brake booster in close proximity to the cable hole. Remember, the cable has been there a long time and some parts dont react well to being disturbed. If I had a dime for every time I broke something trying to fix something else...

As I said in my other post, if your EB is on its second 100,000 miles which most are, that's a lot of wear on the original cable, new lubricant or not. I would opt for a new cable every time just for headache reduction purposes...:eek:
 

Slowleak

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Right- If you're going to lube while the cable is in place, it needs to be lubed from the highest point in order for the lube to work it's way thru the entire cable sheathe. You'll still need to disconnect the trans end in order to spin the rod while loading the lube-This makes sure the lube is evenly dispersed thru out the cable.

You can spin the core without disconnecting the sheath from the transfer case. The core slips out of the gear when you pull it out about an inch and turns freely.

I just pull the core all the way out, wash it in a bucket of gas, grease it and spin it as I insert it. When it hits the gear it will stop spinning and lock in....
 

BroncoBilly69

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Most cables had a crimped on end sleeve. They have to be pulled up from the top.

It's kind of an art lubing a speedo cable without making a complete mess of the vehicle interior and yourself. One trick is to coil the cable as you pull it up out of the housing. Keep it coiled, add some grease to your hand palm and slide the cable back into the housing as you grease the cable. Since space is tight the trick is to do three things at one time in the limited space.

John

Ive found that the older vehicle speedo cables tend to have an almost caked/petrified lube (crud) inside the sheathe from many years of heat created by not only the rod spinning inside the sheathe as well as heat from engine compartment heat exposure. Speedo cable servicing/maintenance isnt exactly on the once a month schedule...lol

It's not uncommon for the new lube failing to completely saturate the inside length of the sheathe simply because of crud blockage...
 

1970 Palmer

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Ive found that the older vehicle speedo cables tend to have an almost caked/petrified lube (crud) inside the sheathe from many years of heat created by not only the rod spinning inside the sheathe as well as heat from engine compartment heat exposure. Speedo cable servicing/maintenance isnt exactly on the once a month schedule...lol

It's not uncommon for the new lube failing to completely saturate the inside length of the sheathe simply because of crud blockage...

Curious? If you pull the inner steel cable out of the housing.........How can you not get grease to go into the outer housing? Maybe if the cable was broke off inside the housing? If you are worried about it, just pull the cable, then shoot some grease from your grease gun into the housing until it comes out the other end.

I've never seen a speedo cable that did not have plenty of crud on the cable.

John
 

BroncoBilly69

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Curious? If you pull the inner steel cable out of the housing.........How can you not get grease to go into the outer housing? Maybe if the cable was broke off inside the housing? If you are worried about it, just pull the cable, then shoot some grease from your grease gun into the housing until it comes out the other end.

I've never seen a speedo cable that did not have plenty of crud on the cable.

John
First, I'm no speedo cable repair expert nor did I claim such. I was simply sharing what works for me. I wasn't talking about crud on the cable. I was referring to trying to lube the INSIDE of the cable with it still intact and still in the vehicle. Ive never used a grease gun. Trying to "shoot" grease from a grease gun down the entire inside of a 5 ft cable seems a bit like trying to stuff a raw oyster into a parking meter. Hey, whatever works.

Me, Ive always tried to let the inner rod pull the lubricant thru the outer sheathe by simple spinning the inner rod while still in the sheathe and thus, not have to separate the rod and sheathe.

As with anything EB, there's a lot of ways to skin a cat. I was just sharing my method(s)-I didnt say it was the ONLY method...

Worried? No. Like I also said, I replace the entire cable and move on. I save the grease gun for places that have a Zerk fitting...
 
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svastano

svastano

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Thanks for all the responses. With all the talk that it might not work I just ordered the new cable that is longer. I do see that mine has some pretty tight bends since I have a body lift and the body is fiberglass. I don't know if the hole in the firewall is just right. If I am going to pull the cable out I might as well for 20 bucks put in the new one!
 
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svastano

svastano

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Well as a follow-up on this. I got a new cable from JBG the one 11inches longer and put in on. I got the longer cable since I have a body lift and wanted to make sure the turns were nice and long. Took it for a ride last night and the speedo needle still sways some, not as much but still doing it. The Speedo head is a new replacement not even a rebuilt one. I did not lube the new cable, Should I have done that before installing??? What now?

Sam
 

Slowleak

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I got one from JBG. It was a standard length Scott Drake cable. It was lubed well but the core of mine seemed to have a “set” to it if that makes sense.

I could pull it out of the housing, form it into “u” and when I rotated the ends, I hit resistance at 90 degrees with each turn.... I haven’t installed it yet.

My suggestion would be to just drive it for awhile and see if it gets better. Might just need to get broken in.
 

1970 Palmer

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If the new replacement cable "has a set", I would bend it in the reverse direction just a little at a time until it stays straight. Grease up the inner cable and reinstall it, and see what happens. If you still have some needle sway, check the drive, and the driven gears for roughness on the teeth.

You can also check the head by taking a short piece of the old inner cable and chucking it up in a drill and spinning the drive in the head. If it's smooth, you next step is the driven and drive gears.

John
 
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