Speedometer bizzaro world...!

[Asmoday]

Hello all...

I decided to replace the speedometer cable and housing this weekend after living with the tick, tick, tick and bounce, bounce, bounce in the speedometer since I bought the M1009 last year.

After removing the old cable and housing I noticed that even though I was supposed to have purchased the correct replacement NOS cable and housing, the new one was shorter. I would say that it was about a foot shorter give or take a few inches.

I decided to go ahead and see if it would install correctly and even though it was shorter I was able to install it and route it the same way as the original cable with the exception that I since I did not have the extra length as the original, I was not able to use one of the clamps that holds it in position under the drivers side floor. The new cable still appears to have correct slack though and none of the bend radius's are very sharp. The new cable was also properly lubricated before the install.

So after the install I take the truck for a drive and the speedo is nice and smooth....no bounce, no noisy tick and everything looks good...............until.................I get to 45mph and then, as if you flip a switch, the speedo needle with spin clockwise all the way to the bottom and swing back and forth over the odometer area. It also makes a bad grinding and whining noise once this happens. I thought the speedo was going to grenade for sure.

When I slow down and come to a stop, the speedo behaves normally after my speed decreases below 40mph and I come to a stop. From a stop the speedo will work correctly until I hit 45mph and then wham o....again it will do what was described above.

After it did this this morning on the way to work....I pulled over after the third time disconnected the cable from the back of the speedo.

So...any ideas what's up? Could it be that the speedo does not like the shorter cable even though it appears to fit well and there are no bad radius turns?

With the original cable and housing the speedo would tick and bounce at low speeds but by 45 to 50mph it would smooth out. The tick would get much worse in warm weather.

A local speedometer shop said it sounds like a bad cable still that's maybe to tight or possibly the speedo has a problem as well although it seemed to work correctly before the cable swap.

So....any ideas...?

Thanks in advance for your help...!

 

[doghead]

Return both, and replace both.

Or, try your old cable with the new speedo.

You did not lube the new speedo, did you?

 

[JGBallew]

Cable likely is fine, but the head is misbehaving.

Only time I've seen a cable cause what you've described (remotely) was an old unlubed one that was winding up like a torsion spring, and making the head "bounce".

What you've described is the speedo head unit going south though.

 

[Asmoday]

Thanks guys for the recommendations ....

Doghead...


The speedo itself was not replaced as I thought and was told by the speedo shop that the cable and housing were bad. They told me that if the bounce smooths out at a speed around 40 to 50mph that most likely the cable is bad.



I have not touched the speedo itself. It's the one that came in the truck and with the old cable worked correctly at all speeds but bounced and ticked at low speeds....


I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and have the speedo rebuilt as well as sourcing a new cable and housing?

 

[JGBallew]

I'd substitute a known good head, and see if it's repeatable.
Same deal, I'm wrong and you need a cable. if it behaves, your original head is bad.

Not sure I'd rebuild the speedo, rather find a NOS or known good one and drop it in. I can't see them being uncommon.

 

[cscmc1]

What's the problem? Just keep it under 45 -- you'll be fine!

Seriously, though, good luck; I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for future reference!

 

[Barrman]

Pull the speedo, oil the little flywheel on there and make sure it spins free of the needle. You will understand when you look at it. Hook it up to a drill and test it out. Most cordless drill will spin the needle up to 35 or so on low and around 80 on high. Go easy with the trigger on and off so you don't bounce stuff.

Oh, on the shorter cable. I got the exact part number the manual list and it was shorter than my stock cable too. I bought a LMC replacement and it was also shorter. Watch out how it goes around the tcase shift linkage without that hold down under the seat hooked up. That is why I had to by a second cable. Crushed the case one day.

 

[Asmoday]

Barrman thanks for the tip on the cable routing. So how did you actually run it in the area of the shift linkage?

Any pics of the whole deal underneath?

Thanks...

 

[Barrman]

I will have to crawl under and look at it again. Hopefully, I will remember tonight.