Broken Speedometer Cable

[tekspeek]

mmm, I seem to be posting a lot of broken stuff...

My speedometer stopped working about the same time my tachometer stopped working. Tach was easy, the crip from the hood to the cable failed. Thanks <insert major seller of LBC products here>

I pulled the speedometer, unscrewed the cable connection and found to my amazement the cable is broken about 10 inches in from the speedometer.

There was no indication of anything wrong it just quit. Is there a problem with speedo cables. I have an overdrive- might this be a problem?

Any comments? Thanks,
Pete

 

[DougF]

Not knowing how old the broken cable is, you could be just looking at fatigue.
If you install a new cable and it breaks after a short time, you may be looking at a speedo problem or something else within the system.

 

[tekspeek]

The cable was fairly new. About 200 miles...

 

[TR4nut]

Pete-

I think you are probably right about the overdrive cable. The routing for that is tougher, the cable has to bend to go behind the engine to the passenger side. Sounds like maybe you had a kink around where that bend starts?

The only thing I've seen about this before is you need to be careful to avoid sharp bends when installing, try to keep everything as straight as possible, etc. Easier said than done.

Randy

 

[69tr]

I had to replace the speedo cable on my 69. Randy is right about the routing on the overdrive model. You will need to remove the transmission tunnel to get to the connection on the overdrive unit. I removed the seats and consol to get the tunnel out. While I had all of this stuff out it was easy to get to some under dash projects. If I replace the cable again, I might just make an access hole in the tunnel. Good luck. Pete V

 

[Geo Hahn]

Be sure your speedo head isn't binding up... I've had this happen on ones that have sat awhile (bit of corrosion on the shaft of one of the odo gears).

You can just replace the inner cable if the housing is good. I use a local speedometer shop, take them the cable housing and they will make a correct length cable for it -- about 10 or 12 bucks.

Reusing the housing particularly makes sense if you have an original off-white cable as these are NLA (replacements are usually black or silver).