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Speedometer Question

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T

TodE

Jedi Hopeful
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I have read that you can check if your speedometer is working by attaching a drill to the speedometer cable. Someone told me you have to run the drill in reverse?
Before I do this I wanted to check if anybody has done this and is there any harm that can be done to the speedometer or cable.
Is there anything else I need to know before I trash a perfectly good speedo.

Thank you in advance.
 
Yes you can... I suggest that you give it a good covering of WD40 and turn it by hand before attaching the drill. I assume that you want to test for accuracy ? If so, there are far more qualified members on this forum that can give you guidance on calibration..
 
Hey TodE,
If you're just wanting to check the accuracy of it, download one the free "speedometer" apps to your smart phone that have the built in GPS. Thought mine was off but after comparing it to the app speeds via GPS, found it was almost spot on.
Regards
Mike
 
If you have an old speedometer cable cut it off at about 12", chuck the cut end in your drill and use it to drive the speedo. Twirl the cable with your fingers first to make sure the speedo isn't frozen. It should spin in either direction--CC or CCW--but the needle will only respond in one (think it's reverse, but not sure).
 
You haven't said if yours is working or not? What's the problem?
By just observing the speedo you can learn a lot.
 
The drill speed will normally run faster then the speedo cable does from the trans so be careful.
 
Johnny, Yes I just want to see if it is working. I had the speedo in the car, with the car on jack stands, I started the car put it in gear and slowly depressed the pedal. The cable in the angle drive broke. (I later found out you need the copper washer on the angle drive on the transmission side.) I thought the speedo was froze, but now I am not sure. This speedo did not come out of this car, it was a used one I bought.
Does anybody know if Nisonger rebuilds angle drives? If so does anybody know the cost?
 
At $43.50 from Moss, it's not worth rebuilding. We rebuilt a BN2 drive from a couple donors, but those are a couple hundred bucks.
 
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