An FYI for a DIY

Speedometer cables ! After what I thought would be the end of it, I lost my speedo driven gear the other day. made the Bakers run no problem. Took the van to work Monday morning no problem, had to make a parts run for the pit, when I left the parts store,, No Speedo... So back out it came, it had broken the shaft off the gear, I gave the cable a spin and noticed it hanging up alittle. pulled the cable out through the speedometer head in the dash, it had several DRY spots but was still in one piece, I'm gambling it was a stress induced failure. Parts ordered,,, So guys lube those 45 year old speedo cables !!
Joe

Did you order just shaft or did you find a complete cable the right length?

I just broke my driven gear in the tailshaft housing, my cable is still good. the gears are just a plastic type of nylon and the shaft part of it is hollow and not very big around to start with so its defiantely a weak spot. Pretty easy fix thankfully! *knocking on wood*

My bad,I read it wrong.Cool that ya got it straightened out though.

Hey Moe , you just keep reading it wrong ,, ya made me think... went back and double checked the cable, and put my glasses on this time ! Okay if the cable is "supposed " to be 120 inches long, I'm missin about an 1 1/4 inches off the drive gear end, noticed the end of the cable had a slight slant and actually quite abit of wear, it was only going into the driven gear maybe 3/4 of an inch, so putting what stress there was on the outer end of the plastic shaft. new cable core ordered only 10$ at the local Auto Value and the same supplier as it would be from Rockauto,,ATP,, so now just waiting for stuff from Bowtie,,, again lol

Okay the final outcome for now.. bought a new core for the speedo cable, new core from ATP is .120 in diameter, the original is .130 inches. what looked like some broke off my original was perhaps an 1/8" so the cable is actually 118 1/2 to 5/8 long overall. the repair is 120" and must be cut to fit. That .010 difference bugged me so I reused my old core, it was actually OK ,, just dry. I dont know if that would mean much in the long run , perhaps someone may know more about that. This is what happened to my driven gear.

Also finally got the right anti-spin clip for the billet housing. It all works again and I am claiming victory for now.

Joe, What you use to lube the cable?? Better check mine. PS: Your van looked Great at Bakers

also do not use much lube up at the speedo end, it will travel up the cable and gum up the speedo itself.

Bowtie said to try white lithium grease,,I had a small bottle of Fed mogul engine assembly lube sitting there and used that instead. See how that goes ! The ATP package says they have a lubricant for it also, but I had been in my usual position of feet stickin out from under the van and dripping tranny fluid down my arm before I read that ,and wasnt running back up town to get it, heck anything has to be better than Nothing! I put the cable in a shallow pan and dowsed it with lube and fed it back down from the dash. I was afraid a regular gun grease would want to cake up to much or stiffen in cold weather,, maybe that isnt a concern? Thanks Tom !