Speedometer won't return to zero

The speedometer in my 64 won't return to zero when stopped (stays at about 10mph) When I tap on the gauge it drops down to zero..any thoughts ?

Keep Tapping on the gague!!  

And keep your fingers well lubed!!! (vanny)

try oil in the cable

I just remove the speedo head, and cleaned/lubed the parts in the head. Drove it, the speedo is jumping in the lower speeds (under 35mph) also.

Sounds like a frayed cable to me.

No, I pulled out the cable, ang greased it. Cable is fine. Greasing it helped the low speed speedo bounce. But it still stops at about 5mph when not moving.

I'm having the same trouble with my '65. I've been told that the trouble is in the head and I'm unable to find someone that rebuilds old speedometers and that speedometers are not built that way any more. It may be that we need to replace our old instrument panels with new gauges on a fabricated sheet. I'd be interested to see how others have done this.

There are quite a few businesses in this country that rebuild speedometers, google it, consider all the vehicles being restored that date prior to the "electronic" age, it may not be cheap, but a lot less than building and buying all the gauges for a new cluster.

if you take out your speedo, you will see in the back a cup the size of a frost plug
attached to the needle. the cable spins two fat metal around the outside an a small
rectangular magnet inside the cup. spinning the magnet creates a field that slowly pulls
the needle upwards as the cable spins faster. perhaps one of these is touching the cup, or the small needle return spring is missing. and there is a small arm to adjust the zero stop for the needle.
hope this helps scottie

Thanks Scottie, I'll check that out.

Rusty,
After looking at my speedometer, I noticed a tiny plug above the bushing where the cable connects to the speedometer. I'm told that that plug can be removed to enable greasing of the bushing (do not remove the plug. Just clean it and look for a tiny hole in the bottom. It is for lubing with a few drops of oil). That's what I'm going to try because I suspect that the old dry, hard grease is allowing binding that is causing the noise and the bouncing of the speedometer needle.

I got an estimate of $145. plus $15 shipping to get the speedometer repaired, so it's worth a try to just grease the bushing. Then we should be able to tell if the bushing is bad.

Rusty,
Do not remove that plug! If you clean that cup you will see that there is a tiny hole in the bottom that might have dirt plugging it. It is meant for lubing the bushing with a few drops of oil. You don't even need to take the speedometer out of the cluster unless you want to clean up the gears and lube them. The oil cup is just above the bushing at the rear of the speedometer. Now for the test drive to see if it still makes noise and bounces. If it does, the bushing might be bad.

Thanks for the information.