1956 Cadillac dash speedometer servicing?

[carguyblack]

Could anyone give me some instructions about lubricating a speedometer assembly from the dash cluster? I had my original one serviced a number of years ago while I started my restoration. I have now installed it and run the car about 200 miles. Worked fine last fall but on the way home just yesterday  it started clicking and jumping and the odometer quit working altogether. I have another dash cluster that I raided the speedo from now and spun it with a drill and it all seems to be working. I need to know if, while apart, I can oil anything, grease the gears, what type of lubricant to use, all that sort of thing. My dash is still off so it will never be less work fixing anything on it than right now. I planned on using the car in my daughter's wedding June 5, so I'm under the gun so to speak! Thanks, Chuck

[Christopher Petti]

Hey Chuck,
  I'm actually doing the exact same thing on my car as we speak. You want to use the Liquid Graphite in the spray can with the application straw. I just hate laying under the dash and taking off the cable and then putting it back up. Use the straw on the Liquid Grapite to Spray in the top where the cable attaches to the dash. It slowly makes it's way down as you drive it. I actually keep the can in my car. I have been applying it everytime I think about it. I have given it a couple sprays in the past week and it is working better already. No jumping, it's keeping correct speed. I love it. Didn't have to buy a new speedometer cable. Good luck, hope it works for ya!

Chris

[Otto Skorzeny]

Chuck, if you take it apart I'll bet you discover that the PLASTIC gear in it, called the Third Worm Gear, is not working. That's the part that always wears out in these because all the other gears and sprockets are made of metal.

I found a gentleman in Virginia who makes new odometer gears and he made one for me for a very reasonable price.

The reason these are plastic is because they would be complicated and expensive to machine. They have different angles and pitches, etc.

PS. His company is Odometer Gears and its on the List.

[35-709]

Right, if the speedo is still working but not the odometer it is not the cable.
Geoff N.

[carguyblack]

Thanks guys! It was the gear that Forrest said it was. I am switching out the speedo unit with my spare but not before I took the replacement to my insturment guy who checked out the gears and lubricated it internally. The spare works smooth and solid with not jumping or clicking. Odometer works well, too. I'll look into buying a replacement gear and fix the unit I take out so I have another spare. However, the instrument man told me that the odometer roll bound up as one of the "9's" rolled up and that stressed and stripped the plastic gear. Perhaps the odometer portion is still bound and the new gear wouldn't help matters much. What a mess. Geesh! Hope I NEVER have to do this again! Thanks for your help and suggestions once again.  Chuck

[Otto Skorzeny]

Chuck, the new gears that the guy in Newport News makes are from a modern superior type plastic that hold up much better. Go to his site and read about it. It's quite interesting. He got into this work because he owned a vintage BMW with the same problem.

BMW would only sell him a new instrument for thousands of dollars so he said, "Screw that!, I'll make my own!"


He ended up spending tens of thousands of dollars on modern injection molding equipment and makes al kinds of odometer gears for BMWs for other people. I asked him about the gear for the 56 some years ago and he said he'd be willing to give it a shot. He probably still has the mold.