1960 Cadillac series 62 convert. with cruse control speedometer cable

[Alex60caddy]

My name is Alex I inherited  at 1960 Cadillac series 62 convertible from my grandfather. The car is in great condition but has things that need to be fixed. My speedometer is ticking back and forth as I drive down the road. The trip meter spins quite fast and the odometer sometimes stops moving. It is my understanding that it is due to the speedometer cable, transmission to cruse control cable and the drives at the ends of the cables. Is this correct?  Were is the best place to find pre assembled Cables with the drive gears to fit my car?

[76eldo]

Alex,

If the inner part of the cable that drives the gears isn't broken, you may be able to just lube the cables.  When you undo the nut on the end of the cable you will see an inner core that spins with a square shaft on the end.

You will find a lot of differing opinions on what to use.  Some guys would spray in some WD-40, but if you go to an auto parts store to buy cable lube it's more of a dry graphite powder.  After shooting some lube into the cable you can try to spin it with a cordless drill.

The advantage to having the cruise control unit it you can remove the cable ends in a fairly accessible spot under the hood and lube them from there without removing the cable from the speedo head.

From the symptoms you describe, you can't rule out a problem in the actual speedo/odometer unit, but some lube to start out can't hurt.

Congratulations on getting a 1960 Cadillac.  That's a great car.  Getting a Factory Service manual will be a great help.  If you look on ebay, you actually want to buy a 1959 shop manual and the 1960 supplement. There is no actual 1960 manual.

Brian