I put another speedometer in my 50 Ford which has a 51 dash and speedo. I'd like to squirt a little lube in the head mech but reluctant to do so fearing it might screw it it since it works fairly well. Anybody have some home brew that worked for you. Sewing machine oil maybe?
I did a tech on rebuilding a speedo, a year or so ago. I didn't know what to use then (or now for that matter). I used tri-flow, or chain lube. I don't think it matters much. Sewing machine oil is probably better. Mine has worked well for a year at least. Kelvin
There are a number of companies that service speedometers. I'm sure if you were to contact one they would be willing to tell you the proper lube if any to use. KK
Sewing machine oil will work fine, I use Liquid Bearings on our rebuilt speedometers. You can get it on eBay or Amazon. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here's my cleanup practice for a speedo that turns and seems workable...simple stuff, hard part is planning how to hold it and set it down so you do not touch the face or odo surfaces with anything: Here's my speedo repair technique: remove bezel and gl***, get speedo out of case. Get a tin can or something that allows you to set the speedo down with face up and secure balance, and study how you are going to hold the thing so neither your fingers nor the liquids to be used can touch the face or odometer. That stuff is VERY delicate and easy to destroy.Near the cable end, on what amounts to the speedo's main bearing, is a tiny br*** plug. Get it out--I usually manage to extract them unhurt by threading a tiny machine screw into the cup--and extract the piece of felt within.I then repeatedly flood this lube well with first kroil then WD40 as it frees up, sometimes liquid wrench if I feel something thinner is needed. You want lots of fluid to go in there and then leak out the bottom to dissolve and wash out the petrified lubricant and crud.When the shaft will spin freely by finger twirl--you should be able to get 5-10MPH easily by finger--soak several times with carb cleaner and then brake cleaner to remove all those miracle solvents. When drained and dry, I fillerup with Marvel Mystery Oil, based on my scientific observation that the only real speedo tech I ever saw in action used something that sure looked like MMO.The multiple screwdriver tip sets you can get at discount stores contain a Canadian Robertson tip (square) that fits early Ford speedos and allows you to motor them up. You can also do a very rough test based on the supposed RPM of your elecric tool, based on the speedo's calibration of 1,000 RPM=60 MPH.Here's a ratio test page:1. http://www.speedometershop.com/rep-pag.htm
Thanks for the heads up on this. I'll try a little 3 n 1 for now and maybe take it apart this winter. It is accurate right now but it takes it's time from 10 mph and down. Slowly bottoms out thou. That's why i thought a little lube might be the answer. Thanks everyone.
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