Speedo cable noise...

[Trapdoor2]

Based on searching the forum, greasing the speedo cable is another one of those "everybody uses something different" subjects. I have a gun full of Moly grease and one of Red lithium grease. Snyder's sells a tube of speedo-cable grease, but unless I buy a new unit, I'll use what I have. I may have to toss a coin...

Oddly, mine seems to happen on the same spot in my neighborhood loop...but not every time thru. It is silent until it ain't. Typically, I run 5-6 miles before it starts making noise...and then, suddenly, it is loud...and as soon as I come to a full stop, the noise stops (of course) and then doesn't come back for several more miles. The speedo itself doesn't seem affected. It is stable and smooth thru its range (at least, up to ~45...as fast as I've been so far).

So, I'm about to pull the speedo cable (and housing), clean it, inspect and re-grease.

Tips? Techniques? Preferences?

[Marshall V. Daut]

I have always used white lithium grease on the speedo cable. It doesn't clump up and harden like chassis or bearing grease. It sounds as though your cable is due for some lube! Put a glob in your hand and pull the bare cable through the grease a couple of times. Then slide it back into the housing and connect to the speedometer and drive gear on the torque tube.
Marshall

[Trapdoor2]

Originally Posted by Marshall V. Daut

I have always used white lithium grease on the speedo cable. It doesn't clump up and harden like chassis or bearing grease. It sounds as though your cable is due for some lube! Put a glob in your hand and pull the bare cable through the grease a couple of times. Then slide it back into the housing and connect to the speedometer and drive gear on the torque tube.
Marshall

One thing I learned early on: never use your bare hands on any sort of cable. In A&P school, that was one of the cruel jokes they played on young, inexperienced mechanics. One tiny broken wire or sharp edge and you're headed for the nurse's station, leaking blood.

I'll use a heavy red-rag to clean and inspect, thank you! For greasing, I was thinking to push one end of the cable into the housing and then pump the whole thing full of grease until I get clean grease running out the other end. I haven't done a tach/speedo cable since I was a kid. I don't remember what we did then!

[old31]

I would not use moly grease, it does not do well for speedo cable. I have had great luck with kabel ease.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/MR-Zip-Ka...Tube/128465921

[Marshall V. Daut]

"One thing I learned early on: never use your bare hands on any sort of cable."

Agreed. I always wear rubber gloves when pulling the speedo cable through the glob of white lithium grease in the palm of my hand. Any minute burr remaining on the cable will catch in the rubber glove instead of my skin.
M.

[Benson]

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Similar thing happened to me the Winter of 1964. (cold outside).

Noise started at about the same place in the 25 mile ride into town.

Noise was VERY LOUD and most times it went away after I stopped the car, until next morning,

Greasing CABLE DID NOT HELP.

VERY loud.

Local mechanics listened to the noise 4 or 5 times times (when I could get the damned thing to make the noise)!

Long story short, 4 weekends in row I took apart the Transmission (twice), next the rear end (twice) nothing was found by local guy's inspections.

Finally the fifth time I did not stop AND TOOK IT UP TO 55 OR 60, just kept going with this "God Awful" loud noise still going on.

Then I saw the speedometer going from 0 to 75 over and over (noise ... no noise over and over)


The problem was:
The bushing inside the speedo was out of oil/grease. This was the same noise that happens when heater blower motor goes bad, that "shreaking" noise.

1 or 2 drops of "3 in one oil" (light sewing machine oil) around bushing near where cable hooks to the speedo fixed it for a long time. Let SPEEDO sit face down over night ... TOO MUCH oil will get inside speedo and ruin the numbers on the wheels.

[Trapdoor2]

Finally got the speedo cable out of the car (it's not difficult, I just now got around to it). Short version: its toast. 95yrs old, devoid of grease on the speedo end, full of moly grease on the other end, several suspicious kinks...

Thirty bucks (plus shipping, taxes) to replace the cable, new grommet and a dab of grease. No brainer!

I will oil the speedo bushing as recommended above too.

[Trapdoor2]

To put a period at the end of this story...

I lubed (with Snyder's lube) the new cable. It appears to be a graphite-based grease...and as you might think, as messy as Prussian Blue. Thank Dog for gloves...but I got it everywhere anyway. I'm still finding smears in odd places.

Not a difficult job, just very fiddly getting the Speedo connected to the cable. I finally pulled it out of the dash, connected the cable and then re-mounted the Speedo into the dash...reinstalled the dash. Of course, rather than intelligently just tossing the floorboard in and giving it a test run, I buttoned the whole establishment up neatly (carpet, etc.) before the test drive.

One doesn't flirt with Murphy without consequences, of course. The damn Speedo stayed on "0". I tapped on the glass, wiggled the exposed bits of cable, etc. Nothing.

So, after lunch today, I pulled the carpet and floorboard and pulled the Speedo cable off the drive. I hooked up my electric drill and spun up the cable...Speedo works fine. That means I didn't have the cable properly into the drive socket. I pulled more cable out with a pair of pliers and re-installed.

This time, the floorboard got tossed in with two screws and the test drive went well. Speedo works great. I even got it out on the nearby highway and up to 50mph. That's the first time I've had it above 30mph...tested the brakes and she stops straight ahead without pulling. The engine quit under hard braking (which I've heard is a feature of the Zenith), but as I turned around in a fairly steep parking lot, I bump started her in 2nd as I pulled off the highway. No trouble getting home.

So, task done, no noise from the new Speedo cable. I have no intent to use the old one, so it will get recycled next trip to the RC.

[Jim16A1]

Good to hear! When I replaced my cable, I saved the ends off of the old cable so I could spin my speedometer easily with a drill.

[Trapdoor2]

Originally Posted by Jim16A1

Good to hear! When I replaced my cable, I saved the ends off of the old cable so I could spin my speedometer easily with a drill.

Thank you! Great idea. I'll do the same.

[Bigsnapper43]

Being in the lawn and garden repair business has its pluses. Curved shaft weed eaters have a flex cable that must be greased from time to time. See your L and G repairman.

[Ray in La Mesa]

An old speedo cable also works great as "RotoRooter" for cleaning various small tubes, block holes & such. Just make sure you rotate in the direction that won't unravel it.