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Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:58 pm

So I pulled the speedo out of the car today and did a clean and lube of the back end.

It wasn't very difficult. I think the toughest part was lining up the twist tabs on the bracket for the magnet/shaft to get it back in. It just didn't want to go. I finally removed the magnet/shaft from the bracket and adjusted the tabs until the bracket would just drop in with no pushing. Then it was cake.

I cleaned and lubricated the magnet shaft and the housing. Cleaned with WD-40, Q-tips, paper towels, and an old toothbrush. Lubed sparingly with blue wheel bearing grease.

While I was in there I checked the main speedo needle shaft bearing for lack of smoothness. I rotated the needle from the back via the magnet cup. Everything was smooth so I let it be.

One thing I noticed is that the black plastic gear shaft that runs back to front had a short part of its worm gear abraided. I cleaned it as best as I could with the toothbrush and WD-40, then used my fingernail to make sure that the grooves had no debris in them.

While working, my finger inadvertantly put a hole in the directional acetate so I guess I'll just redo all of them when I have time next.

Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:37 am

HELP!
I need the 3 rubber seals for Glass and chrome bezel. My Speedo is from a 66 Bug. Took it apart to clean and lube and only broken bits were the seals being dry and cracked.

Do we have a source for those seals or a specific material that works as substitute?

I know WW only has the Speedo to body seal, which I may or may not use... mine was like liquid nails when I pulled the speedo. This FL heat did some work on it over the years.

Thanks for any links or help finding seals!

Sat Dec 15, 2018 12:01 am

rellison959 wrote: HELP!
I need the 3 rubber seals for Glass and chrome bezel. My Speedo is from a 66 Bug. Took it apart to clean and lube and only broken bits were the seals being dry and cracked.

Do we have a source for those seals or a specific material that works as substitute?

I know WW only has the Speedo to body seal, which I may or may not use... mine was like liquid nails when I pulled the speedo. This FL heat did some work on it over the years.

Thanks for any links or help finding seals!

Looking for the same thing. And maybe a source for the glass as well? I don't really want to have to buy the WW $95 kit just for the cheap parts...

Thanks!

Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:50 pm

In case this helps anyone who might be suffering from the same problem, my 3-59 speedometer has been working beautifully, but the odometer had stopped turning over. I noticed that in the cold winter months it would work for a short while before the car warmed up then it would stop again. In the spring, summer, and fall it would never work. I suspected a broken plastic gear, however I was pleasantly surprised that instead it was the little metal wheel on the right of the odometer wheels. It was slipping on the internal shaft. I was able to (carefully) press the shaft out and then used a small flathead screwdriver to semi-knurl/scratch the inside diameter of the wheel, then I reassembled it with a small drop of blue loctite to lock it permanately in place. I also used this opportunity to reset the odometer to 0. I tested it and now it works fantastically. I’ll reassemble it tomorrow after I’ve given the loctite plenty of time to cure. (And yes the gels are somewhat new, I replaced them a while back but at that time was too nervous to attempt to repair the odometer. And yes the turn signal was originally orange, however I like green better so that’s what I changed it to.)

This is the slipping wheel.

Reassembled without the wheel to test fit the odometer wheels.

I guesss this was normally just a press fit? I saw no remnants of glue of any kind and also the shaft and the inside of the wheel was perfectly smooth. Interesting. :-k

Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:19 am

Sounds like you got it sorted. \:D/

Usually when I find a press fit no longer works, I try to "knurl" the shaft itself, by pinching on it with some diagonal pliers in a few spots. (that's how I got the odometer working in my 85 Golf. At that time I set it around what a previous owner thought the actual milage was of 170K. It now reads over 420K, so I guess it worked)

Also, the turn light indicator was never orange when new, it was red! (up through model year 61) It's kind of ironic that both that original plastic insert would sun-bake-fade to a yellowish orange on such models, and often to kind of similar, but odd yellow on the 62/up models.

Sun Nov 03, 2019 5:42 pm

glutamodo wrote: Yeah, often times, you can lube it up for noise without dismantling. I usually use some Liquid Wrench Non-Flammable - just point the input shaft straight up, spray some and let it soak in.

So my Speedometer started howling last week, Read Andy's great post on dismantling and thought about this.

I did what he recommended above, it helped for a bit but she is not happy.

So, short of dismantling her, I used some stuff I had around my shop.

The pics show a 5/32 ID hose, and a 1/4 ID piece of nylon tubing, a zerk (sic) fitting, and some clamps.

You'll see in the background samplings of grease relative to the throw of the handle on the squirt device. I did NOT want to overdo this and see grease slinging around the inside.

I preloaded the tube so I wouldn't have to push air through the bushing, and after some steady pressure, I backed off and tested it.

So far so good, took it for a 10 mile drive.

At one point she squealed for about 5 seconds but then stopped.

I think she was just showing me who's the boss. Nice and quiet, no bounce in the needle.

For what it's worth Sambafolk!

Look at that bearing lock and the clean grease oozing around her retaining ring. I think the old gal who owned it really loved her car!

Fri Mar 01, 2024 11:46 am

meredith murray wrote: ^^^^

Yep lighting gels work great! If they can stand a 1000 watt light they can stand the light in the spedo.

On other cars I've used a Orange or Red Sharpie to color the old sun bleached material or needles.