GM part number needed for speedo cable lube

[Gary B.]

Re: GM part number needed for speedo cable lube

Man, what's up with all these companies who've stopped selling the stuff that sounds best for a speedo cable???

Gary

[Joe R.]

Re: GM part number needed for speedo cable lube

Gary,

You may not have noticed but NOBODY (manufacturers) have installed a primitive cable in a car in the last twenty years. All magnetic pickups!

Not everybody has a Corvette Baby to take care of!!!!!!!!!

JR

PS. A very light grease the consistency of petroleum jelly used VERY lightly is the ticket. Load one up with bearing grease and it's sure to fail when the head fills up with grease.

[Ernie F.]

Re: GM part number needed for speedo cable lube

Ernie,

In the archives several people report needle bounce when using a graphite-based cable lubricant. Have you ever seen that with a graphite-lubed cable?

Gary

Gary,

Bounce can be caused by many things, but graphite lubricant is not one of them.



The problem with the last production run was the first worm magnet was a flat magnet and not U shaped like the original magnets. This replacement head required a hefty bit of magnetic charge when doing calibrations. After fighting a few of them it was clear to me that the replacement head was only good for one use and that was as a replacement head less the first worm and magnet. We would remove the first worm and install a good used one with the correct style magnet to achieve the proper calibration without bounce.

To explain in more detail, if you used the stock tension spring with the last issued head you would never get the calibration correct! The tension spring was too stout and it was a constant fight. The fix was to replace the tension spring on the speed cup to a lighter spring based on if you were doing a tachometer or speedometer. The end result from doing this was an accurate speedometer with a little bit of bounce!

Other issues that will create bounce are the cable binding up, a gear problem in the tranny and so on. . . .Think of it this way, the needle is attached to a spindle that has a cup at the end. This cup is magnetically driven by the first worm and magnet without direct contact! The cup has tension on it by the adjustment tension spring. You would have to have real bad cable binding issue to cause the needle to bounce and if this were the case a new cable would be needed over lubrication.



I deleted most of my original post and I should have just left it up. The cable is reverse wound and will pack the first worm oil impregnated bushing with grease! Putting grease on this bushing will only cause pre-mature failure! Maybe I can post some pictures of what we call the Hall of Fame where the heads are so packed with grease you would have to soak them for a week to get it all out.



Ernie

[Gary B.]

Ernie, what's the bottom line in your opinion

Ernie,

So what do you suggest for someone with a 40+ year old cable that appears to in good condition and who wants to clean it and re-lube it? AGS Kable Ease?

Gary

[Ian G.]

Re: GM part number needed for speedo cable lube

Ernie are you suggesting graphite powder used for lubricating locks, or graphite oil (like kable Ease) which is what I thought was for speedo cables?