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My speedometer needle on my 1970 chevelle bounces while driving at a constant speed. It bounces 10 or so mph in higher and/or lower speed. Plus makes a bad noise.

I was cleaning the inside of the plastic lens through the top of the dash with the dash pad removed and while doing that I moved the needle from its stationary position up to… oh I don't know 60 or 80 mph. graemlins/clonk.gif

Could I have slipped the needle part way off its "axis" or "cable"? I can't see down in there to see the needle's attaching point. Does anyone have a picture that they could email me of what a proper needle attachment looks like maybe I can feel my way around in there to correct any problem I recreated.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. By the way, I checked the cable at the transmission end including the small gear and that is fine. No indications of being broken or worn. tongue.gif

Thanks a lot, My email address is ryanpope1046@yahoo.com

I will do some looking around some web-sites and see what I can dig up. graemlins/beers.gif

Generally in the past, a good cleaning and relubing of the cable usually is the remedy for bouncing speedos. Unhook the speedo cable from the head and position the housing end so that it is accessible, pull the cable out of the housing, use a solvent soaked rag and clean all the caked grease from the cable and with a dry rag, dry it thoroughly and using some lubriplate, put a spoonful in your hand and drag the cable thru it and try to install it in the housing at the same time, trying not to get any lube on the last inch or so and twist while inserting it, it should go all the way in, rehook to the speedo head, clean your hands and go for a road test.

Thanks for the note back about my bouncing speedometer.
I have a question or two please:
When you state ..."Unhook the speedo cable from the head ..." do you mean down under the car at the back of the transmission? If so, that is easy to do.
Now, when you state....." pull the cable out of the housing..." do you mean pull the internal cable out of the larger diameter housing?
Please excuse me I don't want to do it wrong a really screw it up. And I don't think I can get to the cable from under the dash or above the dash for that matter.
Thank you for your patience.

Ryan Leo was saying remove it from the speedo head under the dash. It can be done but it is not easy. You will not be able to see it but you can reach it. The end does not screw onto the speedometer. You will feel a tab along side the cable. Push the tab down towards the speedometer and then pull the housing off. Remove the inner cable from the housing and lube. I can not remember if the connection can be seen or accessed with the dash pad off, but you may want to try it first.

Thanks for the note here Philip, he emailed me and I replied with the same things you said, I hope we are on the same page now.

Thanks

I believe the everyone is on the same page. I hope to try to fix it this week. I will let you know how it turns out. graemlins/beers.gif

same problem with a 66 chevelle, even put a new cable and housing on, so I had to take the whole dash out to get the speedometer out. Ran the speedometer with the cable hooked up to a drill. Noise was in the speedometer not the cable or housing, hope you fair better, this is a lot of work. Now looking for a recommendation of how to clean and lube the speedo. 1/2 a day work just to get the speedometer out. The only gague you have to take the dash out to get off on a 66.

I had the time to look at the issue today. I took off the dash pad (easy on the 1970 chevelle). However, I can NOT see down between the defrost vent and the housing for the gauges; Thus I can't feel the speedometer cable. I can't even get my finger in there to fish for it. SO, I went down under the car and took out the gear wheel at the transmission. Then re-attached the cable without the gear. The speedometer doesn't work but the noise is gone. That noise was terrible!!!! I figure that the connection at the transmission may leak a bit but I couldn't take the noise and I can't take out the cable to lube it. Well that is one more thing that doesn't work...that is what you get with a 34 year old car I guess. :D