Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi All,

King Seeley and I have a problem. After a short period of driving, the speedometers in both my '51 and '55 died. I got the '51 fixed by an excellent repair shop here in Portland. The one in my '55 is a bit more interesting.

When I first bought it and got it running; I was able to tell in the short trips up and down my alley that the speedometer worked. When I got it back about a month ago - it didn't. Feeling energetic, I inspected the cable end at the speedometer head - no problems. Checking the transmission end I quickly found that the cable was chewed off at the driven gear. No big thing, I went to the parts store and got a new cable kit. First thing I found is that the slot in the driven gear is smaller than the standard cable kit cable. No problem, I measured out the length of cable I needed and attached the piece that normally goes into the speedometer head after filing it down to fit the smaller slot in the driven gear buttoned every thing up and cleaned myself up for a road test.

Having a working speedometer first told me I've been driving that car A LOT faster than I thought I was. But after 8.6 miles, the needle dropped to "0" and there it stayed. Disconnecting the cable at the speedometer head I soon found out that the problem wasn't the cable. I stopped by the parts store and picked up another kit thinking putting the proper piece on the head end would solve the problem. It didn't. I check the head by inserting the end piece in the slot and tried to check for needle movement by turning the gears. The speedometer seemed locked up. I tried it again and it moved as per design. Attached the cable back to the head and nothing.

Question: As anyone experienced an intermittent mechanical speedometer and if so what was the cause. When it works, it works perfectly - then nothing. I also think I know why the original cable was chewed off at the transmission.

I know I'm going to have to remove the speedometer from the cluster, a more complicated procedure than the service friendly cluster of the '51. But if there is something I should look for, I can maybe fix it myself (unlikely) or I can at least talk intelligently to the repair shop.

Any and all help is welcome!

If you didn't hear any obscene noises, the first thing I'd do when you remove it is take the rear cover off and clean & lube the worm gear and train to the odometer. Pay particular attention to the rear bushing that supports the "U" shaped rotating magnet and square fitting where cable slides or plugs in. It might take some cleaner as well as some light oil in the oil hole and ends to free it up.

Once that rotates freely, I'd almost bet that will solve the problem -- unless the bushing has worn or something has broken and the magnet has touched the aluminum cup.

Thank you once again, Howard for the quick help. There were no noises prior to "0". It worked, then it didn't work then worked again before I gave up and pulled the cable. When the one in my '51 went, there was all sorts of commotion before the silent nothing so I hope you are right as usual.

The '55 in so eager to get out and run that a working speedometer is nearly imperative.

Howard, you are brilliant! Got the speedometer out last night and cleaned it up as you suggested. There is evidence that the thing had been serviced at least once though certainly not be a pro as there were only three screws holding it to the cluster and the regulator and condenser were only hanging on by one screw and it was half way out. Suspect that could be part of my low gauge readings as grounding for the regulator and condenser had to be hit and miss at best.

Disassembled the speedometer as you suggested and the lubricant that was either very dirty or mixed with graphite or both had turned into a solid. Using a needle, I picked the solid lube out as much as I could then turning the speedometer upside down and using the back or the unit as a trough, I filled it with Vacuum Pump oil and let it soak over night. I'll include some pictures in a later episode. By the time I went to bed, everything us moving very well indeed.

More later -

I almost forgot. Any recommendations for oiling the speedometer before I put it back together?

I used a light oil in the hole and bushing. 3 in 1 in my case but I see no reason why ordinary oil wouldn't work as well.

On the worm gear & train, I again used a light grease. Lubriplate is one lithium based product which would work. Any light weight general purpose grease available at the parts or hardware store should be sufficient. Mostly for the worm section. Use sparingly on the gears themselves so it doesn't work into the odometer.

Thanks Howard. I've got a tube of lubriplate and I was thinking that it would be the thing to use on the worm gears. It's great to have that confirmed. Whatever was used before became such a solid that I've had to pick it off chunk by chunk with a straight pin! Hopefully this will do it on "my watch". I can still climb around in and under cars they way I did in my 20's. What I can't do is be able to move the next day without a lot of pain.

That said I do have to put at least part of the wiring back together as I forgot about the power windows being down until I wrapped up for the night last night. I don't need the neighbors cats using my interior to sharpen their claws of use it for a "litter box". They seem to have a great interest in my Packards. At least I can compliment them on their good taste.

Here are a couple of pictures showing how the electricals were (barely) attached to the Speedometer Case Back.

The next show how I got the speedometer placed so the light oil - Vacuum Pump Oil to be exact - could seep down through the bushing/bearings which would seize up after use because of petrified lubricant.

Next step is to lube the worm gears with lubriplate (thanks again Howard) and put it all back together - this time with the electricals firmly attached. The first Speedometer over glass photo shows (barely) how I got the new oil to sit in the back piece of the speedometer and seep through the bushing.

More later - though the test drive probably won't happen until tomorrow.

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Hi gang,

Got the speedometer buttoned back up and installed last night - actually, Midnight on the dot.

A note about this to anyone facing the same problem I was able to remove and replace the speedometer assembly without messing with the Heater/Air cables. The FSM says to disconnect them and I suppose that would make it easier but not enough IMO to warrant the hassle.

Took her out for a drive today - just got back as a matter of fact and the speedometer works perfectly (thanks once again Howard). The fuel, temp & oil pressure gauges all ran a little more towards where they should be as a result of having the Gauge Voltage Regulator & Condenser attached and thus grounded by more than a couple of threads and a prayer.

I really thought this job was going to be a lot tougher than it turned out to be.

My next project will be to get the power seat working again. I've checked far enough to see that both motors are getting power for both directions so I'll pull the motors to see if they are the problem or the track is jammed or both. An interesting to me observation is that the motor system is a close match to the power window set up in the '60 Imperial in that they have a rubber disk/joint at the point where the motor shaft joins the driven shaft. On the Imperial that came in real handy if the motor died with the window in the down position. You could use your fingers to turn that disk and raise the windows. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about moving the seat position.

More on the seats after the kinks in my spine straighten out from the "Speedometer Adventure".

Glad the speedometer worked out.

One thing I found with the seat is cleaning and lube helps a lot -- both in the actuators and also in the tracks and vertical pivot bar linkages. Mine was filthy and full of dirt/lint/crud in several places surely messing it up.

We'll keep our fingers crossed your motor drive worm gear won't be chewed up like one of our posters in Australia found was causing his problem.