The Official "What The Heck Is This?" Thread

In the spirit of "what the heck is this?", is this toast?



This is the original speedometer that came with my '68 cj5 project. When I connect the speedometer cable to the back, chuck the transmission end in a drill, and engage the drill, the odometer turns smoothly, but the speedometer needle just bounces around near "1". Can the speedometer...
1. be easily taken apart to remove the cobwebs?
2. fixed by me in my garage?

Should I just get a new one or investigate getting this one repaired? I like the look of this old one, but don't want to throw money away for nothing.

 

You could certainly remove the bezel by prying the tabs up and pull apart.repaint bezel,clean glass and carefully clean face with warn water and a swap. Or send it to me ,I need one.

 

90,000 miles?

Toast? No, but the Jeep it came from probably is.

Maybe it just needs cleaning and lubing, but the calibration may be off if the spring or rotor is not perfect. Speedos can be reconditioned by experts, but at what cost? Look at the ads in Hemmings Motor news for specialists.

But I'd look around for a good (original) replacement.

 

Just be careful with the mechanism. The needle uses a delicate spring suspended on jewels, like a watch. You can spiff up the appearance, but you might want only to blow the dust off of the works. Maybe a keyboard duster? Amazon.com: Dust-Off Disposable Compressed Gas Duster, 10 oz Cans, 2 Pack: Office Products

Also, don't apply power to the cluster unless the case is grounded. Doing so will release the magic smoke from the gauges.

 

After the bezel is off there are 2 screws on the back side close to where the speedo cable goes in...take those out and you can remove the face, speed cup, and other guts to get a look at the workings.
the needle is moved by magnetic force via the speed cup spinning...might be its a little corroded or dirty enough to overpower the rotational force of the magnets...
I just had a seized up one apart last week to soak and lube...works great now...good luck with yours!

 

The toasted jeep is coming back to life!

 

Nice.

 

I took the speedometer apart, cleaned and lubed it, tested it, and put it back together (scroll up a few to see the "before").

 

Great job. I took mine apart to do that and found out the fuel and temp were toast, literally crumbled. So I ordered a really nice one on EBAY and will keep the original for parts or later order the needed gauges to rebuild it.

Yours came out really nice.

 

Is that the same size as a later version? I wonder if you could adapt the face, bezel and needle to a later working speedo?

 

Same size as the later ones. I know the glass and chrome bezels interchange.
-Donny

 

I'm at the last part of wiring my '68 cj5 -- the speedometer and all of its associated bulbs.


I notice there are no turn signal indicators. Did the '68 jeep have a blinker box mounted to the steering column (missing on my jeep) that contained an indicator?

My replacement steering column has a built-in blinker stalk. I've got it wired up and the blinkers work. I just need to add some blinker indicators somewhere. Suggestions?

 

3 12V LED Dash Indicator Lights - 2 Green Turn Signal & 1 Blue High Beam Blinker || Keep It Clean Wiring

 

If you want function without making holes maybe blinkers under the dash pointed at the floorboards: one under left edge of dash, one under right side of dash.

 

Something like this. Just drill small holes each side of column housing and connect your wires from the turn sig switch. These were made for motorcycle. Size is about 2 inches long and 1+ inch wide.

 

There's no way you'd accidentally leave those on!

 

I think I put those *exact* blinkers on a 2002 Yamaha wrf250, the bike with the world's most complicated and finicky carb (e.g. special knobs for hot start, etc). ITLKSEZ and I went on a long trail ride (80 miles?) with this bike. ITLKSEZ's wife had a Yamaha of the same vintage so he was well aware of the infamous carburetor and all the tricks to start the machine. Nine out of ten times, I had no problems starting the bike, but that one out of ten, nothing I would do worked. ITLKSEZ would have to get off his bike, get on my bike, and a kick or two later the bike would start right up for him. In this picture, we hit another log (of a zillion) and decided that was the final straw and to turn back. He offered to flip my bike around on this steep side hill. Riding with him was like going on a fully supported and catered safari. He cut out the trail ahead with machetes and chainsaws. It was great riding behind him.

 

I hate those bikes.

 

If you are going to have a secondary oil pressure gauge and some other sort of voltage or amperage gauge, those two light sockets will be unused in your cluster. Why not re-purpose them for turn signal indicators? The lights are already there, just re-wire them. You could even replace the red cellophane with green if you wanted to get fancy.