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Cherokee speedometer kilometer to mph

H

halstat

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Great Britain
I have a 1996 4.0 cherokee sport, the vehicle was imported into the UK from Japan earlier this year. The main problem I have is that the speedometer reads in kilometers only. What I need to know is, can I just fit an mph speedo from a breakers? or is it more complex ie is the gearing or other different between the Japanese and UK models.

Any help would be appreciated, the UK is so full of speed cameras I am bound to get a ticket if I cannot get this sorted soon.
 
no just find a MPH speedo and install.
 
I'd think that everything was the same from the back of the speedo down - it's just a cable anyhow. So, no reason I can see why you couldn't swap a gage calibrated in miles per hour (interesting, I'd have thought the UK would have converted to klicks by now...) and maybe swap the speedo drive gear to match your tyres and gears. The speedo gear swap is quite simple - look for the housing in the tailshaft of your transmission (2WD) or transfer case (4WD) and it's help in with a single screw. It takes less time to change a speedo gear than it does to change a speedometer proper!

5-90
 
5-90 said:
I'd think that everything was the same from the back of the speedo down - it's just a cable anyhow. So, no reason I can see why you couldn't swap a gage calibrated in miles per hour (interesting, I'd have thought the UK would have converted to klicks by now...) and maybe swap the speedo drive gear to match your tyres and gears. The speedo gear swap is quite simple - look for the housing in the tailshaft of your transmission (2WD) or transfer case (4WD) and it's help in with a single screw. It takes less time to change a speedo gear than it does to change a speedometer proper!

5-90
Click to expand...

Ah Jon, you old Renix retro-grouch, it's a 96! No cable! :laugh3:

Halstat: make sure you get a speedo from a 91-96 only.
 
DU-uh - thanks! I knew I was missing something, but everything around here is in a state of flux (I'll tell you about it sometime. Right now, I need a drink...)

Yeah - just check to make sure you've got an OBD-I (1991-1995/6) speedo, and you should be alright. You may still need to change the speedo gear - but that's still easy to do.

5-90
 
Ok thanks for all your help, it is much appreciated. I managed to find a UK spec speedometer from a breakers today and will have a go at fitting it this weekend.

I bought the Jeep in June and am really pleased with it, there are a few jobs I need to get done hopefully before the winter sets in.
 
Thanks for the link, I quite like the carbon fibre effect dash panel shown. At the moment mine has the fake wood trim dash, which I like, along with the original Jeep stereo, however the previous owner had tried to fit an after-market stereo and has overcut the dash trim around the apperture resulting in a bit of a rough fit.

Luckily when I picked up the speedo today I also managed to get another plain black dash panel (I think this was an original fitting in some Sports). So if I cannot re-trim my existing panel I will probably have to fit the replacement.

My plan this weekend is to fit the new speedo and then get my neighbour to drive his truck ahead of me at the same speed to see if our speedo readings are the same.

I will let you know if I am successful. Once again thanks for all the advice.
 
Most speedometers are designed to read a little high to provide a margin of error. Depending on what size tires you have, some error is normal. My 99 with 225/75's reads 3 mph high at normal speeds. When it had 215's, and later with 225/70's, my 95 read about 5 mph high, and it's right on the money with 235/75's. A couple of others in the family also read right on with 235's, so if you're running 235's remember you have no slack.

ETA if you have or can borrow a GPS receiver, it will give you a quick and accurate speed check.
 
Is it km/h only? I think most Canadian cars have both, with mph on the secondary scale...

That's the good thing about digital speedo - just press a button when crossing the border..
 
AlohaBra said:
I thought they use Ks in the UK. Easy... 100 is 60mph...200 is 120mph. Jeeps can't go that fast anyway..

Aloha...and best regards...
Click to expand...

Maybe you can't do 120 in CA (hard to get up to that speed with all the cars) but I got a ticket in UT in '02 with my '86 Comanche (4 cyl, 5 speed and 30" tires) for doing 126 mph.
My '84 J10 and '83 Cherokee (full size) with 258 and 2.72 gears with 999 auto have done @110 mph in short bursts. The '84 J10 will do better than that in the near future. I have speed rated 42" tires, 4.10 gears, 250 hp 4.6L stroker with AW4 (.70 O/D) that should do 130 at 3,000 RPM.
 
Ok, I managed to change the speedometer pod complete with tacho etc today. It was just a case of unplugging the old unit and plugging the new one in, the hardest part was removing and replacing the dash trim panel/bezel without breaking it.

I got my neighbour to drive his truck in front at 30mph and 60mph to check the reading and all seems fine.

The old unit was only written in kph whereas the new one has mph in large print and kph in smaller.

Thanks for all the advice, this is a really useful site. I think I am going to be a regular visitor from now on.
 
Yes, in GB we still use miles per hour and also in Northern Ireland, although Southern Ireland I think are now using Kilometers to bring them into line with Europe.

I suppose it is only a matter of time before GB goes the same way. I think I will keep hold of my old Kph speedo just in case.
 
Yes, trip and all in kilometers.

I had a look at the metric link, seems like its only a matter of time before we go metric.

A friend of mine works in Southern Ireland and apparently they have converted without too much trouble. However, I am not sure what the situation is with new cars registered there, as regards their speedos. Presumably they only read in kilometers now as mine did, this may be a bit of a pain if they travel to the UK for vacation for instance, especially as the UK is a through route for Ireland to the continent and vice versa.

I think we will have to wait and see how it goes. As I said I think I will keep hold of my old speedo just in case.
 
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