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Speedometer needle wobble/shake

mattbred

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Canada
On my 89 cherokee with cruise control, my speedometer needle shakes.

When I bought it earlier this year, the speedo needle has a slight shake and no noise at any speed, but the shake was very small and almost unnoticable.

I went to a junkyard and bought a gauge cluster that looks a hell of a lot better (black and white instead of the blueish one) but after installing it I noticed that the speedometer needle shakes a lot worse at low speeds, and it now ticks behind the speedo.

After searching these forums I found out it could be the speedometer cable, so I took out both the long one from the T-Case to the Cruise Control thingie, and the one from the cluster to the Cruise Control thingie. I couldn't get the actual cable out from the small 6" one, but I was able to get the entire cable out of the long one and I greased it up with white lithium grease. I also noticed that there was a slight crease/bend in the cable right near the firewall that was somewhat hindering the movement of the cable so I took some thick toothepicks and some tape and wrapped them around it to keep it straight and it worked good - no more hinderence.

However after doing all this and making sure it was routed properly and greased up, I reinstalled it and there was absolutely no difference.

Could it be the gauge? I'm hesitant on that because the old speedo did it as well. Could it maybe be the bend still acting up? How sensitive are these cables and how freely should they turn by hand? It turned fairly easily without it connected to the T-Case. I'm kind of out of ideas here without just replacing the speedo cable, which I bet is pricey.
 
hmmmm spedo gear?? Its only a simple machine.

metal gear,
spins plastic gear,
spins cable,
spins speedo.

Im thinking its either your cable or spedo gear in TC, I would try cleaning that cable really good and greasing it up well. Then over spin it by using a high speed power drill to break down anything catching it up. (should spin quite freely by hand with no hang ups). best way to check the spedo gear is to pull it out. It may be chewed up.
 
Alright thanks, I'll check the gear tomorrow and maybe take the drill to it and see what's up. I'll also take the drill to my speedo directly and see if I can isolate it.
 
I'm not sure about the Jeep speedo but I know that if you spin a VW speedo cable too fast with a drill you'll mess it up. But thats also being spun off the wheel and not the drive shaft so the jeep one should spin a lot faster. I could be wrong but just a heads up.
 
My 89 did the same thing, a friend said to try dropping a few drops of oil down the housing. I did proplem solved. I just disconnected it behind the gauge cluster and used 3 in 1 oil let it run down for about an hour.

Kenny
 
Ok well I took out the gauge cluster again and took a drill directly to the speedo and it checks out. Guess I'll go buy a new cable now. Thanks for all ze suggestions.
 
Alright well I bought a new speedo cable ($16!) and installed it, and tore down my cruise control thingie to eliminate all drag, and now the needle shakes just a tiny bit until 60 kmh, then it's pretty solid. Also no more noise.

I noticed that without the main speedo cable attached to anything, it would rotate very nice and smooth, yet as soon as I attached it to the cruise control thing and the 6" cable, it would get more difficult. However, if I removed the speedo cable from the 6" cable and cruise control thingie, they both moved quite freely on their own. I might try greasing it all up again. In any case, it's liveable now!
 
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