Cleaning Speedomter Internals

[Steve L]

Dear Forum:

Thanks to some forum members and You Tube, I have opened the speedometer housing from my '71 K1 to replace the Speedo face. The inside of my speedometer housing has all sorts of rust and dry dirt. As soon as I loosen the set screw to the trip meter, I will pull the speedometer gear set out of the housing to clean up the inside and address the rust in the bottom of the housing.

I've never cleaned the gears of a speedometer unit. I'm not sure whether to use something that is a lubricant or something like an aerosol circuit board cleaner, or something else. Maybe just gentle setting of compressed air. Someone in this forum has successfully cleaned a speedometer and knows what to use. Suggestions?

Sincerely, Steve L.

 

[grepper]

I've done some reading about this on forums.sohc4.net. The internals of mine looked fine, plus the needles had a nice cushioned bounce back, so I just did the faces, repainted the needle tip, and had the bezels power coated. From what I've read you have to be very careful. The wrong lubracant can make them function wrong. I think silicone grease from a hobby store was what was suggested. You can also refill the the dampening barrels with glycerin I think.

 

[Steve L]

Thank you for your reply.

I see that the gear box under the speedo unit has grease and I plan to clean and re-lube those gears. I don't see any sign of a lubricant in any of the gears of the speedo unit, itself. The gears all look dry and clean. I assume that if any lubricant was used, it would have left a residue. What and where are the dampening barrels?

 

[grepper]

Here's a thread on sohc4.net that might help. http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=78890.0