Henry J speedometer

[joncon]

The speedometer on my 51 Henry J has started acting up. I've checked the gear and the cable and they look perfect,  I also lubed the cable.
At around  40 mph or higher it starts buzzing and goes to 100mph, if you slow down to 20 or so it starts working right untill you speed up again.
I mounted  a 52 HJ speedometer under the dash to see if it worked and it was ok at all speeds for about 2 or 3 miles, then it went to 100mph and broke the speedometer where it no longer works. I also put a 72 Chevy truck speedometer under the dash and it started buzzing and pegged it also. I've never had this happen before with a speedometer.
Has anyone any ideas?  Thanks John

[joefrazer]

Your problem is with the cable inside the casing. Somewhere...usually due to dried up lubricant...the cable is binding up and when it unwinds, you see the needle jump erratically. You need to remove the cable and casing and thoroughly clean and lubricate both. Otherwise, you'll continue to kill speedometer heads. Been there, done that!

[joncon]

Thanks for the info . I already pulled the cable and lubed it but haven't tried removing or cleaning the casing. I'll try that tomorrow

[Tom N]

You might also try putting a very small drop of sewing machine oil on the speedometer shaft where the cable hooks into it (the part the cable rotates).  Be very careful to use a small amount and do not get it inside the speedometer itself, only on the connection point.  Hope this helps.
Tom

[joncon]

Cleaning oiling etc. Didn't help. I replaced the cable with a RNOS  one for a K/F and now speedometer works perfect. I think maybe my cable was for a non OD as it looked to have to tight bends. Does anyone know the length of a non OD verses a OD speedometer cable? My old one was around 50" the one I have now is 70". It is a little long but works now. I was lucky I didn't ruin my original speedometer like I did the one I tried  while working on my problem.
 Thanks for all the help and ideas.

[joncon]

I bought it from ebay. The seller was 0095. I just looked at his auctions and he hasn't any listed at this time

[Terry T]

speedo cable lengths are:   56 1/2  w/o OD
                                        54 1/2     w/ OD

[Fid]

I bought one of those after-market "Fits Henry J" speedo cables and put it in my car a couple years ago. It was wrong and ground up my speedometer drive pinion. Try and find one of those! Luckily I had a spare. I oiled the original cable good and put a drop in the speedo and put it all back together and it works fine now. And I did find a source for that pinion; the 18 tooth one used with the 4:55 rear end
http://walcks4wd.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=644464

[joncon]

Is that correct, that the cable for the overdrive is 2 inches shorter than the non overdrive? Isn't the OD transmission longer? My old cable was 54 1/2, I just measured it, as I still have it.  The replacement, as I stated is 70".  It was marked, all HJ non OD and Kiaser/ Frazer.  Seems to be working correctly. I cleaned the old cable in gas and carb cleaner, greased it and it still was sticking. The car is FID's dad's grey 51 HJ, so I would think it had the correct cable. It seemed to be stretched pretty tight.

[Terry T]

The lengths that I stated are correct--right out of the HJ parts lists.

[Fid]

Just to elaborate on what Terry said - yes, it is true the speedo cable in the OD equipped cars is shorter than the one used in non-OD cars. This is because on the non-OD transmission, the cable connects on the opposite side of the transmission so it's actually routed differently to avoid kinking and making sharp bends. Therefore, it needs to be longer to connect on other side of the transmission. You can use a non-OD style cable in an OD equipped car (I've done it) but you can't use an original OD cable in a non-OD car because it will be too short.