'67 Trip Odometer Cable...

[Patrick T.]

I'm having trouble with resetting the trip odometer back to 0000. When I have the cable out of the pedal support where it mounts and it is straight, there is no problem resetting it. But...as you know, the cable is screwed into the speedometer head and then makes one hairpin turn towards the hood release then another sharp turn to get it into the mounting hole in the pedal support.

When the cable is kinked up like this, it is very difficult and takes a lot of hand pressure on the rubber cable knob to make the numbers move. Even when they do move, I hear a skipping noise from the speedometer head. Is there a gear nylon or steel in the speedometer head that needs replacing or is the cable bad? I just had the whole thing rebuilt and will have to take it back, but I'd thought I would check here first for the straight skinny. Any ideas? PT

[John H.]

Re: '67 Trip Odometer Cable...

Did you lube the reset cable? With the tight radius bends, it helps if you lube the cable before installing it so it can move back and forth in the sheath.

[Patrick T.]

Re: '67 Trip Odometer Cable...

John, since I paid $645 to have the whole cluster restored and rebuilt, I figured it was ready to go. I would assume that they should have greased it. I'm pulling the cluster out tomorrow and have them go over the whole unit again. I paid their fee and this shouldn't be happening. PT

[Wayne K.]

Re: '67 Trip Odometer Cable...

Patrick,

What John is telling you makes sense and I wish I would have thought of that before installing the cable. When I purchased my 67 it was missing the cable so I bought one from Roger's Clocks and installed it with the cluster already in the car. That was a %^%&^%%$*%% job in itself let me tell you. After I was finished I looked in the dictionary under masochist to see if my name was mentioned. Anyway, I noticed the same thing you've mentioned and I was afraid I'd push the end of the cable through the rubber knob so I put a BB gun BB in the knob and put the knob back on and this gave me the extra I needed so it works and doesn't seem to be doing any damage to the knob. I don't use it very often so I'm in no hurry to remove the cable to try and grease it.

Wayne

[Brian M.]

Re: '67 Trip Odometer Cable...

Mine works just about the same. Freshly rebuilt cluster and all. It takes alot of pressure on the knob to get the job done.

[Patrick T.]

Re: '67 Trip Odometer Cable...

Thanks Wayne and John, I'll try it tomorrow. I don't have any BB's but I do have shotgun shells. PT

[don 42616]

That will move it fast.!!!!!!!!!!! *NM*

[Joe R.]

Re: That will move it fast.!!!!!!!!!!!

Patrick & Brian,

Your problems are twofold! First the instrument rebuilder should have used the new GM reproduction trip and odo number sets now available. Yes, there are slight differences from the production number sets BUT they turn freely AND will pass PV with flying colors. Secondly the cable shortens as it is turned and sometimes if it is not routed properly it becomes too short and cannot engage properly. Lubrication helps the cable but is not a cure all for your problem. EVERYTHING has to be tuned and working properly to get the trip to reset to "0000" and not run over to "9999".

Sounds like maybe you spent your hard earned money with a rebuilder and didn't get anything but some black paint and problems.

Regards,

JR

[Patrick T.]

Re: That will move it fast.!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the comments JR. I can see how the spring cable would wind up as you turn it clockwise and the diameter of the shaft would shrink, making it fairly easy to turn the numbers.

On the other hand, you need to turn the cable counterclockwise to move all the numbers back to 0000. When you do this, the cable starts to unwind and the diameter gets bigger and then might bind up in the casing. This is maybe why I can't reset the numbers to 0000. As you said, I can move all of them from 9999 to 1111 and then it jumps over 0000 and goes back to 9999. A new reset cable might be in order, since this one is 39 years old. What a PIA!!! PT

[John H.]

Re: That will move it fast.!!!!!!!!!!!

I just hung my original cable vertically and dribbled some sewing machine oil in the end and let it sit for a couple of days; works great.

[Jim T.]

Re: That will move it fast.!!!!!!!!!!!

John is that the same as 3 In 1 oil?

[John H.]

Re: That will move it fast.!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim -

The sewing machine oil is lighter, but I'm sure 3-in-1 would work just fine.