54 Hornet Speedo howling

harry54
harry54 Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
Driving into work today I had speedo whining. Today the temp was about 30 degrees and it took about 20minutes before it stopped. The speedo needle was also flying all over the place until the noise stopped. Does anyone have anysuggestions on how to cure this ailment ?

Comments

  • 53jetman
    53jetman Senior Contributor
    Harry - remove the cable from the housing and soak it in ATF overnight. This will force lubricant into the dry cable insert and eliminate the noise and needle hoping around.



    53jetman



    Jerry
  • harry54
    harry54 Senior Contributor
    Do I remove the whole cluster to get to the cable ? Can I access the cable from under the dash ?
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    The old remedy was to use graphite for the howling problem. These days most of the graphite sold is for keys and locks,but it will work when applied to the speedo cable . Not a hard job, just a bit inconvient. Unscrew your speedo cable housing from the speedo head ,squirt in the graphite, screw the speedo cable assembly back on. Make sure the squared end of the cable goes into the squared recessed hole correctly on the speedo head. Another thing you might want to do while you are there is lube the speedo head. There is a wick hole on top of the speedo cable connection area which is in the twelve o'clock position for putting oil in. Add a few drops of speedo oil {alight grade of iol} into the wicking hole and you have done the lube job.
  • harry54
    harry54 Senior Contributor
    Do I squirt the graphite into the speedo Head or on the cable ? Also can I get at the wick hole without taking out the cable ?
  • Aaron D. IL
    Aaron D. IL Senior Contributor
    Her4e's something else that not too many people know about.... It is true for '48-'53 Hudsons for sure and probably true for '54's too. If lubricating the speedo cable itself does not work, there is actually a lub point on the back of Hudson speedometers where the cable plugs in. It looks like a little rivet but it's not! It's actually a little cup and under it, if you were to pop it out you would find a felt wick. Putting some drops of air tool oil at this lube point will cure the problem. How many people have ever hit this lube point even among those who know Hudsons well ? Probably very few. When they were new it was probably a lube point that never needed to be hit. When the need lubrication the speedo will let you know by whinning and screaching and the needle will bounce all around because the bearing in the speedometer has run dry. Again this assuming the '54 has the lube point just like '53 and older.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Harry, You lube the cable by squirting graphite into the cable and casing. The oiling of the wick hole as I had mentioned earlier is done with the speedo head either on or off the dash. With a 54 model Hornet it would be a bit easier if you just unscrewed the instrument cluster and lubed it that way.May as well do the whole job with the cluster ubscrewed,it's a lot easier that way.
  • harry54
    harry54 Senior Contributor
    Thanks Everyone.....i'll Let You All Know How It Goes
  • 464Saloon
    464Saloon Senior Contributor
    I had the same problem with my 54. My head had to be rebuilt. This same thing happened to me years ago on my 55 Ford. Cable was not dry, the head was smoked. It's not really fun to take the cluster out of a 54, so hopefully you will be lucky and it will just be the cable. Not sure how difficult 53 and older dashes are to work with.
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    To lube the cable properly you need to take it right out. Remove the whole assembly the car. This is not difficult, you just have to unscrew it at both ends. The transmission end is held in by a 1/" bolt against the collar, and the top end unscrews from the speedo head. You can then remove the inner cable, clean it, and as you re-insert it, wipe the surface of it with anti-sieze paste so that the whole length of the cable is lubricated. Just lubricating the top of the the cable is not going to achieve very much. Oh, and it's a good idea to disconnect the battery first, as when you are manouvering the cable it is quite easy to contact various terminals under the dash, and this will be likely to release some of the smoke from the innards! As to difficulty of working under the dash, I hope the designers of these have to spend eternity on their backs, with their necks twisted sideways, and arms convoluted into all sorts of various angles, as one has to to undo anything under here! They couldn't have made it more difficult if thy tried! Good luck,

    Geoff.
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    Sorry, that should have read 1/4" bolt holding the clamp. When you undo it you can draw the assembly out of the transmission.

    Geoff.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    hey its not that hard to remove the dash etc, ive seen worse setups in my relatively short time! but i can think of things id rather be doing than impersonating a monkey. whats harder is finding those 10/32"nf screws and studs that hold it all in, i still cant get any! also what did hudson use as a rub strip between the dash and the bulkhead between the A pillars? mine is almost all gone and the dash squeaks and shakes on rougher roads
  • harry54
    harry54 Senior Contributor
    Geoff,

    Let me get this straight. Your saying that I should completely take out the cable to get the best result ?
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Geoff is right my speedo was howling too. Unscrewed the end from back of speedo then jacked up car and removed other end from tranny. Remove cable from car and yes remember to unhook battery. Then pull the center cable out of the metal sheath. Clean the cable with a rag with solvent then check the shealth for old gunk clean that by spraying WD40 let dry then regrease the cable and slide it back into the sheath. Should eliminate all of your problems and its done the whole cable properly.
  • harry54
    harry54 Senior Contributor
    thx 51horneta
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    By removing the cable entirely you can clean it out better as well. Lie it down straight and use the inner cable as a cleaning mechanism. Pour some kerosene or light oil down the casing, and run the cable back and forth several times. You will be surprised how much gunked-up grease it gets out. Do this until it comes out fairly clean, then coat it with anti-sieze paste or light grease as you re-insert it for the final time before replacing in the car.

    Geoff.
  • harry54
    harry54 Senior Contributor
    Thanks all for your help. It was high 40's today and I had a chance to put all my new found knowledge to work.

    While lying on my back on the floor of my 54 sedan I found that I needed a Light to see the cable well. I would recomend to anyone performing this task to use a drop light. You can hang in up under the dash and it allows you to see very well behind the speedo. I found that reaching my hand from the passenger side was the best access to the back of the speedo cable. Once I got into a comfortable position on my back, " If there is such a thing", I was able to reach in and loosen the back of the cable quite easily. I was then able to back the cable out so that it was behind the dash and easy to work with. I choose to squirt WD-40 downt the cable shaft and then lube with Light wt oil... I then lubed the female end of the speedo with light wt. oil. After rerouting the cable , I reattached .

    I took a quick test drive and operation was smooth and quiet..

    Thanks all...... Happy Hudsoning...
  • harry54
    harry54 Senior Contributor
    Good Morning . Drove the 54 Hornet to work this morning. The speedo is as queit as a Church Mouse..... Smooth as silk..... Thanks all. Have a Happy Hudsoning Day.......
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