Speedo questions

[CRASH]

I bought this Speedo a couple years ago from an RRB member, threw it in the project box for my daughter's Fair Lady, and haven't looked at it till now. I was going to decide which head to use, then mount it. When I took the round head off the cable I noticed there was no inner cable. Isn't there supposed to be some sort of inner cable that will turn? Can I get a replacement for that, or do I have to buy a new cable assembly, or am I screwed?

Here's the cable without anything in the middle.

Here's the heads. The one on the right is the one that came with the cable. Which do you think will look better on her Fair Lady?

 

[rfeagleye]

Yes, there is an inner wire. Search Schwinn Speedo Cable on eBay and you'll see lots of examples of the cables you need.

That speedo cable doesn't look like a Schwinn speedometer cable actually, so I would get a new one and use the speedo head on the right

 

[ODDER]

Good advice.
On the speedometers I have on my bikes I have pulled the inner cable out. Only because I had a speedo head freeze up and it caused damage to my drive unit and spokes. Now I'm scared of em. Check with acg_schwinn on schwinn forum. I think he rebuilds them, might have the parts you need too.

 

[rfeagleye]

Yes, ag_schwinn does a great job rebuilding those. He has them on eBay all the time.

 

[Irocit]

I run into that all the time. It even happened to me on my Fair Lady, my bike came with the speedo when I got it but it wasn't working. I took it apart and found there was no inner cable and the speedo was locked up. Someone took it out at some point because of the speedo locking up instead of fixing it. You can buy both or one or the other, I'd probably buy the whole thing together. However, you're gonna want to make sure the speedo is free spinning or you'll wind up breaking the inner cable again.

 

[Ziggyboy]

I had the same problem with the speedo on my 73 Orange Krate. The moving part inside the speedometer was caked with old dried up oil, so it was hard to turn and was causing the cable to bind. I put some oil in a little hole that is found on the threaded part of the speedo where the cable attaches. That freed up the turning part of the speedo so that the cable would turn a whole lot better. No problems since. New oil or new grease seems to settle most old part problems.

 

[Irocit]

Exactly, the little hole on the threads is the only place you wanna apply oil. Also, carefully applying heat with a heat gun to the speedo case helps loosen up the dried oil that locks them up. At the same time moving the speedo with a with an inner cable. Once I get it to move freely by hand I use a 3 inch piece of cut inner cable an put it in a cordless drill and slowly turn it after I get the speedo to break loose. Heat is definitely the key but you have to take your time.