Sorry for all the threads lately....anybody have this issue? Is it just the nature of my old beast or is there something that can be done? It's often really wobbly for a while, then smooths out, especially at higher speeds, but often it just wobbles like crazy the whole time I drive, and I've just got to assume the speed I'm going is in the middle of the wobble.

 

mine used do do that then i lubed the speedometer cable and it quite

 

Ok, thanks. I sprayed some white lithium grease in the instrument cluster end, I'll do the same at the t-case end and see if that helps.

 

it is a sealed cable .. you know this right ??

so if the "oiling" is working .. the seals have failed .. you'll either end up getting oil up into the dash area causing other problems , or the cable will fail ..


time to buy a new one ...


.

 

Really? Didn't know that. I've read in a couple places about oiling the speedometer cable so I figured it was part of some maintenance schedule. Maybe it was talking about an older model or something that maybe doesn't have a sealed cable? Well, for now anyways, I can handle some wobble. I guess it would be worth seeing what a new cable costs, but unless I start hearing the thing scream when it's really cold out like happened with another truck of mine, I'm not going to worry too much about it.

 

Just replace it. Before I was familiar with these trucks I had the same issue with an 89 4runner. The shop I took it to was trying to save me a few bucks and they just lubed it. The cable finally broke about 2000 miles later with some serious squeaking.

 

Ok, thanks. It may seem silly, but unless the wobbling gets worse, or I do start hearing it, I'll probably just wait for it to break. I have a pretty good idea of how fast I'm going using my tach anyways, so I can hobble along until it comes in if it needs to be ordered.

 

Yeah, I drove for over 4 months without my speedo cable, until I got around to fixing it. What's worse (or better, depending on your intentions) is that the odometer and cruise control won't work either, since they're all based off the speedometer cable. Sure makes selling the truck a little easier with a few less miles on it, though! (I'm assuming)

 

Just to piggyback. I also had this problem with my 91. It started affecting the transmissions performance. I'm stupid when it comes to AT's, so I took it to a local shop. They told me that the transmission needed to be rebuilt...to make a long story short, $2000 later I still had the same problem and someone who seemed to be about as good with transmissions as me had butchered my transmission (bellhousing bolts missing, wiring all tangled up, etc.). I realized after chatting with friends that I had caused the problem myself. I had previously installed one of those speedo guts replacement kits from the local autoparts store. Through all this I learned that the sealed cable is and absolute necessity obviously because when I broke down and spent the $100 bucks and 20 minutes to install it my problem was gone and has not resurfaced for 6 years.

 

Sometimes, just adjusting the cable housing can unbind the cable.

 

Ooh, I actually didn't think of that. It may have twisted a bit when I messed around with the transmission and instrument cluster..it's actually been much better since the last time I messed with the cluster, so maybe I did unbind it a bit. Well, either way, it's not an important enough part that I need to worry about fixing it until it actually goes.