rookie22

hey guys i am gonna replace my speedo cable cuz its shot, does anyone know how the easiest way to do this myself is? i have no clue how to go abouts and do it myself and i dont wnana waste an hour at a shops pay for something dumb, does anyone know a do it urself site for it or anyone wanna give detailed help?

Moosetang

I need to know too. Is it true that after you replace the cable you have to tell the insurence that u fooled with it or you could go to jail?

roundman

that thing about having to tell the insurance company is just bull**** someone is trying to feed you, don't believe it for a minute! replacing the cable is not the easiest job in the world to do because you have to take the instrument cluster out of the dash to disconnect the plug on the cable at the back of the speedometer and this involves taking apart half the dash board to get at the cluster. you really need to get a manual for the year Stang you have to find out exactly what has to come loose. on my '88, you have to use a small flat bladed screwdriver inserted at the back edge of the four switches for the lights, flasher, etc and pop the switches loose from the dash. then you have to use the same screwdriver to pry loose the locking clamp on the switch plugs to get them unplugged. once all four are undone, then there are two screws at the bottom of the windshield that hold down the front of the dashboard. you need a right angled screwdriver or a 1/4 socket wrench with a screwdrive bit in it to get these out. after that, there are two screws down low on the right side of the dash and one on the left side down low also. you also have to remove the lower dash cover in order to see these screws and one or two of them use a torx head screwdriver instead of a philips head. once the dash is loose, you have to wiggle it up and off the bottom and then get it all the way removed. once it is out of the way, you can see the instrument cluster is held in with about 6 torq head screws so remove all of the screws. now the panel will pull out some but not very far because there are two big wiring plugs plugged in on the back of it down low on each side. You have to squeeze in on both ends of these plugs at the same time to get them loose. Once they are loose, the speedo cable is plugged into the speedo with a clamp that is hard to get loose with your fingers but if you keep at it, it will eventually come loose too. Once you have the instrument cluster all unplugged, it will lift right on out. Don't damage the printed circuit board on the back of it or you will really be in deep **** then. At this point, I think you can grab hold of the end of the speedo cable with some pliers and pull it all the way out of the outer cable housing but it will be covered with grease so have some rags handy to keep the grease off the rest of the interior of your car. you then can grease up the new one as you slowly thread it back down the cable until it reaches the tranny gear and slips into place. make sure to use speedo cable grease as normal grease is too thick and when cold in the winter it will put too much strain on the new cable and break it. you may need to twist it back and forth some until it hits the square hole and goes into the gear in the tranny all the way. once you get this far, all you gotta do now is plug everything back in and replace all the parts you removed to get to it in the first place. make sure the square end of the cable also goes all the way into the speedo too, or you'll be pulling it all back apart again to get it plugged in correctly. just a piece of cake to do, huh?
if this sounds like too much for you to handle, just take it to a local shop who specializes in speedometers and they will gladly take your money and install a new cable for you!

VertStangGT86

Only legal issue deals with cracking open the odometer and turning back the miles.