1985 Dodge Truck Faulty Speedometer or Cable?

1985 DODGE TRUCK
110,000 MILES • V8 • 2WD • AUTOMATIC
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PHILLIPUS11
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
Hello,
On my 1985 Dodge 250 (3/4 ton) Truck with 110K miles, the odometer seems to work fine, but the speedometer has been making a racket and swinging out of control. I pulled the cluster and found that the end of the inner rotating cable plugging into the speedometer goes from square to a point (looks like it was machined to an oblong 4 sided pyramid). My question is if this is how the speedometer cable inner shaft was shaped from the factory. I turned the speedometer cluster by hand and could not determine if my problem was A) the cable slipping within the speedometer housing or B) the gears within the speedometer slipping.
Thanks.
Feb 9, 2009 at 1:38 PM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
  • 110,194 POSTS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
If you can spin the cable while it is still attached to the trans, the cable is broken internally. If you can't turn it, chances are the speedo is bad.
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:36 PM
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