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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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I want to lubricate the speedometer cable on my 55 T-Bird. I backed off the retaining nut and expected the cable to just pull free from the speedometer, but it won’t budge, and I can’t fathom why. I was able to snap a photo blind since I have almost zero room to maneuver and am hoping someone has the answer to my dilemma.
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By Florida_Phil - 2 Years Ago
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There is a small spring like connector part between the cable and the speedometer itself. It can fall out if you don't know it's there. Sounds like it may be stuck or distorted preventing you from removing the cable, Once you loosen the nut, the cable should pull out. You may have to remove the gauge assembly. You have to reach under the dash to get to the nuts and retainers.
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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I was thinking, the end of the cable has that little silver nib on it that I can wiggle up, down and side to side, so it’s not frozen. You mentioned a spring connector, could it be instead of trying to pull it out I should push it in and rotate it to unlock it?
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By BamaBob - 2 Years Ago
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Is that a small set-screw in the top of the sleeve that the cable is stuck into? I've personally never had any problem just pulling the cable right out of the back of the speedometer, but it was never in a T-Bird. Can you get under the dash enough to use a light and mirror to more closely see it? Just a thought-might work.
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By paul2748 - 2 Years Ago
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To get under with the seat in, move the seat all the way back. Then get one of the milk crate like boxes and put it next to the door sill. Then slide yourself in. This helps your back and makes it easier to get under the dash. Still tight, but it helps when working under the dash on the drivers side.
In my experience with my 56, the inner cable should just pull out. There is nothing physically attaching it to the speedo head
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By Florida_Phil - 2 Years Ago
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The connector is about an inch long and made out of a spring like material. It connects the gauge with the cable end. Why it's there, I haven't a clue. I have disconnected a lot of old Ford speedo cables before and never saw this part until I removed the cable from my 55 Tbird. It may be some kind of vibration insulator? It is held in place when the cable nut is tightened. Your cable should come out without too much trouble. If it's frozen solid, you will have to remove the gauge panel.
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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I have a plan. I spoke to the CASCO restoration shop, the fellow said “there is nothing that can prevent the cable from being removed, just backoff the retaining nut and give it a yank”. The “stud” end of the cable is loose in the housing but won’t release. My plan is to pull the cable through from the transmission end and tie it to the clutch pedal, next while thinking rude thoughts, stomp on the pedal 😊.
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By BamaBob - 2 Years Ago
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Another thought-take hold of the cable where it passes through the firewall under the hood and pull on it.
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By 55blacktie - 2 Years Ago
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The cable isn't accessible from under the hood. It passes through a hole in the transmission tunnel and attaches to a 90-degree speedometer-gear drive. Accessing/removing the speedometer cable at the transmission, even with the exhaust system removed, is difficult, due to extremely limited space. Gil Baumgartner (CTCI Gil's Garage) recommends attaching the cable to the transmission before reinstalling a rebuilt engine/transmission for that reason. If it's not easier to access cable when I remove the shifter cover plate from the transmission tunnel, I will leave the cable attached to the transmission when removed. Hopefully, I won't have the same trouble as the OP when removing the cable from the speedometer. If so, I'll cut the cable. The original cable won't be used when installing a C4 transmission. However, the speedometer driven gear at the transmission for a C4 is the same as the 57 T-bird's. In other words, a 57 T-bird speedometer cable will work on the C4.
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By 1/8cavman - 2 Years Ago
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Do yourself a favor and remove the seat. Your back and patience will thank you. I think all 55 T-birds had power seats. They are not that hard to remove. 4 nuts to remove, block seat up a little to remove the pin that connects the bottom seat drive to the seat frame, same type pin for the rear motor. Unplug the wires to the motors. A strong, agile partner to take the seat out the passenger door. Oh yes remove the hard top or lay the soft top down on the deck before seat removal. Now room to lay on the floor to get under the dash or take a nap. As mentioned before by someone, I would take the cable loose from the angle drive at the transmission to allow more and easier movement away from the speedometer. Now a little squirt of ATF or Marvel Mystery oil at the area were the cable will not come loose and let it set for a while. Is the lubrication for a noise problem or to cure a wavy speedometer needle? I let a wavy needle go too long and ruined the inners of the odometer. The T-bird speedometer-odometer parts are different from the passenger car. They are very expensive to rebuild and parts for them are very limited when I inquired about them. Take your time and be easy on it. Good luck 1/8 Cav Man
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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I had a wavy needle at 35-40 mph in the past, this year it was wavy to 50-55. A month ago it began to make noise in time with the needle bounce. I reached under the dash and found the retaining nut to be loose. I snugged it up (that’s probably why it’s stuck now) and the needle bounce completely went away and it was quiet but that was short lived, the needle began to oscillate but not bounce and again made noise in time with the oscillation. I pulled the cable sheath behind the speedometer away several inches revealing a dry cable. I’m not certain but I suspect new cables are delivered dry or not lubricated vey well. I intend to replace the cable and make certain it is well lubricated before doing so.
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By DryLakesRacer - 2 Years Ago
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I used speedoservice in Fountain Colorado for my new cable during a transmission swap fora new cable. They are excellent with older vintage autos. My new cable came ready to install and in a plastic style covering. They have recently moved from their original building but are still the same folks.
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By 55blacktie - 2 Years Ago
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Unlike Cavman, I didn't find it easy to remove the seat from my 55 Bird. I did remove the hardtop/w help from a neighbor, and then we lifted the seat out and over the back of the car, not through an open door. Yes, removing the seat, steering column, and soft top makes it a lot easier to work inside the car, particularly under the dash. I did it because it's part of a body-on restoration. I don't think I would want to do it just to remove the speedometer cable, unless I had no other option.
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By MoonShadow - 2 Years Ago
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We used to use powdered graphite way back. Always worked great. Not sure if its still the best thing though. Any comments?
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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My plan worked, here’s the extracted cable. It’s bent and the cable wrap is broken, a reflection of the force it took to remove it. Does this look like the correct speedometer cable end for a 55 T-Bird? 
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By Florida_Phil - 2 Years Ago
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Hard to tell in that photo, but you may have had the wrong cable. According to the NPD Thunderbird catalog, the 55 & 56 Thunderbird used a different speedo cable assembly as a 57. The difference is in the clip I posted about before. The 57 and up cables plugged directly into the gauge. The 55-56 used a clip to make the connection. Here is a photo of the clip below. The NPD part number for the 55-56 cable is T-17260-1. The part number for the clip is T-17306-1. Hopefully, your gauge isn't messed up. This kind of stuff is common with old cars. By now, they are all a collection of mismatched parts.
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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I talked to the people at Hill’s. They have the clip, the person I spoke with went and got one off the shelf but could not get the cable to connect to it. He said the Clip had an odd shaped opening and the cable would not match up. He then took the cable and inserted it into a speedometer without the clip, it went right in. I assume the clip would plug into the housing clip end first but I don’t feel anything just the opening for the cable.
Thanks Phil
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By Florida_Phil - 2 Years Ago
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Hard to say what's going on from here. My '55 Tbird was unmolested when I purchased it about five years ago. My speedometer cable uses the clip in the photo. The end of my cable has a female end where the clip fits into. The clip goes into the female end of the gauge. It is not necessary to remove the seat or the steering column to remove the gauge cluster. There are four 3/8" nuts holding some small angle pieces underneath the dome. You can use a 1/4" socket with a long extension to reach these nuts from under the dash. If you lose the angle pieces, they are available. It's helpful if you are a contortionist. 
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By 55blacktie - 2 Years Ago
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Good information, but now I'm concerned that the 57 cable I bought to use with the C4/C5 transmission will not fit the 55 speedometer. I did not know anything about the clip. I guess I need to crawl back under there and remove it. I would prefer not to use the angle drive at the transmission.
Anyone with a 55 Tbird convert to C4? What speedometer cable did you use?
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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55blacktie the clip probably isn’t needed see my previous post regarding a conversation I had with someone at Hill’s Thundering Parts. The cables they sell plug right in, no clip needed. I believe the person who installed my cable a number of years ago didn’t take the time to line it up and more or less forced it in with the retaining nut.
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By 55blacktie - 2 Years Ago
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Thanks. I don't know, yet, if my existing cable is the OEM/w clip or not, but good to know that the clip isn't needed on the replacement cable.
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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55blacktie Today I removed the cable sheath from the transmission; my new cable is in route from Hill’s. I’ll let you know how it all goes together.
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By 55blacktie - 2 Years Ago
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Thanks!
I was under my 55 a few days ago and disconnected the shifter from the transmission. I intend to remove the OEM shifter and the transmission tunnel cover plate. I will modify/replace it to accommodate a Lokar C4 floor-mounted shifter. Maybe the cable is easier to access with the cover removed. When it comes time to install the rebuilt engine and C4 transmission, I will heed Gil Baumgartner's advice and install the cable before the transmission goes back into the car.
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By 312YBlock - 2 Years Ago
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55blacktie After completely removing the cable I found out it actually is a 57 cable which was installed in my T86 OD part number 17260-B used with 1957 292 engines from Hill’s and yes it fits the 55 speedometer. All 55 to 57 cables are the same, however the transmission ends vary. I compared a new 55 S/T cable to the 17260-B and it is identical on both ends.
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By 55blacktie - 2 Years Ago
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Thanks, 312.
I gave some thought to replacing the Fordomatic with a T5, but I haven't owned a vehicle/w a manual transmission since the 90s. Mind you, I haven't forgotten how to shift, but I've settled down and gotten lazy. Having fought commuter traffic for over 20 years might have had something to do with it as well.
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By 312YBlock - Last Year
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Hi Phil, I may have stumbled upon the answer to this statement you made with regard to my difficulty removing the cable from the Speedometer in my 55.
“The connector is about an inch long and made out of a spring like material. It connects the gauge with the cable end. Why it's there, I haven't a clue”.
I believe the connector was intended to prevent the cable from being inserted too far into the Speedo housing. I lubricated and installed the new cable snugging up the fastener finger tight. On a test drive the needle vibrated only slightly and I figured that’s par for the course. After maybe 20 miles it began to make the rotational scraping sound to my great dismay, it sounded like it was coming from the speedometer itself. I unscrewed the cable and realized a bundle of wires from the dash harness was sitting on a lip of the dash applying upward pressure on the cable. I moved the harness away and reinserted the cable lightly snug. On my test drive the needle behaved perfectly without the slightest bounce or vibration, just like a modern car, I was pleasantly amazed. I believe the connector was there purposely to prevent the cable from being connected directly to the housing. My original problem began when I was unable to remove the cable after I tightening to the housing.
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By 312YBlock - Last Year
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Hi Phil, I may have stumbled upon the answer to this statement you made with regard to my difficulty removing the cable from the Speedometer in my 55.
“The connector is about an inch long and made out of a spring like material. It connects the gauge with the cable end. Why it's there, I haven't a clue”.
I believe the connector was intended to prevent the cable from being inserted too far into the Speedo housing. I lubricated and installed the new cable snugging up the fastener finger tight. On a test drive the needle vibrated only slightly and I figured that’s par for the course. After maybe 20 miles it began to make the rotational scraping sound to my great dismay, it sounded like it was coming from the speedometer itself. I unscrewed the cable and realized a bundle of wires from the dash harness was sitting on a lip of the dash applying upward pressure on the cable. I moved the harness away and reinserted the cable lightly snug. On my test drive the needle behaved perfectly without the slightest bounce or vibration, just like a modern car, I was pleasantly amazed. I believe the connector was there purposely to prevent the cable from being connected directly to the housing. My original problem began when I was unable to remove the cable after I tightening to the housing.
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