viven44 Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Last night I was going to quickly swap out my speedo cable as my old one was rotting and the speedometer needle was jumping around a bit. Unfortunately, the new LMC cable was too long and the speedo gear popped out. There was tension when I installed the gear and I should have known that wasn't OK. I was able to get the gear out but the retaining clip is inside the tail housing of the NP205 probably lying in the oil puddle inside that. I had to trim the new inner cable another 1/4 inch with a dremel and the gear fit just right and thank heavens I have a parts truck so found another retaining clip the speedo works now, actually rather well and smooth. Lesson learned that the gear needs to go on without tension. I will be swapping it with the proper cable soon though. Should I strive to remove the retaining clip from the NP205 tail housing? Edit: Tail housing removed and clip has been retrieved... I wanted to take the opportunity to change the plastic drive gear... but there are only remanufactured ones which are missing the empty spline in the gear (presumably an oil passage). NOS is not in stock New speedo cable from Amazon worked the first time. I don't know if the LMC cable wasn't all the way in on the cluster end or if the cable was just too long. This time I installed the cluster end first and made sure the speedo gear end was nice and relaxed. Who knew a simple speed cable job could take 2 days !! (I had to drop the entire NP205 tail housing to extract the retaining clip, spilled the needles on the tail shaft bearing... it was a frustrating experience)... this was a case of extra work "while I was at it". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 New speedo cable from Amazon worked the first time. I don't know if the LMC cable wasn't all the way in on the cluster end or if the cable was just too long. This time I installed the cluster end first and made sure the speedo gear end was nice and relaxed. Who knew a simple speed cable job could take 2 days !! (I had to drop the entire NP205 tail housing to extract the retaining clip, spilled the needles on the tail shaft bearing... it was a frustrating experience)... this was a case of extra work "while I was at it". Eh, but you got it done and it's working now, so 100%! 👍👍 Two thumbs up. 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 15 Author Share Posted June 15 Eh, but you got it done and it's working now, so 100%! 👍👍 Two thumbs up. 😉 Bill - My understanding is that the EFI heads increase the compression ratio slightly, maybe 1/2 a point. Vivek - At least you don't have things floating around in there and the speedo is working. Good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viven44 Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Bill - My understanding is that the EFI heads increase the compression ratio slightly, maybe 1/2 a point. Vivek - At least you don't have things floating around in there and the speedo is working. Good job! Thanks Jim and Gary! 24 hours ago my outlook and mindset was completely different. I am glad it is done now. I was beating myself up over botching a simple speedo cable job because I didn't use proper judgement... I guess thats what you call lack of experience... These are the times I wonder how I was ever able to do some of the more complex things... blind luck I suppose or maybe some karmic help from all those times I helped out buddies with their car troubles... I call it "Car Karma".. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Thanks Jim and Gary! 24 hours ago my outlook and mindset was completely different. I am glad it is done now. I was beating myself up over botching a simple speedo cable job because I didn't use proper judgement... I guess thats what you call lack of experience... These are the times I wonder how I was ever able to do some of the more complex things... blind luck I suppose or maybe some karmic help from all those times I helped out buddies with their car troubles... I call it "Car Karma".. You're doing great I used to develop methods that no one even considered simply because I didn't know any better, and I'd never heard "You can't do it that way!" Ignorance is bliss? Dumb luck to stumble through a much easier or more effective method? Whatever... "It works for me!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Back in January I bought a car trailer and had trouble with the brake controller on my Dodge locking up the electric brakes as soon as the brake lights came on. I reported back in January that I had found the owner's manual for my brake controller and found that the adjustments were not intuitive, and that I'd try it again after adjusting the controller correctly. Well that happened a couple weeks ago when we went to open up my folk's cabin (where the trailer lives). Unfortunately the brakes didn't work at all, so I don't know how the correctly adjusted controller works. But also the trailer running lights would come on when I hit the brake pedal. My rule of thumb is that when you have weird electrical issues with a trailer, nine times out of ten you'll find you have a bad ground (the tenth time you'll also have a bad ground, but you won't find it!). Well, this turned out to be one of the nine times. The ground tab in the electrical socket on the back of the Dodge was folded over flat, so when I plugged in a trailer it would make contact on all of the circuits except for the ground. I'm guessing that happened after I picked the trailer up since the lights and brakes all worked then. I tried bending the tab back up, but I couldn't get it aligned well enough to let a trailer plug in. And the tab was pretty weak, so even if I did get it lined up it'd probably bend over, or even break off pretty soon. I had a new socket that even lined up with all of the mounting holes in the Dodge bumper. It didn't have the nice weather-proof, plug-in connector that the factory socket had, so I had to cut and solder wires. But now I have a completely working socket again. So far I've only tested it hooking it up to Pluto (since that's the only "trailer" I have at home that has electric brakes). I didn't tow him anywhere, but all of the circuits worked. So the next time we're at the cabin I'll try with the empty trailer again. I'm going to need to have working trailer brakes before I tow Oswald home in June! (next post on the Dodge) As a reminder, when I bought the trailer to haul Oswald I found that the brake controller on the Dodge would lock up the trailer tires as soon as the brake lights went on. After learning how to adjust the controller I tried again, but the ground connector wasn't working in the Dodge's trailer connector. The last I left this I had replaced the connector on the Dodge, but hadn't tried it with the trailer yet. Turns out it was still locking the trailer brakes immediately. So last week I installed a new trailer brake controller. I ended up getting a Hopkins proportional brake controller (I think the model name is Agility). It looks like the same controller I have in the motorhome, which makes sense, since both times I bought the cheapest proportional controller I could find. Today I tried it out, and it seems to be working correctly! I can lock the empty trailer brakes, but I can adjust it so they don't lock too. And then I loaded it up! To jump to the end, with the trailer loaded pretty much to capacity I can't lock the trailer brakes on gravel, but they do pull everything to a stop pretty well. So I'm happy with the trailer brakes now. But back to loading it up. I got Oswald out of the garage at my parents cabin. He was shoved way over against the side (to make room for two boats) so I had to put him back up on dollies and push him sideways to the middle of the garage. Oswald's battery was dead, so he needed mouth-to-mouth from the Dodge. Once it had a chance to charge up a bit it probably didn't even turn over a full revolution before it started and ran! Then I drove it up on the trailer. Not sure when I'll actally start working on Oswald, but hopefully soon (next post on the Dodge, keep reading for more back-and-forth about the Oswald project) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 15 Author Share Posted June 15 As a reminder, when I bought the trailer to haul Oswald I found that the brake controller on the Dodge would lock up the trailer tires as soon as the brake lights went on. After learning how to adjust the controller I tried again, but the ground connector wasn't working in the Dodge's trailer connector. The last I left this I had replaced the connector on the Dodge, but hadn't tried it with the trailer yet. Turns out it was still locking the trailer brakes immediately. So last week I installed a new trailer brake controller. I ended up getting a Hopkins proportional brake controller (I think the model name is Agility). It looks like the same controller I have in the motorhome, which makes sense, since both times I bought the cheapest proportional controller I could find. Today I tried it out, and it seems to be working correctly! I can lock the empty trailer brakes, but I can adjust it so they don't lock too. And then I loaded it up! To jump to the end, with the trailer loaded pretty much to capacity I can't lock the trailer brakes on gravel, but they do pull everything to a stop pretty well. So I'm happy with the trailer brakes now. But back to loading it up. I got Oswald out of the garage at my parents cabin. He was shoved way over against the side (to make room for two boats) so I had to put him back up on dollies and push him sideways to the middle of the garage. Oswald's battery was dead, so he needed mouth-to-mouth from the Dodge. Once it had a chance to charge up a bit it probably didn't even turn over a full revolution before it started and ran! Then I drove it up on the trailer. Not sure when I'll actally start working on Oswald, but hopefully soon (next post on the Dodge, keep reading for more back-and-forth about the Oswald project) Glad you got that sorted. Trailer brakes aren't something that should work when they want to, so getting a controller that is solid is the way to go. But what is it you have to do to Oswald? I've forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Glad you got that sorted. Trailer brakes aren't something that should work when they want to, so getting a controller that is solid is the way to go. But what is it you have to do to Oswald? I've forgotten. What I HAVE to do is rust repair. I plan to start with the cab: above the windshield and the corners. I've never done body work before, so we'll see if that gives me a good cab or a pile of scrap metal. If that goes well I'll move on to cleaning up the chassis. Then the drive train. Right now I'm leaning toward a Cummins 12V and a Tremec 5-speed (TR-4050?). But we'll see about that. I keep bouncing between that and a 351W. Then front clip and finally bed. I'm wishing this will be a 2 year project. Realistically I think I should be happy if I get it done in 4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 15 Author Share Posted June 15 What I HAVE to do is rust repair. I plan to start with the cab: above the windshield and the corners. I've never done body work before, so we'll see if that gives me a good cab or a pile of scrap metal. If that goes well I'll move on to cleaning up the chassis. Then the drive train. Right now I'm leaning toward a Cummins 12V and a Tremec 5-speed (TR-4050?). But we'll see about that. I keep bouncing between that and a 351W. Then front clip and finally bed. I'm wishing this will be a 2 year project. Realistically I think I should be happy if I get it done in 4 years. That sounds like quite a project! But what are you going to do with the truck? What will you use it for? What are you going to do to the front clip and bed - make it a Bullnose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 That sounds like quite a project! But what are you going to do with the truck? What will you use it for? What are you going to do to the front clip and bed - make it a Bullnose? Making it into a bullnose is an attractive thought (pun intended), but no, the plan is just to bring it back to a nice looking solid OBS. And the plan is for it to return to year-round daily driver status. When I got into it today to drive it out of the garage an on the trailer my thought was "I miss this truck!" Maybe I should have started by shopping for a more solid starting point. And if the cab repair goes poorly I still might! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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