Speedometer removal-'69

[Jeffrey S.]

I need to remove the speedometer from my '69 this week. I will have the steering column out tomorrow (I hope). Does anyone have any tips based on their experiences that they could pass along? I am following the service manual instructions except it says complete removal of instrument cluster is necessary. I thought it could be done by moving it away from the dash and it wasn't necessary to remove it from the car. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Jeff

[Robert S.]

Re: Speedometer removal-'69

I did this task about 10 years ago on my son's 74'. I believe you do need to remove the entire dash panel from the car to get the speedometer assembly out - that is how I did it. As I recall once the screws are out you just need to unplug the speedo and tach cables and all of the various electrical connections and light sockets and it comes free. I labeled each wire and made a diagram as I pulled the connectors off but as I recall the metal part of the back of the panel was stamped with the colors of the wires going to the various connections (nice touch by GM). The task is easier if the top dash pad is removed but that is not absolutely necessary. Having the steering shaft out certainly helps as I had mine only loosened and dropped down as far as possible and I was just barely able to get the dash panel out. While the panel is out you may want to replace all of the bulbs and replace the speedo and tach cables as the cables and bulbs are relatively inexpensive.

[Edward J.]

Re: Speedometer removal-'69

Jeff ,The Tach and Speedo cables if you undo the cables at the transmisson and the dist. this will let you pull the dash forward enough to do the unhooking of the cables and dash bulb sockets, the the sockets for lamps are coded on the clusters to give you the wire colors. but its a good idea to get a piece of paper and make a diagram out of the back of cluster and use the wire colors and locations. good luck

[Jim T.]

Re: Speedometer removal-'69

I need to remove the speedometer from my '69 this week. I will have the steering column out tomorrow (I hope). Does anyone have any tips based on their experiences that they could pass along? I am following the service manual instructions except it says complete removal of instrument cluster is necessary. I thought it could be done by moving it away from the dash and it wasn't necessary to remove it from the car. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Jeff

It has been several years since I removed my 70's speedometer, but since it was new, I have removed the speedometer twice. Did not remove the steering column I only lowered it. I did not remove the dash panel, only moved it forward enough to remove the speedometer. I did remove the door sill and the kick panel first. Probably disconnected the speedometer cable first coming from under the dash before moving the dash enough to go in with one hand to remove the screws and remove the speedometer.
You will most likely loose the little rubber insulators to go between the speedometer lens and the speedometer. The smallest vacuum line you can buy could be used as a replacement. If your speedometer has been out of the car before, you may not find them.
To get the speedometer needle off, twist it gently counter-clock-wise while gently lifting it.

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: Speedometer removal-'69

Thanks for all the tips. The steering column removal was pretty straight forward. This morning I got the whole thing out- dash and all. The suggestion to disconnect the cables from the distributor and transmission was a great one. I was able to pull the tach cable enough to really get the dash away so I could disconnect the speedo cable. I was then able to release the tach cable and at that point it was only a matter of pulling out the bulbs, etc.and taking the whole dash out. This is why this group is so great! Thanks gin.
Jeff