Speedometer question?

[stangeater]

My speedometer has been acting up and I have ruled out the speedo cable since the odometer works fine. The needle just bounces all over the place.
My question..........has anyone ever taken an instrument panel apart? Would it be possible to swap parts out of another instrument panel? Seems like an easy fix, but I thought I'd find out if anybody else had ever done this. Thanks!

 

[cflguy2005]

parts from similar clusters from 90-95 should fit perfectly.

 

[SolidState]

This more than likely IS a bad speedometer cable. I have seen it on a few different ford vehicles, including my SHO.

 

[dstig1]

The speedo cable is probably drying out or corroding (there is/was grease inside it). Your speedo needle will likely keep bouncing until one day it just goes ploink and drops to zero. BTDT (twice). The problem I can save you from is that the new cable comes essentially ungreased (if you can believe that). You need to pull the cable out of the sheath, grease it up good with some white lithium or PTFE grease, and slide it back in before installing it. I did not know to do that on my first cable replacement and it was noisy from the get-go and broke only 2-3 yrs later. Second one was done right. All good now.

You pretty much have to do the same things to get the speedo cluster out as you do to get the cable out, so tear into it. You will probably find that the speedo works just fine. My second time around I didn't believe it could be the cable again so I tore apart the speedo and all was good. Used a cordless drill to spin it a few seconds and it was perfectly smooth. Cable time.

 

[SHOwned213]

is that the cable on the tranny side or the dash side?