Speedo cable packings

[Frank O_ The Mountain]

Does anyone have the details of the speedo cable and if there was a packing at the gearbox end? Mine is leaking oil into the cable big time. Terry

[alan@somex.freeserve.co.uk]

Terry, I recently replaced my cable on my TA I have no way of knowing if it was the original, but it was certainly old. It had a felt packing in the end, best descibed as a small cylinder of felt with a hole up the middle for the inner cable to pass through. This felt piece fitted directly into the end of the brass ferrule which is crimped to the gearbox end of the outer cable and would be trapped in there as the knurled retaining ring was tightened onto the gearbox. My replacement cable fron Richfield Speedograph had no such felt packing, however there was a void in the brass ferrule, and I was able to retrieve the old packing and re use it. If I rember correctly, the void in the new cable was slightly smaller in diameter than the old cable and I had to cut the felt with a scalpel to remove a small segment. I have a digital camera and the old cable if you wish to have a picture to show where this felt went. Alan Webster TA 3239

--- In mg-tabc@y..., taterry@a... wrote: > Does anyone have the details of the speedo cable and if there was a packing > at the gearbox end? Mine is leaking oil into the cable big time. > Terry

[twilson@motionwear.net]

Terry, my old TC used to leak like a sieve here. I don't know what the original design was, but I solved the problem by putting a small o-ring around the shaft in the cable drive housing. It never leaked after that. Tom Wilson TC0272

[joecurto@aol.com]

Terry I seem to remember a felt washer on the cable side of original Smiths cables, I guess the Brits figured it would act as a blotter . Joe Curto

[alan@somex.freeserve.co.uk]

--- In mg-tabc@y..., joecurto@a... wrote:

> Terry I seem to remember a felt washer on the cable side of

original Smiths

> cables, I guess the Brits figured it would act as a blotter . > > Joe Curto

Joe, the purpose of the felt packing (in a way like a minature version of front crankshaft rope seal) is to prevent the ingress of oil between the inner and outer cables. Previous postings have indicated oil travelling right up the cable to the speedo, this felt packing, if present and effective, would prevent this Alan Webster

[joecurto@aol.com]

So you are saying that the felt packing would have allowed a "controlled" lubrication of the lower portion of the speedometer cable! Joe Curto