Cheap speedo solution for 3.55:1 or larger

R100RT

Founding Member
Nov 27, 2000
362
0
16
Sonora, CA
Hey Stangers,

If you are running 3.55:1 or larger gears, and a T5, you will not be able to get the right speedo gear to make your speedometer correct. The largest driven gear, for T5s, is 21 teeth and you need a 23 teeth gear to work with the drive gear found in our 94-95 cars.

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=126/category_id=287/home_id=59/mode=prod/prd126.htm
This link will take you to Dakota Digital who has a good solution to making your speedometer read correctly. For $90 you can avoid pulling the tail shaft, installing a 7 tooth drive gear and a 20 tooth driven gear to make it right. Heck, I would spend $90 just to avoid draing tranny fluid!

The setup isn't as complicated as you think. You have an option of just driving and hitting the up/down button to correct your speedometer.

The correct switch settings are 1,2,4 to off, 3 to on and you want to hook the EEC to OUT1 for the 128K AC our EEC needs. If you want to preset the unit, you can, and then you don't need to set it by driving. This unit needs to be inside the car. I suggest installing it under the shift boot and using the 12VDC that feeds the reverse switch to power the unit. Installed there, all you need to do is pull the shift bezel if you change gears or tire size.

If you want to calculate your speed error use this formula: Assuming 94-95 which has 8 teeth drive gear(green). Use 7 for Fox Mustang trannys

error= (Tire Revs/mile*gear ratio*8*)/1000*driven gear teeth

example: My case 225/60/15 is 815 revs/mile, 21 gear tooth 3.55 ratio

815*3.55*8/1000*21=110.2 or 10.2% fast

Hope this helps

Eric
 
There is something like that caled a speedcal. it cost right at $100 and its designed for our cars. I would rather spend the extra $10 and get something that isnt universal.

If the price was a little lower I would get one cause I have some gears going in soon.
 
Notice I said 94-95 Mustangs

From Speedcal:
USE THIS SPEED-CAL WHEN INSTALLING A 99-2003 USE THIS SPEED-CAL WHEN INSTALLING A 99-2003 5-SPEED OR 6-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION INTO A 5-SPEED OR 6-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION INTO A 1996-1998 MUSTANG. THIS SPEED-CAL WILL 1996-1998 MUSTANG. THIS SPEED-CAL WILL CORRECT YOUR SPEEDOMETER USING THIS COMBO. CORRECT YOUR SPEEDOMETER USING THIS COMBO. CALIBRATION MUST BE CALCULATED BY DM. CALIBRATION MUST BE CALCULATED BY DM.

Fits Model Years: 1996 to 1998


I read this to mean not for 94-95 Mustangs.

Eric
 
I always though it was pretty much universal for all Mustangs '94 +. I know some people have used it on here before.
Maybe Ill look into it If I can ever get the guy to help me do my gears.

Can I use this if I change the speedo gear and then add this later? Or will I have to use the stock gear?
 
My understanding was 355's were ok with the Ford drive gear
and
It was 373's or larger where the problem came in.

Grady

3.55s are correctable but the 23 tooth gear you use is actually a chrysler gear and doesn't mesh dead on. It causes some premature wear. 3.27s are the steepest gear you can use and still have an OEM ford gear to mechanically correct for it, in our cars.

Adam
 
My understanding was 355's were ok with the Ford drive gear
and
It was 373's or larger where the problem came in.

Grady

Check out the New Ford Racing 2007 catolg, pg 139. They have redone the chart that shows what works. If I had a T5, that uses the 7T drive gear, I would be OK. If they made a 23T driven gear, I would be OK but I haven't found one.

Eric
 
3.55s are correctable but the 23 tooth gear you use is actually a chrysler gear and doesn't mesh dead on. It causes some premature wear. 3.27s are the steepest gear you can use and still have an OEM ford gear to mechanically correct for it, in our cars.

Adam

Adam,
For a while, I was running a white 23T gear and the center part of the teeth tore out after just a few miles. Ford doesn't make a white 23T gear so that must have been A Chrysler gear. It didn't last long.

Eric
 
I always though it was pretty much universal for all Mustangs '94 +. I know some people have used it on here before.
Maybe Ill look into it If I can ever get the guy to help me do my gears.

Can I use this if I change the speedo gear and then add this later? Or will I have to use the stock gear?

Both the speedcal and the Dakota Digital can use what ever tranny gears, tire size, and rear gears you have. It's just a matter of doing the calc, setting the factor or driving with the up or down button on. The speedcal doesn't have this feature.

Let's say you know, from passing a radar speedometer that your car is really going 55 when the speedometer says 60. With teh Dakota unit, you just drive to 60, hold the rpm there, touch the down button and let it go when the speedo shows 55 and your done.
Eric
 
I don't know where you guys are going but I bought a genuine FORD 23 tooth gear from my dealership back home. Maybe your guys' dealerships just suck?

OK, Mr Smarty Pants, bring forth the Ford P/N. Don't look close or you may see "Chrysler" on it! LOL

No Ford 23T gears are shown in 2007 FMS catolog.

Other stuff I found:
Ford Speedometer Gears

Drive Gears Driven Gears
6 teeth - machined into output shaft (C6 only) 16 teeth - tan
7 teeth - machined into output shaft 19 teeth - tan
8 teeth - machined into output shaft 20 teeth - orange
9 teeth - machined into output shaft 21 teeth - red
23 teeth - white (1)
Click here for part numbers.


Notes:

Ford drive gears are machined into the output shaft on C3/C4/C5/C6 & AOD transmissions. You may need to remove your tailhousing to determine how many drive teeth your transmission has.
1 - (Re 23T white gear)This is a retrofit gear to allow the speedometer to function with 3.73 and 4.10 rear end gears. Since the gear tooth pitch is slightly different than OE, the service life of this gear is limited to less than 25,000 miles.
 
sorry, no part number. this was last year....and don't insult my intelligence, it was a FORD part. just because it's not in the book anymore doesn't mean they never made it.

Touchy, ehh? Hope your day gets better. I was trying to be funny. I guess any part bought from FORD is a FORD part right? Maybe you were really at a Chrysler dealership. LOL

I searched, for about 10 minutes and found no references to any 23T ford speedo gear. I did find TCI had a reference but its not Ford. I found many references stating the white 23T is really a Chrysler gear and doesn't have the right pitch.

PS 23T is not in the 2006 FMS catalog either.

Eric
 
sorry, no part number. this was last year....and don't insult my intelligence, it was a FORD part. just because it's not in the book anymore doesn't mean they never made it.

I'm sorry, but you're wrong.

95yellowGTS said:
Wait so if I put that 23 tooth gear in my tranny then Im adding Dodge parts to my tranny?

O man that can only equal disaster.

:rlaugh: :rlaugh:
 
I used the 23 tooth gear for a couple years with my 3.55 gears. No problems at all.

This past summer, I had my clutch replaced and since the tranny was coming out, I had the #8 tranny gear replaced with a #7. Then a 19 or 21 (whichever is correct) was put in the rear and my speedo is perfect. This setup basically mimics the 93 and older T5 setup. I could go to 3.73 and still be dead on accurate.