Difficulty level in Changing Speedo Gear?

[stng94]

Hey all,

Im new to this board but have owned my Stang since 1997. I was wondering if anyone had changed their speedo gear in their car and how hard it was to do so. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you! -Mike

 

[94TURBO5 O]

Level 2, it's in the side of the tranny connected to the cable.

 

[wytstang]

 

[CManT1914]

Why do you need to change it? Did you get new rear-end gears or something? Just wondering.

 

[stng94]

Yeah, i had put 18" rims on my car and that caused my speedo to read slow. But not by a whole lot, but now i put in 3.55's and I am off by almost exactly 10mph, nevermind my odometer is running double time phantom miles. So i did the calculation 8tooth X Gear ratio X rev. permile for the tire size. Divided by 1000 to get the tooth gear that I need. I would need 22.88 or something, so I figure i will just put in the 23 tooth gear. I do most all of my own work on my car, but couldnt find any articles on changing it. I have the shop manual, service manual and repair manual and they say nothing about it. I was just looking for someone who actually might have experince doing it. Not any old person just reading other posts on the internet. Do you know what Im sayin? So stupid is as stupid does.

 

[CManT1914]

I know exactly what you're saying. I put bigger tires on mine too, (went from 225/55/R16s, to 255/45/ZR17) and then put some 3.73s in. My speedo was WAY off! But I got the gear and did it myself. 23 tooth is correct for the 3.55's. If you jack the car up, look on the driver side tailshaft of the transmission, there will be a electrical plug. Unplug it, then undo the bolt that holds the shaft in the transmission. (It's like an 11mm bolt) Pull the shaft out, then you'll see your gear sitting on top of it. Pull out the retaining clip, pull out the old gear, drop the new one in, replace the retaining clip, and put it all back together. About a 10 minute process so long as your catalytic converters are cool. You WILL touch them trying to get to the tailshaft. No biggie though, hope this helps.

 

[stng94]

MAN!! Now thats what Im talkin about. Great instruction from first hand experience. Thank you.

 

[CManT1914]

Glad I could help.

 

[Adrenalin]

.... If you jack the car up, look on the driver side tailshaft of the transmission, there will be a electrical plug. Unplug it, then undo the bolt that holds the shaft in the transmission. (It's like an 11mm bolt) Pull the shaft out, then you'll see your gear sitting on top of it. Pull out the retaining clip, pull out the old gear, drop the new one in, replace the retaining clip, and put it all back together. About a 10 minute process so long as your catalytic converters are cool. You WILL touch them trying to get to the tailshaft. No biggie though, hope this helps.

What he said.

The hardest part is jacking the car up and if your like me crawling your fat behind under the car!!!

 

[CManT1914]

What he said.

The hardest part is jacking the car up and if your like me crawling your fat behind under the car!!!

Glad I'm a small guy, 5'9", and 140 lbs. Comes in handy when working on cars.

 

[NEEDA5.0]

Its super easy. One bolt that holds it in. Pull the sensor out, take the clip off, plut the new gear in and reinstall the clip.

 

[Ryan Paterick]

CMan,

How accurate do you think your speedometer is now? I just did the same thing you did w/ the tire size and gear.

Thanks

 

[stng94]

Thanx alot guys. Yeah Im 5'9" 155 so getting under my car is kinda easy. I guess being 1 1/2 lowered with the steeda suspension makes it a little hard. However i have been using rhino ramps to do most of my under car stuff. Only crappy thing is, I have to remove my chinspoiler every time i go up the ramps. Thanx again ya'll

 

[Adrenalin]

My car is lowered a little, and with my jack it just doesn't sit low enough to quite make it under the front K member to jack it up from there. What I have found is I use 2 garden slabs 12"x12" and the are about an 1 1/2" thick so I place them in front of my tires and drive on them then I am able to jack the car up from the front. Will take donations tho on a Lift!!

 

[stng94]

HA! yeah did i mention im looking for donations also J/K Yeah I use some 1 1/2 inch boards to drive up onto my ramps. I think now that I installed the chin spoiler I will have to use much longer ones. I only have about 4 inches under the spoiler.

 

[CManT1914]

CMan,

How accurate do you think your speedometer is now? I just did the same thing you did w/ the tire size and gear.

Thanks

I've tested it using one of those Police Department machines that show your speed, dead on at 70. I think the bigger tires offset the difference there WOULD have been from using the 23 tooth gear. (The 23 tooth one is actually for 3.55's, they don't make one for 3.73's)

 

[Drago]

I searched for this thread cuz i need to change out my speedo gear, but im a lil confused. I unbolted the one bolt that holds the cable to the transmission, but from there i dont understand what to do. You say to unbolt the bolt pull the sensor out. Where is the sensor. Do i just pull out the whole cable or what. This sounds super easy but im just lost. PLease help me out. Full instructions for the retarded would be helpful. Thanks

 

[donjohn]

i thought somebody on here said you didn't even need the speedo gear and you could just reprogram the computer?

 

[stunner6910]

i believe you can but it's a lot less expensive and if you're off by 2 or 3 mph, i think that's fine for a lot of people