Odometer gear lube

[Dave Sherman]

I've got the speedometer and odometer apart for the '47 Lincoln. Relax, I'm not tampering, though I am lining up the odometer dials because it has been stuck between two sets of numbers for decades. Mainly I wanted to fix the trip odometer because the reset cable was frozen, and on the last test drive, the hundreds digit rolled up when it wasn't supposed to. Some 3-in-1 oil freed up the sticky cable and the reset drive gear, but mainly there's just lots of old, hardened grease in the gears. So, what would be good to lubricate the gears with?

 

[wings&wheels]

Short of any specific requirements, my go-to lube for similar applications is Wurth HHS-K. Long lasting, OK with most plastics and rubbers. Importantly it applies as a low viscosity liquid that penetrates then sets up to a gooey, sticky and stringy film. Great stuff.

 

[Kestas]

First, clean off all the old grease. I don't think it much matters what grease you use. Lubriplate would probably work well. If you want it to last another 80 years, a silicone based grease might be better. I use Molykote 33. It's the best for this application. It's also super expensive. I use it because I got it free.

 

[Vercingetorix]

With watches and clocks, the gears don’t get lubed, only the pivots.

 

[DCDG]

Get it good and clean blow it with compressed air before applying a grease. I would use either a synthetic lube like super lube or white lithium type grease not spray but one in a tube.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Thanks all, light silicone grease seemed to be the favored lube. I had a tube of Lubricam for the distributor, so I've got the old grease cleaned up and a few dabs of that on the shaft pivots and the helical drives.

 

[JackWildfeuer]

Either light silicone grease or Red Rubber grease. I almost never have Red Rubber Grease on hand and since I use silicone grease in my electronics from ham radio to VCR's and BluRay players I would just use Silicone grease. If you have changed spark plug cables in the last 10 years you probably have a packet in the box of plug wires to use on the boots.

 

[CleanSump]

Lubriplate Aircraft Instrument Grease and on shafts instrument or clock oil. Or MC35B grease and MC2500 oil.

 

[JHZR2]

Not exactly the same, but on my old mechanical odometers on my old MB cars, sometimes the speedometer needles get jumpy at low speed, and it’s attributable to a metal bushing where the cable attaches.

I used slip 2000 gun oil which is supposed to not gum or gunk up.

Not sure you’d use it near the gears but I assume you have a similar setup for the cable. So is service that spot as well.