L series speedo cable with lift kit

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:32 pm

On the way to work this morning my speedo in the L series stopped working.
I now have a spare from the wreckers hoping it is the cable but till I pull it out I am not sure.
I do feel since fitting the 2" lift kit the cable is certainly not sitting quite right and is pulled more staight than previously.
Has anyone else had an L series speedo issue when they have fitted a lift kit.
If so how did they fix it.
I have pulled the cable out of the rear of the speedo at lunch time and pushed it back in but no change.

Brumby Kid · Post by **Brumby Kid** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 6:20 pm

Adding to the question so as to not make a new thread.
Same thing with a 2 inch brumby lift? Is it a problem?

Cheers Cam

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 6:25 pm

OK I went outside the square this arvo and instead of the wreckers $40 L series speedo cable I went into the spares bucket and installed the my original 1982 MY series touring wagon speedo cable. Seemed the same sizes both ends but longer. Cant take the car for a drive at the moment as I am on Daddy duty with our 3 youngest and wife is out with the eldest daughter so tomorrow morning will be the first chance to try it. Fall back is the wreckers L series cable.

Post by **TOONGA** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 6:58 pm

Cliff that was exactly what I was going to tell you to do .

It will work fine

Cam no Idea why yours stopped working unless it was old age. I have a 2 inch lift in my brumby. I actually have a vortex turbo speedo cable in my box, which is the same length as the L series cable which is shorter than the MY cable

TOONGA

Brumby Kid · Post by **Brumby Kid** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:10 pm

Nah sorry Toonga.
Lift isn't in yet. (Very soon! Bought a 2.5T trolley jack and 3T stands tonight)
Just wondering if it is a common problem.
I'm learning that there are a few things to watch out for with Subaru body lifts.
Radiator, ac, gear lever will be shorter. Etc. just wondering of this was one of them.

Cheers Cam

Post by **TOONGA** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:14 pm

Cam 2 inch lift on the brumby won't bother the speedo cable.

Have fun doing the lift. maybe another picture write up

TOONGA

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 9:13 pm

And then there is the auto V's manual differences to consider.

The 3 peed auto 4WD box in my 85 gLta had speedo drive on LHS, the manual 5sp 4WD box speedo drive is on RHS.
I cheated and retained the longer auto speedo cable when converted to manual just because I hate the L Series back of speedo head unit access, resulting in longer cable cramped a little - gives slow to 100 reading and catches up with self in good time. Worse in winter.

So, maybe go for an auto L cable with lifts in manual L's ??

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:51 am

steptoe wrote:So, maybe go for an auto L cable with lifts in manual L's ??

Bingo !! This is exactly what you need to use. The 3 speed auto (from either L or MY) does the trick as they are about 4 inches longer.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:48 pm

that is another item I can tag as valuable when I strip this baby !

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 4:03 pm

When I put the 2" kit into the 82 MY touring wagon I was fairly spoilt.
What I mean by this is the car has twin electric cooling fans, one for the engine and one for the A/C. I would imagine that a standard brumby/MY/L series will all need to allow for the engine to drop and also to drop the engine fan shroud. I would like to install an electric engine fan into the L series one day.
I also had to modify the 4WD lever in the MY but not the gear stick (I think, it was over 10 years ago when the lift kit was installed)
As now noted the speedo cable will be Ok as it was in the MY.
No other issues that I recall, had more problems with the L series kit than the MY

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:51 pm

Some great info in here about the lift on the L and the speedo cable. I wondered if the speedo cable that came with the L that I bought for the lift was stock subaru or a custom job - it was something I didn't think about when I did the lift!

Cheers

Bennie

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:14 am

At this stage I cant get the MY cable to engauge inside the speedo.
I can pull the cable off the speedo and while driving (in a quiet area) feed the cable turning so the cable is OK.
All I can think of is the cable seems to be slightly short so maybe I dont have it screwed enough into the gearbox.
That is unless there is some slight differences between the early MY's and the later ones, re internal cable lenght ?
Any other thoughts.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 2:18 pm

Here's one someone may be able to expain, I sure cant.
The speedo cable I put into the L series after the lift kit installation snapped the original L series cable was the original cable out of my 5th month 1982 MY touring wagon.
I have not been able to get it to work in the L series so far.
Today, I pulled this cable back out of the L series and compared it to the standard L series cable I picked up at the wreckers during the week.
Both ends of the cable were shorter on the MY than the L series cable.
I then pulled the current speedo cable out of the MY which is one I picked up from the wreckers a couple of years ago. I dont know what model of MY it came out of.
End result. The original 82 model cable was about 2mm shorter on the gearbox end and about 5mm shorter on the speedo end. It was never going to work in the L series, just too short.
I compared the unknown (year model) MY cable to the new L series cable and they are the same, ie, longer on both the gearbox and the speedo end.
Does this not mean there was a cable change from the early to the later MY's. ?
If so people may want to consider this when they buy a cable from someone like a wreckers for instance. I will put the original MY cable back into the MY and the current MY cable into the L series which should sort things.
Very odd.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 2:48 pm

Ooooo....Ooooo....Ooooo (I'm having a brain fart)
The original speedo cable from the MY that I was trying to jam into the L series was for an AUTO box not a manual gearbox !!!
The car started out as an Auto which is what this cable was to suit and I converted it to a manual.
Would that be the difference ?
I'm not going to put this original cable back into the MY at this stage and will pick up another MY cable from somewhere but preferably less that the $40.00 wreckers price tag.