Speedometer Rebuild Service

[horsa]

Problem is what people know now vs what they knew 5-8 years ago. Back then Sean was top notch for restorations and had a decent turn-around time. He restored a gauge for me ten years ago and it was less than two months including me sending it to him from Texas to OZ and back. He had a great reputation in the business and if you were serious about wanting something done, you pre-paid for the work to ensure your place in line. There weren't many people doing quality gauge restorations at the time so he had a pretty long waiting list which is typical for custom specialty work.

I pre-paid based on an anticipated turn time of three months for the two speedometers. Never would have guessed there would be a problem based on past personal experience and great feedback from numerous other people he restored gauges for. I'd rather it didn't take so long to get the first gauge and am anxiously awaiting the second one. But there isn't a lot that can be done about the situation when we're working off an Internet handshake more than 10,000 miles apart. Hindsight is always 20/20 as they say.

[willy]

With all this information may be we should go back to American made or rebuilt.
And support this country rather than other countrys even if the product is better
50 years from now it could be junk again with a nice gauge in it.
Willy
That brings me to who knows a American rebuilder

[lt.luke]

Willy, you make an interesting point. I do not know the best answer to your question yet, even as long as its been since this thread started & despite numerous other threads on the subject.

Do a quick search of The competing sites & they all talk about how crappy their competitors are. It's hard to choose!

[DocUwe]

Hello, in the "sunshine state" I recommend: http://www.scottspeedometer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If you want "Made in Germany" strictly exact repair, I recommend: http://www.ka-ja-tacho.de/site.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The company restored about 15 speedos and the other Willys/Ford GPW gauges of mine; the lower row is already restored, the upper I still must send to the company because they are only repaired in an army shop:


Cheers Uwe

Postscript: KaJa is the best in Europe but not inexpensive

[Dion]

HOLY COW!!!!! Do you have a jeep for every one of those Speedometers??

Nice looking collection by the way!

Gruss,
Dion

[tamnalan]

And all those carburetors behind the speedos!

[jeepfinger]

Hi Doc,

I'll take one off of the top line, long needled, oh sorry, I thought that I was in The For Sale Section Nice display
Regards,
Dave

[DocUwe]

I know that I am crazy...

Here the carbs:



Uwe

[Chuck Miller]

David,
Thanks for the update on your gauges. I feel like there is a chance for me to get my gauges now. I'm glad you got some of yours.

Chuck Miller

[Rod]

Laurent,

Please check your email and PMs.

[Chuck Lutz]

Hey Doc....

Would you be comfortable in posting what was done to your speedos and what the charge was for each of them? Unfortunately some shops do EVERYTHING and charge an arm and a leg and the next shop does very little and charges an arm and a leg.

I can say that there is a difference in using stick-on numbers on the odometer/trip odometer wheels and NOS replacements. Some shops/guys take EVERYTHING apart and clean and CORRECTLY lubricate it and others just lube it up and slap it together!

I am not the least bit surprised when $50-$80 charges for most guages (including newly silkscreened faces) are quoted and I would think if a guage DID work and needed a COSMETIC resto that would be a reasonable charge....more if the internals were bad or the case rusted or threaded posts missing and spare parts were needed to fix it.

When it comes to a speedo, I would think a newly silkscreened face, painted needle, irradiated markings, replaced wheels (or cleaned if usable) and a proper cleaning and lube of the internals and some possible plating of the case or a good cleaning....would cost in excess of a handful of Ben Franklins ($100 notes).

If all this is too expensive for the US guys in a Euro world, I can see why some search for US shops to do this work....some of which are very good, others have a long run of good work then have problems and back and forth...

I would like to know what it costs and what has been done so a valid comparison can be made....shipping costs to Europe/insurance/time involved are part of the issue here!

[lt.luke]

I just simply would prefer a good American shop. If I wanted something foreign, I'd probably save money & buy repro. If I did that, I'd pay for it the whole time I owned the jeep. I have in the past expressed a desire to have Sean do my gauges, but it's no longer an option.

[DocUwe]

Chuck, the rebuilt of a speedo as new will cost about 300-400 USD in Germany. When the face is ok it costs 100 USD less. But you will get a speedo that is better than new. The company has ISO parts (USA common) and so the company can repair every part, can print a new face with the original white colour on it.
I also have Army shop rebuilt speedos, the costed about 120 USD ready. The Austrian Army used MB/GPWs after WWII and had to repair such things, so I could buy early and late speedos. The shop repaired them without changing the face or glass (otherwise the glass was broken) so the function is satisfying (not very good) but they work.
Uwe

[Chuck Lutz]

Thank you....so in my opinion they are actually competitive with the cost of some shops here in the states....not counting the difference in shipping costs. I would prefer to spend my dollars in the USA also Luke, but the problem here is some shops to a good job on one order and are horrible on the next one.

In the end you won't know how WELL your guage was repaired until quite awhile later down the road, so to speak....to see if it works correctly, all the wheel cogs are intact, the magnetic issues resolved, needle bounce eliminated and it does not sieze up.

"Quality does not have a price"

[Michael O.]

So who have you guys been sending your speedometer's to recently? Does anyone know if Laurent over in France is still doing this work?