removing speedometer needles NEED HELP

EagleFURY97 · #1 08-30-2005, 01:44 PM

hey i just got glow gauges for my speedometer gauges. i took the gauges out, removed the plastic gard and the black layer. when i got to the needles i thought i could just pull them out but they wouldnt move. is there a different way of removing the needles or should i just pull harder.

Thanx

david-b · #2 08-30-2005, 01:49 PM

Pull harder. PULL STRAIGHT OUT!! Don't twist or bend at the base. Take some pliars, put around the base, and just pull straight out. Make sure when your done that you re-calibrate the needles to where they should be. Take note to the idle, fuel, temp, and everything else.

spyderturbo007 · #3 08-30-2005, 02:32 PM

The easiest way to do the 2 big needles is to remove them with 2 spoons. One on each side. Use the face of the gauge for leverage. Before you remove the needles you will want to find out where they need to go back.

Do this by bending the needle up just high enough to lift it (while still attached) over the stop (where it rests when the car is off). Make sure you have the cluster sitting on a level surface. Once you get the needle over the stop post, let it go and watch the needle. The spring will continue to unwind for a couple of seconds. When it stops put a mark somewhere on the gauge so you know where it stopped. Just make sure the mark is out of the way so you can't see it when you put the bezel back on. Do this for both the speedo and the tach. I did this and I'm off by 200 rpms and 1mph, which is good enough for me

For the smaller needles do these with the car running and fully warmed up. Mark on a sheet of paper where the needles are pointing. When you reinstall the smaller needles, start the car, let it warm up and put the needles back on with the car running.

nova1313 · #4 08-30-2005, 10:20 PM

uhm wow def more then I did with them... I slipped the glow guage faces over the existing needle. No removal. and left the old backs in under it.. were the old ones suppose to come out? This seemed to work fine for me... The instructions on the pages I found weren't very clear.

ned032002 · #5 08-31-2005, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nova1313

u No removal. and left the old backs in under it.. were the old ones suppose to come out? This seemed to work fine for me... The instructions on the pages I found weren't very clear.

When I did my gauges I just removed all of the needles and the faces because I thought that was what I was suppose to do so to my knowlegde yeah I would think you would have to remove the faces. But I guess you really wouldn't have to because the numbers light up from the face itself not a light bulb so it really doesn't matter what is behind them. I guess just use your own judgement on that call also make sure that there is enough clearance for the needle to go where ever it wants (I say this because if you left the old faces on then the space between the needle and the faces is very close. Well good luck and have fun you will most likely need to re-adjust your needles a couple of times.

imtheoneandonlyD · #6 08-31-2005, 01:35 AM

Yeah, when i did it to my eclipse i just slid the faces under the needles without removing them.

nova1313 · #7 08-31-2005, 07:16 AM

plenty of clearance too that way, it doesnt' look it but it's fine. I had to get a dremel to two points on the side guages. They didn't fit around the pegs correctly. Also my side guages only had 2 screws on the front of them. I added two more to get them to stay down..

dremeled through the top right and then stuffed the wires up in the hole over there...

I didn't recalibrate my needles. Would I have to? I did move some but since I didn't take them off wouldn't they go back to where they are suppose to?

fiberglasscivic · #8 09-01-2005, 12:01 AM

Wow you guys are doing things the hard way. Your not supposed to remove the needles or original faces. The new faces should act as masks and just slide over the needle. I have never seen a kit for any car where you are suppose to remove the needle or faces. Make sure you remove the lights that back light the original faces so that you don't have a white back light to your faces. You don't have to do this but it makes it look better.

imtheoneandonlyD · #9 09-01-2005, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiberglasscivic

Wow you guys are doing things the hard way. Your not supposed to remove the needles or original faces. The new faces should act as masks and just slide over the needle. I have never seen a kit for any car where you are suppose to remove the needle or faces. Make sure you remove the lights that back light the original faces so that you don't have a white back light to your faces. You don't have to do this but it makes it look better.

You dont have to remove them on the eclipse. On my ram however you do have to remove the gauge face and needles

nova1313 · #10 09-01-2005, 08:37 AM

Yeah I thought that was a bit odd they were removing them. Mine just slid over. Also if you remove the bulbs behind will your needles still light up? for some reason my speedo needle isn't lit up all that well but the rest are really really bright.

Not really in the mood to dissassemble again. It was a pain the first 3 times.

Also when is recalibrating the guages necessary just when you remove the needles?

spyderturbo007 · #11 09-01-2005, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiberglasscivic

Wow you guys are doing things the hard way. Your not supposed to remove the needles or original faces.

I had to, as I purchased an LED needle kit that changes the color of the needles. I was required to install the LED under the gauge faces.

Also, some kits are not gauge face overlays, some replace the entire gauge face, so yes, in some cases you have to remove the needles.

ned032002 · #12 09-01-2005, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spyderturbo007

Also, some kits are not gauge face overlays, some replace the entire gauge face, so yes, in some cases you have to remove the needles.

Yeah what I had you actually change the actual face to a white like gray color so you had to remove the needles I don't see how you could get around not removing them.

But how convenient that would be to not have to remove the needles.

fiberglasscivic · #13 09-02-2005, 03:21 PM

You only have to callabrate the needles if you remove them.

Quote:

as I purchased an LED needle kit that changes the color of the needles...

Where did you find replacement needles.

spyderturbo007 · #14 09-02-2005, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiberglasscivic

Where did you find replacement needles.

You don't replace the needles. It uses a very thin carbon fiber ring that blocks out the factory light. On top of the ring are 3 LED's that provide the new light to the needles.

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