Odometer Reset

[#1 Trans Am Fan]

I’m in the process of doing a complete restoration of a 1976 Trans Am.  The gauges are in great condition and don’t need restoration, but since it’s a full restoration, I’d like to reset to odometer to 000000.  I’ve heard that once tampered with, the odometer numerals no longer align properly.

How do you reset the odometer without making it look like you’ve reset the odometer?

[Jack]

Drive it 100000 miles 

[81Blackbird]

There is a way and I believe Grand 73 Am posted that a while back.  He is still around so he may see this and repost the procedure.  In the mean time a square bit the same size as the speedo in a drill on low may get you there if your not in a hurry.

[langss]

I’m in the process of doing a complete restoration of a 1976 Trans Am.  The gauges are in great condition and don’t need restoration, but since it’s a full restoration, I’d like to reset to odometer to 000000.  I’ve heard that once tampered with, the odometer numerals no longer align properly.

How do you reset the odometer without making it look like you’ve reset the odometer?

I'm sure any competent Speedometer Shop should be able to reset it. I know I had a Speedometer repaired and the guy asked what mileage I wanted it set when he was done.
     On another thought, you just solved a Minor Mystery. When I bought the wrecked 78 I have been working on, the Odometer read "125"...Obviously it had gone over. When after a major effort on my part, I got in touch with the original owner, he mentioned that he did not remember the car having that many miles when it got wrecked. After reading your post I figured it out.....The guy I bought the wreck from simply exchanged the one from his 78 to the wrecked one I bought. He owned a wrecking yard, and bought the car as salvage. No one would be any wiser. I just never gave it any thought....He seemed like a really nice guy and was a neighbor just a few houses down...funny, you think you know people. 

[5th T/A]

I am not sure if there are any speedometer shops around anymore since most current cars have an electronic odometer. Years ago I took apart several mechanical odometer/ speedometers to clean and lubricate them. I helped a reset an odometer for a friend, not hard to do. Once you have the speedometer removed from the gage cluster you have to remove the odometer drum. There is a very fragile piece of plastic that connects all the tabs, one for each digit. If you carefully remove the plastic you can set the mileage for anything you want, then carefully reinstall the plastic piece. They were fragile and brittle 40 years ago, I can only imagine how fragile they would be after all this time. You could probably duplicate that part if it breaks with a thin piece of cardboard and an X-acto knife.


The friend I did this for wanted his odometer reset to 00000.0 so we did. Obviously if you change the reading to a lower mileage and sell the car, it’s up to you to inform the buyer of actual mileage or you would be committing fraud.

[aussieta]

i think most of our cars have gone around the clock by now
some are probably on the 3rd lap

[Wallington]

It's when they go around the clock that the numerals don't line up. Those who 'wind the clock back' but find they don't line up, as mentioned, have simply wound them forward again, or back but had already been around the clock twice, or more.

[81Blackbird]

If all else fails, try this guy.

http://www.hampspeedometer.com/

[firebirdparts]

Just line them up when you do it, and then let it be an experiment.  I never tried to take the odometer out of a Trans Am speedometer, but when I have done it, my experience is it's not difficult to disassemble one.  They had to assemble them at the factory.

There ought to be some NOS odometers somewhere on earth.  I wonder if there are.  I know they make new speedometers now.

[TammyTA]

Reset mine some years ago & it wasn't that big of a deal.  Like said above... old brittle pieces, so don't force it. 

[Grand73Am]

As 81 Blackbird mentioned, I had on old post describing the procedure I use for resetting the odometer numbers. But apparently all old posts are gone now.

You can change the odometer numbers to whatever you want. You can reset to 00000.0, or in my case, I was installing a better looking odometer, and wanted to set it to the original mileage that was on my ugly original odometer. Here's the text of my old post about how to do it. I've found that the numbers line up pretty straight when doing it this way:

Take the speedo apart and remove the odometer assembly from the speedo head. How to adjust the numbers may be difficult to explain, but I'll give it a shot. Hold the 5 metal pins on the bottom of the odometer in place as you rotate the 1st wheel on the right(the tenths wheel) forward. When the 2nd wheel turns to the number you want, stop and hold only the left 4 pins. Now rotate those 2 right wheels together, while still holding the 4 pins, until the 3rd wheel turns to the number you want. Now just hold the 3 pins on the bottom, and turn the 3 wheels together to turn the 4th wheel to the number you want. Now hold 2 pins, and turn the 4 wheels together to rotate the 5th wheel to the number you want. Then hold the one pin left and turn the 5 wheels together to rotate the 6th wheel to the number you want. All the metal pins should be lined up on the bottom and you should have the number you want on the top, opposite the pins. It sounds complicated, but once you get started, it's easy and only takes a few minutes.