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repairing clock


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Anyone ever repair /replace there clock? I have a new gauge kit I am installing soon and wanted to repair /replace the broken clock while in the process. I remember some one on here did a quartz replacement ,but cannot remember who it was. Anyone?

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I did when I had the dash out for a heater core replacement, 7 years ago last spring.

The clock is working fine but it makes a slight noise you can hear with the engine off.

The place I sent it to actually sent it to someplace else where they did the work and sent it back to me.

Bruce

Don't misplace these!

post-76-0-91658400-1481117789_thumb.jpg

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Found my receipt, from May 2009 for $175.00 (with shipping)

 

http://www.american-classic.com/begin.html

 

Again, I have this memory of shipping my clock to one place but receiving it from another place.

There may be others out there.

Bruce

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I have both repaired and replaced a clock. The repair isn't difficult and consists mostly of cleaning everything up. There are contacts similar to a points style ignition system which you have to clean. YouTube is a great reference source for instructions on how to repair a clock, but I think Dennis has also posted a step by step clock repair instruction manual somewhere on the internet. Perhaps he will chime in soon.

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Here's a link to the photo journal I made when I repaired the dash clock on my '70 Monte Carlo:  Repairing a Dash Clock

 

I certainly don't know all the ways an original dash clock can fail but I found two mechanical failures and one electrical failure when I repaired mine. Although working on a dash clock is not as challenging as watch repair, it is certainly more tedious than rebuilding a carburetor, for example, so take your time, use a magnifying glass or headset and get out your smallest tools.

 

Like many of the systems on our 46 year old Montes, the dash clock is electro-mechanical with no electronic or solid state components. Just eliminate any shorts or breaks in the 12V wiring, reseat/adjust the moving parts and lube all bearings/contact points with a very light oil.  Beware that the orange luminescent paint on the clock hands is very tender and can be scuffed off easily.  Also the black face of the clock can be easily scratched or marred.

 

If I had know how relatively easy it is to repair our dash clocks, I would have attempted repair before I ordered a new quartz replacement.  I installed the repaired original in my '70 SS and it has run just fine for the past four years.

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There was a post for clock repair I don't know if he is good or still doing it but he was only charging 50.00 to do it . Try him and let us know if you use him. 

  Michael Murphy

  3200 Hazelwood Ave.

  Downingtown PA.

  610 380-8385

 

 

Jay and jenny

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 12:23 PM, MCfan said:

Here's a link to the photo journal I made when I repaired the dash clock on my '70 Monte Carlo:  Repairing a Dash Clock

 

I certainly don't know all the ways an original dash clock can fail but I found two mechanical failures and one electrical failure when I repaired mine. Although working on a dash clock is not as challenging as watch repair, it is certainly more tedious than rebuilding a carburetor, for example, so take your time, use a magnifying glass or headset and get out your smallest tools.

 

Like many of the systems on our 46 year old Montes, the dash clock is electro-mechanical with no electronic or solid state components. Just eliminate any shorts or breaks in the 12V wiring, reseat/adjust the moving parts and lube all bearings/contact points with a very light oil.  Beware that the orange luminescent paint on the clock hands is very tender and can be scuffed off easily.  Also the black face of the clock can be easily scratched or marred.

 

If I had know how relatively easy it is to repair our dash clocks, I would have attempted repair before I ordered a new quartz replacement.  I installed the repaired original in my '70 SS and it has run just fine for the past four years.

Dennis, I'm in the middle of rebuilding my original clock. I have referenced your write up on your rebuild but I have a couple questions. Did you use any type of cleaner when you opened up the clock? Mine seems not to have a short but the gear and spring were loose inside and the gears seemed to be frozen or stiff. The second question is what did you use to lube the gears?? Anything else I can look for??

 

Thanks in advance, Paul

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Paul,

As I recall, the inside of my clock was neither dirty nor gummy.  However, if it had needed major cleaning, I almost certainly would have sprayed it with either Birchwood Casey's Gun Scrubber or Break Free CLP Powder Blast which are both excellent degreasers.  I clearly remember lightly lubing each of the bearing/pivot spots in the repaired mechanical mechanism with Break Free CLP Cleaner/Lubricant/Preservative (as shown in slide 31 of the photo journal).  I suggest location specific lubing rather than general spraying so you don't overdo it. 

It is obviously critical that the balance wheel/gear and spring are correctly set in their jewels at the axle ends.  The adjustment screw can be backed out enough to reset the wheel axle ends on their jewels.  Be sure the pin in the balance wheel hub is engaged with the fork of the pivot arm before resetting the adjustment screw and that it still moves freely without binding or wobbling.  This was the most tedious part of the repair for me.

The stiff gears may be gummed up with old lubricant but. like most clock mechanisms, the compound gears create such low speed ratios (compared to the electric motor rpms) that it is impossible to manually move any gear in the chain.  I think the best you can do is be sure the coil has continuity, the electrical contacts are clean, the balance wheel is in register and moves freely and each of the gear shaft ends are lightly lubed,  You should be able to bench test the clock with nearly any 12V DC source.

I installed my repaired clock in my other '70 several years ago and it still keeps accurate time.

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Dennis, I got the clock cleaned up and rewound the spring and the clock works started up again. Very cool. I cleaned the contacts up and the clock would wind every minute and a half or so. I put the clock back together and hooked it to my test battery and it was running like new. I went back to check it 2 hours later and it had stopped. To took it back apart and the works are still working, I noticed the contacts were again kind of blackened. I hooked it back up and the works again began to work as the contacts took a charge and a while later it stopped again. Any Ideas?? Is the coil no good? Did I get oil on the contacts? Is there any way to test the coil? Does anyone have a spare coil?

Let me know...thanks

 

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Paul,

Intermittent failures can be very frustrating.  You know the clock works under certain conditions but not why it stops working.  I would suspect a faulty electrical connection (i.e. bad/dirty contacts) or a mechanical binding in the works.  I assume the clock hands (especially the second hand) are free to move.  Can you observe anything in the works that may be causing it to freeze so the electrical power cannot overcome it?  Whether the coil is either good or bad should be revealed with a simple continuity test.  I suspect the contacts, especially since you observed blackening after initial cleaning.  Are the contacts able to close fully?  If they are held slightly apart or even lightly touching, they could possibly arch, causing the blackening you see.  Can you carefully adjust or bend the contact arm to make solid contact?   I obviously don't have a clock in front of me and it's hard to see from the earlier photos.  Sorry I can't be of much help since I've not see that problem before.

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Mike, follow the write up that Dennis posted, very helpful. I took mine apart again, blew it out with air, re-oiled it and it hasn't stopped since. Nice to have the orginal clock running again. Now I have to pull the cluster out and swap it out with the quartz clock that isnalso not working and swap out the bulbs for led. Good luck..

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13 hours ago, 1970mcss said:

Mike, follow the write up that Dennis posted, very helpful. I took mine apart again, blew it out with air, re-oiled it and it hasn't stopped since. Nice to have the orginal clock running again. Now I have to pull the cluster out and swap it out with the quartz clock that isnalso not working and swap out the bulbs for led. Good luck..

Thanks

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