Hey everyone, happy Independence Day! This is my first post.

I just bought my father-in-laws work truck, the venerable F150 4x2 with approximately 350K miles on it. It's got the original 5.0 liter, and on its second automatic transmission.

Here's my problem, he told me the rear axle was replaced with a '84 Bronco axle when the original went bad. I've read where some trucks have the speedo sensor in the axle, and some in the tranny. He said he thought that the speedo sensor was in the axle. If that's true, am I completely out of luck (short of replacing the axle again)? Are there any after market speedometers that I can use?

Thanks for the help. Great forum here.

Norm

 

yea man i tryed to swap to a 9 inch and i couldnt cuz of that sensor

 

Welcome to the site!

Is the speedometer working now, has it been out of commission since the axle swap, or what? Not understanding the original problem here.

As far as the rear axle - is it possible that there is confusion with the ABS sensor? I don't claim to be up-to-date on all the changes and new configurations - but haven't heard of a speedo sensor in the rear axle.

 

The ABS and speedometer sensor are one and the same, and they are in the rear axle. The transmission has no provisions for a mechanical speedometer, so that won't work. I don't know what type of aftermarket speedometer you might be able to rig up, but speedometers are more expensive than a used rear axle of the proper type. Best bet would be to return it to stock.

 

Thanks for the welcome and all the responses. I was afraid that I was going to have to replace the axle with stock in order to get my speedo back. Oh well. I am using it as a work truck so I can hold off on that for awhile.

To answer another question, the speedo was working fine until the rear axle was replaced, due to the sensors being in the axle, the "new" axle doesn't have a place to attach the cables and sensors.

There's a truck salvage yard close to home...I'll give them a call and see what they might have.

Thanks again.

 

I guess I should've asked this already...since I will probably need to buy an axle to get my speedo back...what's an approximate cost from a salvage yard? I just want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off. I found a yard in North Atlanta that has two '96 models.

Thanks again.

 

Somewhere around $200 or so, but if you're lucky you might be able to get one cheaper. I believe '87-'96 will work, but the '87-'91 might have the wrong sensor in it as they had only an ABS sensor in the rear. Try to get one from a truck with the same tranny as yours since it will have the correct gears, you probably don't have the original to check the gear ratio.

 

Thanks again for the informative reply. I actually have the original window sticker for my truck so I know the rear axle ratio (3.55), and based on the bolt pattern for the transmission (and the year), I think I have the 4R70W transmission. I also have an intact driver side door decal, along with a reference to decode it. Now I just need to match up some of those numbers with a salvage truck. There is a salvage yard in North Atlanta that has 2 1996 F-150 models. I may get lucky this weekend!


My first priority is to get it to pass emissions on Friday so I can get tags, then I can take to the salvage yard on Saturday.

 

I'm finally heading to a salvage yard tomorrow for a rear end.

If there are no obvious markings, how can I tell if its a 3.55 ratio? What is the axle tag identification, or maybe the gear tooth counts?

Thanks in advance.

 

Gear ratio should be stamped on a metal tag which is bolted to a differential cover bolt.