Hi My 1966 Toronado is missing the cruise cable from the front wheel to the cruise control regulator
Where does the cable attach to the front wheel of the car?
Thanks
Randy

 

Randy, the 1966 Toronado does not have the speedometer cable going to the front wheel. Since the Toronado is front wheel drive its different from the other full sized Oldsmobile's in the mid to late 1960's. Do you have a 1966 Chassis Service Manual? If your going to work on your car I'd encourage you to pick one up. If nobody else comes up with a diagram or photo I'll see if I can get one for you.

 

Thanks for the reply I have a CSM VOL 2
my perfect circle cruise control shows a cable going to the front wheel from the cruise control unit but mine is missing.

 

The cruise cable is different from the ordinary one and not easy to replace.

See my post on repairing perfect circle cruise units for more details.

The short version is the wheel side of the cable is ordinary, but the cruise unit end is a specially shaped tang end which fits into the cruise. The tang size/shape is the hard part to get and it can force-fit and maybe crimped onto a normal speedo cable cut to the right length. You may be able to find a GM cable by looking at Caddy Eldorados from 67 or so where the cruise unit was also used. You might also check non-Eldo caddies with cruise units for the “lower” cable. These fit o.k. if they’re serviceable (i.e. not broken, ruined over the years), but they’re slightly different length - if too short for your Toro, you’ve got a new problem, if an inch or 2 too long, you should be able to route it to fit.

You’ll also need the dust cap with the square retainer on the inside middle for the cruise cable to fit into. The squared off end of the cable fits into the nylon drive part in the middle of the dust cap. Again for spares either seek 1st generation Toros or Eldos to open the search.

Chris

 

You might also see if there’s an old style speedometer shop in your area/region. They just might have the parts to get you going.

Be aware that these units are subject to a fluttering Speedo needle problem which can take a while to chase down. Basically the fix is cleaning & lubing everything, as you’ll see in my servicing perfect circle post from a few years back.

Good luck on these now-rare, interesting, units.

Chris

 

The orignal CSM is only one volume. If you have a multi-volume reprint, that's your first problem.




The Toronado info is in a special appendix at the very back of the ORIGINAL CSM. The speedo cable routing for cruise control is shown on page 15E-5, in figure 15E-7. The cable does NOT go to the front wheel (you are apparently incorrectly looking at the diagram for the Delta 88 and Ninety Eight cars). The lower cable runs from the cruise control regulator to the transmission case on the driver's side.

 

Never having had a Toro, I must admit I was guessing on the connection to the driver’s front wheel. I guessed wrong and Joe P is on target. The 1st generation Toros are different in many ways from the 65-70 big cars but share parts too. Sorry my stab was wrong.

Another one where “Toros are different”, kind of unsurprisingly is the length of the lower shaft of the Tilt & Tele steering column. The top half of the column will swap into the big cars, but the lower shaft is longer.

Part of the game is knowing or learning what does and does not swap among GM products across years, brands and models.

There is a silver lining: many GM cars drove their speedos off the transmission, so you may have some success finding a cable between the Cruise and Transmission among Buick, Cadillac or maybe even Chevy.

Good luck from here.
Chris

 

The speedo cable connects to the transmission here.