A car mounted governor (12) for an elevator system includes an overspeed pulley (38) configured to be secured to an elevator car of an elevator system. The overspeed pulley is configured to detect an overspeed condition of the elevator car via a rate at which a governor cable (42) passes around the overspeed pulley. The car mounted governor further includes a free pulley (40) configured to be secured to the elevator car with the governor cable routed over the free pulley. A tensioning device (64) is located at the free pulley and is operably connected thereto to maintain a select tension on the governor cable.