oliverb,
please understand that you are making the assumption that each counter just counts endlessly from 0 to 2 ^ (however many output bits) with the clock running.
I have a gut feeling that as soon as all bits are high (counter reached the end), they stay that way until the counter is reset.
to start, connect pin 11 of IC 5 to pin 2 of IC 5. This will produce the same effect, but you know that you will be guaranteed a pulse every time, because the output will work like this: ....00, .....01, .....00, .....01.
It will go to ....00 after ....01, because the moment ....10 is reached, it will only occur for just microseconds, and because bit 2 is connected to reset, it activates reset. Once reset is activated, all bits are 0, and the process starts over.
You should be able to knock off the 4060 and get a crystal at 1/2 speed.
I suggest replacing those 4017's with binary counters, and connecting 74LS47's and 7-segment displays to the outputs, because you could end up using more chips than necessary to decode the 4017's outputs to that compatible with a 7-segment display.
and to detect the number 10 in a binary counter, use an AND gate and connect bits Q3 and Q1 to the inputs. When the output is "1", then those bits are set. As soon as 10 is reached, the output is 1.
If the output names don't begin with Q, someone tell me the right names.
I'm trying to express bit #3 and bit #1 if the outputs are bit 0, bit 1, bit 2, and bit 3.