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Speedo cable

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 11:46 am
by Elseezed
Forgot to disconnect speedo cable when moving dash forward. Now that I am putting back the dash I have managed to push the inner drive back so far.
Have I damaged the angle drive or should the inner just slide back into angle drive and will I have to remove the angle drive?

Les

Re: Speedo cable

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 12:09 pm
by billwill
The inner cable should go in to the angle drive, but remember it is square at the end, so you will need to rotate slowly as well as push.

Re: Speedo cable

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 12:16 pm
by ericbushby
Les, sorry, but I do not understand what you have done.
I am thinking that you would need to disconnect the speedo cable to move the dashboard backwards not forwards.
However you should not need to remove the angle drive to disconnect the cable from it. Then you can check if it is working OK.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

Re: Speedo cable

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 7:45 pm
by Elseezed
Yes Eric, should have said pulling dash out. I'm hoping as Bill says to push the inner back into the angle drive turning it to locate square drive.
Thanks Les.

Re: Speedo cable

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:12 pm
by billwill
I found this picture in the photo gallery here.
Image

It shows the gearbox end of the speedo cable and illustrates whar Eric said that the cable can be unscrewed at the gearbox, without having to remove the angle drive itself.

What is not quite so obvious is that the gearbox end of the cable is similar to the speedo instrument end. The inner cable is squared off at each end and is pushed into a square hole in the moving parts at each end. What Les has done is, from the top end managed to pull the squared end out of the angle drive at the bottom end.

It should be possible as I said above, to push down on the inner at the instrument end, while jiggling/rotating it around a bit and have the lower end slip into its square hole.

Should that not work it is not difficult to jack-up/ramp the car and crawl underneath to unscrew the bottom end of the speedo cable (pipe grips may be needed), if the inner is not then poking out of the outer tweak it out with fine nose pliers or get someone else to push down on the inner at the dashboard end.

When the inner is poking out; you can (with a torch/head-mounted lamp) see the square hole in the angle drive and you can push the inner into it, then screw on the outer. Then back at the dashboard the inner should be poking out just enough to fit it into the speedo square hole (rotate the speedo to & fro a little until it fits) and then screw on the outer.

The description might seem long & tricky, but actually it's an easy job. I have done it alone a number of times.

Re: Speedo cable

PostPosted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 5:13 pm
by denicholls2
billwill wrote:It should be possible as I said above, to push down on the inner at the instrument end, while jiggling/rotating it around a bit and have the lower end slip into its square hole.


Yes. To the original question and as the picture illustrates, you probably have not damaged the angle drive. If BillWill is correct you've only made a challenge for yourself, but worst case I believe you've only damaged the speedometer cable by pulling it out of its ferrule. Best of luck either way.