Speedometer !#*!!# Fixed

[Curtis]

My speedometer has always been a bit flakey. With the new/used transmission it got worse. Needle bouncing back and forth and estimating about how fast I was going. So this week the angle drive loosened up, it stopped, I tightened it and it sorta worked again, briefly. Dead again. Sooo let's fix it.

I am planning to send my speedos to Jon for restoration to GPS units. Steve C. up here sold me a used one I was going to put in while that is done.

Should be simple, right? Not even. First take the speedo cable loose at the speedo, no spin. Check the cable, not broken and spin in the drill. Right angle drive fine too. Jack up car and put it in gear and the pinion gear doesn't spin. So time to remove, not!

I take off the little tab and expect it to pop out. Nope, not a budge. Pry bar on the tab slot, try to twist it with the vise grips, no love. I check the transmission sitting in the corner and out it pops. Crawl back under and it looks a bit rusty and corroded around the hole. I cut the end off a speedo cable and put it on and tried to twist it free. The piece is kind of thin and I was afraid it might break with too much force. Penetrating oil, nope.

Plan B, get a couple jam nuts and put them on so I can twist it free. So I have no idea what thread it is, do you? Try the thread gauge and I don't get it quite right. Go to Tacoma Screw and he doesn't get it. Come home and find it is 22mm and 1.5 pitch. Really? As usual Datsun used metric wherever they felt like it on the SAE cars. Went to Hi Strength Bolt and no jam nuts but they did have a regular nut.

Get a shorty 1-1/4" socket which fits the 32mm hex on the nut. Not quite enough room to get a breaker bar in there, so off to get a wrench. Finally got it to turn and had to spin it around a couple times to get it free. Finally it pops out with a pry bar.

Yup, gear is munched. Pulled the gear out of the other one and stuck it in. Yes, everything spins. Time to put in the speedo. Oh boy, the wing nuts on the old speedo don't fit the other one. Stupid speedos have different size mounting studs. Fortunately I have been hoarding stuff and have the right ones.

Go for a ride and it works mostly okay with a little lag and minimal bouncing. Geezus, what a stupid adventure it turned out to be.

[AustinEngy]

Cable driven speedos seem like a real pain, mine's been completely non-functional since I got my car. Hopefully your shitty experience will at least help me fix mine! Glad it's all working for you now!