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Speedometer cable broke...repair said>
My speedometer cable broke on my '66 bug. It was making a whining noise,
thought it was the brakes at first on the driver's side front. The noise got louder as I increased the speed, and quieter as I decreased the speed. Then I head a pop sound and the needle of the speedometer went right to zero. I called a local repair shop and they said the speedometer has to be rebuilt as well as a cable replacement. Said I'm looking at $275-300, plus lose the car for a day. Does this sound right? I thought just a cable replacement would be in order? One person told me, don't worry about it, just drive it with no speedo, no miles racked up either. -tom |
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Hello Tom,
My 66 Bug speedo broke and it cost £9.0 to get one, and 15 mins to put on. Not sure where you are in the world, but i'm in the UK. Hope you get it fixed. cheerio ant "Tom Nakashima" > wrote in message ... > My speedometer cable broke on my '66 bug. It was making a whining noise, > thought it was the brakes at first on the driver's side front. The noise > got louder as I increased the speed, and quieter as I decreased the speed. > Then I head a pop sound and the needle of the speedometer went right to > zero. I called a local repair shop and they said the speedometer has to > be > rebuilt as well as a cable replacement. Said I'm looking at $275-300, > plus > lose the car for a day. Does this sound right? I thought just a cable > replacement would be in order? One person told me, don't worry about it, > just drive it with no speedo, no miles racked up either. > -tom > > |
#3
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Tom Nakashima wrote:
> My speedometer cable broke on my '66 bug. It was making a whining noise, > thought it was the brakes at first on the driver's side front. The noise > got louder as I increased the speed, and quieter as I decreased the speed. > Then I head a pop sound and the needle of the speedometer went right to > zero. I called a local repair shop and they said the speedometer has to be > rebuilt as well as a cable replacement. Said I'm looking at $275-300, plus > lose the car for a day. Does this sound right? I thought just a cable > replacement would be in order? One person told me, don't worry about it, > just drive it with no speedo, no miles racked up either. > -tom > > Replacing the cable is an easy DIY job. http://www.aircooled.net/new-bin/vie...WC0002&cartid= for source. If the new one squeals, the bushing inside the speedo may need lubrication. Fairly easy to squirt some light oil in there without disassembly. Look in your Shop Manual for how the cable attaches to the front wheel hub. Speedy Jim http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/ |
#4
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WHAT!
probably the dust cap on the hub is worn making the cable just spin in the hole. get a new cable and dust cap for the hub. Easy repair. If the speedo is broken - get one from a junk yard. most older cars the odometer reading doesn't mean squat. My registration says odometer exempt as it is past its mechanical limits. I think my 66 has 387700 miles on it, but the odo only has 5 numbers so it reads 87700 I figure at almost 10k miles a year for 39 years - so its close, but I don't really care... : ) BTW tire size will affect the speedo and odo... 135/15's on the front of a bug will offset the speed and milage by around 8 mph faster than you are really going... -- ************************************************** ************** dragenwagen 1966 Type I - Daily Driver 1969 Type I - Undergoing heater channel replacement http://www.ramva.org/dragenwagen "Old VW's Don't Leak Oil, They Mark Their Territory." ************************************************** ************** "Tom Nakashima" > wrote in message ... > My speedometer cable broke on my '66 bug. It was making a whining noise, > thought it was the brakes at first on the driver's side front. The noise > got louder as I increased the speed, and quieter as I decreased the speed. > Then I head a pop sound and the needle of the speedometer went right to > zero. I called a local repair shop and they said the speedometer has to be > rebuilt as well as a cable replacement. Said I'm looking at $275-300, plus > lose the car for a day. Does this sound right? I thought just a cable > replacement would be in order? One person told me, don't worry about it, > just drive it with no speedo, no miles racked up either. > -tom > > |
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On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 13:28:02 -0800 "Tom Nakashima"
> wrote: >My speedometer cable broke on my '66 bug. It was making a whining noise, >thought it was the brakes at first on the driver's side front. The noise >got louder as I increased the speed, and quieter as I decreased the speed. >Then I head a pop sound and the needle of the speedometer went right to >zero. I called a local repair shop and they said the speedometer has to be >rebuilt as well as a cable replacement. Said I'm looking at $275-300, plus >lose the car for a day. Does this sound right? I thought just a cable >replacement would be in order? At least now you know one shop to avoid, unless they actually looked at the speedo and determined that it's binding up. You can buy a new cable and install it yourself. Just pay attention to how the old one was routed. Once you've got the old one out, cut a 6" piece of the old center wire to use to spin the speedo just to check that it turns freely. It should be completely free. A drop of oil between the speedo input shaft and the body casting is a good thing. - ----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney Madison, WI 53711 USA ----------------------------------------------- |
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"Jim Adney" > wrote in message ... > On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 13:28:02 -0800 "Tom Nakashima" > > wrote: > > >My speedometer cable broke on my '66 bug. It was making a whining noise, > >thought it was the brakes at first on the driver's side front. The noise > >got louder as I increased the speed, and quieter as I decreased the speed. > >Then I head a pop sound and the needle of the speedometer went right to > >zero. I called a local repair shop and they said the speedometer has to be > >rebuilt as well as a cable replacement. Said I'm looking at $275-300, plus > >lose the car for a day. Does this sound right? I thought just a cable > >replacement would be in order? > > At least now you know one shop to avoid, unless they actually looked > at the speedo and determined that it's binding up. > > You can buy a new cable and install it yourself. Just pay attention to > how the old one was routed. > > Once you've got the old one out, cut a 6" piece of the old center wire > to use to spin the speedo just to check that it turns freely. It > should be completely free. A drop of oil between the speedo input > shaft and the body casting is a good thing. > It was a good suggestion to replace the cable first. Before I did, I examined the existing cable by disconnecting the end from the speedometer, and removing the hubcap and the clip that keeps the cable in place on the wheel in the square hole. I could easily spin the cable, there was no binding at all as I saw it spin on the opposite end. I then disconnected the speedometer end and did the opposite, so it looks like the speedo is indeed out, needle doesn't move. Big bucks? as I would like to retain the original speedo and not go to the junk yard. Has anyone done their own repair on the speedometer? Thought I better ask before I atempt to take it apart. -tom |
#7
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Tom Nakashima wrote:
> "Jim Adney" > wrote in message > ... > >>On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 13:28:02 -0800 "Tom Nakashima" > wrote: >> >> >>>My speedometer cable broke on my '66 bug. It was making a whining noise, >>>thought it was the brakes at first on the driver's side front. The noise >>>got louder as I increased the speed, and quieter as I decreased the > > speed. > >>>Then I head a pop sound and the needle of the speedometer went right to >>>zero. I called a local repair shop and they said the speedometer has to > > be > >>>rebuilt as well as a cable replacement. Said I'm looking at $275-300, > > plus > >>>lose the car for a day. Does this sound right? I thought just a cable >>>replacement would be in order? >> >>At least now you know one shop to avoid, unless they actually looked >>at the speedo and determined that it's binding up. >> >>You can buy a new cable and install it yourself. Just pay attention to >>how the old one was routed. >> >>Once you've got the old one out, cut a 6" piece of the old center wire >>to use to spin the speedo just to check that it turns freely. It >>should be completely free. A drop of oil between the speedo input >>shaft and the body casting is a good thing. >> > > It was a good suggestion to replace the cable first. > Before I did, I examined the existing cable by disconnecting the end from > the speedometer, and removing the hubcap and the clip that keeps the cable > in place on the wheel in the square hole. I could easily spin the cable, > there was no binding at all as I saw it spin on the opposite end. > I then disconnected the speedometer end and did the opposite, so it looks > like the speedo is indeed out, needle doesn't move. Big bucks? as I would > like to retain the original speedo and not go to the junk yard. Has anyone > done their own repair on the speedometer? Thought I better ask before I > atempt to take it apart. > -tom > > > Hard to believe the speedo is actually "broken". Take it out of the dash. Insert some small tool into the square drive hole where the cable connects and see if you can turn it. If you *do* decide to disassemble it, here are the problems: It's difficult to "uncrimp" the chrome ring without damaging it. To get to the "innards" requires removing the speedo needle. Hard to do without damaging the finish on the needle. See if you can turn the input drive first... Speedy Jim http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/ |
#8
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On 2005-03-16, Speedy Jim > wrote:
> > Hard to believe the speedo is actually "broken". > Take it out of the dash. Insert some small > tool into the square drive hole where the > cable connects and see if you can turn it. > > If you *do* decide to disassemble it, here are > the problems: > It's difficult to "uncrimp" the chrome ring > without damaging it. > To get to the "innards" requires removing the > speedo needle. Hard to do without damaging > the finish on the needle. > I've done it! All the lubricant in my speedo had dried itself out after 35 or so years and it was making an absolutely nauseating shriek whenever I started driving. The chrome ring has those little divits where the 'ears' of the speedo stick out, I found I was able to sneak a flathead screwdriver into that spot and gently pry the ring off. No damage whatsoever. Removing the needle wasn't neccessary either. With a bit of wiggling, the entire assembly slides out of the casing once I took out the screws on the back. Reassembly was a little more tricky because I had to guide everything back together and there's a tube inside there that can be a pain to guide where it's supposed to go, it's a trick that got easier after two or three dissasemblies. Only real complication was the little twisted metal tabs used to hold the innards together. It's a very soft metal, and it doesn't take much for them to snap off. My "backyard redneck" (acutally I did it at my computer desk) solutions for that particular failure shall not be detailed here. It should be possible to lube up most of the pieces without un-twisting any metal anyways. A page of pictures I did up on it, incidentially from a '66: http://www.tru7h.org/bug/speedo/ |
#9
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On 16 Mar 2005 19:11:08 GMT, Seth Graham > wrote:
>I've done it! > >All the lubricant in my speedo had dried itself out after 35 >or so years and it was making an absolutely nauseating shriek >whenever I started driving. > >The chrome ring has those little divits where the 'ears' of >the speedo stick out, I found I was able to sneak a flathead >screwdriver into that spot and gently pry the ring off. No >damage whatsoever. > >Removing the needle wasn't neccessary either. With a bit of >wiggling, the entire assembly slides out of the casing once >I took out the screws on the back. > >Reassembly was a little more tricky because I had to guide >everything back together and there's a tube inside there that >can be a pain to guide where it's supposed to go, it's a trick >that got easier after two or three dissasemblies. > >Only real complication was the little twisted metal tabs used >to hold the innards together. It's a very soft metal, and it >doesn't take much for them to snap off. My "backyard redneck" >(acutally I did it at my computer desk) solutions for that >particular failure shall not be detailed here. > >It should be possible to lube up most of the pieces without >un-twisting any metal anyways. > >A page of pictures I did up on it, incidentially from a '66: > >http://www.tru7h.org/bug/speedo/ Nice writeup. I was on the edge of my seat while reading your speedometer adventure. Those little bent tabs! Nerve-wracking! :-) --- "There's nothing wrong with a little shooting as long as the right people get shot." - Inspector Harry Callahan |
#10
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Seth Graham wrote:
<SNIP> > It should be possible to lube up most of the pieces without > un-twisting any metal anyways. > > A page of pictures I did up on it, incidentially from a '66: > > http://www.tru7h.org/bug/speedo/ > Excellent job! Bravo. Bookmarked. Speedy Jim http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/ |
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