Gents, I pulled my inner metal speedo cable out of the plastic housing while sitting inside the car. It was obvious that a couple of inches were missing. I went under the car, disconnected plastic outer housing at the transmission and found the other inch or so of inner cable sticking out of the transmission. My problem is that the little inch long piece of cable will not come out. Is it OK to attach a pair of vice grips and yank the crap out of it? Will something break off in the transmission if I do this?
Not sure what kind of car you're working on...if it's the '73, the prudent thing to do would be to remove the speedometer gear sleeve (housing) at the trans. You can then inspect the gear to see if teeth are the problem. If teeth on the drive and driven gear look fine, do what you can to get the cable out of the gear at the workbench. Once out, you can check to see if the gear is in any kind of shape to work with a new cable. If you mess it up or it's already a mess, you can always replace the gear. When you end up replacing the cable, make sure the new one is lubed properly, and that the cable housing/jacket/whatever hasn't seen wear damage or kinks that could hurt the new cable. Devon
Speedometer Cable Problem Devon, Thanks. It is the 73 Buick. There is so much gunk around the gear sleeve housing that I couldnt tell that it is removable. I'll check it out tomorrow.
It should just slip out...you can try tugging on it a bit, but if you still can't get it out, then do what Devon said.
There's a hold down secured by a 1/2" bolt, that holds the sleeve in. You might have missed that if the trans is all gunked up.
My wife is a clean freak and a health inspector. If I have learned anything from her it is to keep things clean including mechanical parts. They are much easier to figure out and work on when clean.
