New speedo cable (fregging) won't go back in gearbox?

Hi guys,


 Just tried to exchange my speedo cable, as the old one had become noisy.


 The old one was stuck real good and finally came free after wiggling it out with a flat screwdriwer. Old red cog was no where to be seen …

 Got a nice new cable and a new red cog, which I fitted on the new cable with the c-circlip.

But - I can't get the fregging thing to sit flush in the gearbox. There is 1 to 2 cm of the cup not wanting to slide in further. Have tried to spin the cog to catch the teeth in the gearbox and tried every possible angles.


 Is there a simple trick? Could the old cog still be sitting in there? Tried to fit the cable without a cog and didn't get a reading, so I do not think that this is the case.

Do not want to force it down either, as the cog is plastic …

Hell please …..

Next step is to drain the gearbox oil to hopefully see what's going on and where the cog is supposed to go and which gear I need to catch.

Don't really want to drain the oil, so hoping for a good hint from you guys

Cheers!

Have you shined a torch in the hole to find the old speedo cog? You could do with trying to find it and get it out of the gearbox if possible as you don't want it to lock up the gearbox.

Is the edge of the hole around the gearbox speedo cable hole damaged and stopping the cable going back in?
It should just push back in…

If you don't know how old the gearbox oil it's worth changing it anyway as it's so often overlooked, just undo the filler plug before removing the drain plug so you know you can easily fill it back up again to the right level.

Jack the car so the wheels are off the ground, your gonna have to do it to drain the oil, you will need a 17mm allen or a 17mm bolt and 2 jam nuts to loosen the plug at the bottom anyways.  Prior to draining the oil, remove your new cable gingerly.  Shine a light to see if you can see the old gear. slowly with the car in 1st gear rotate the wheels front to back, it could of been that your gear box was torque binding the old speedo gear and by rocking the gear box back and forth a bit you can release the torque on the gears, and your old one may float up.

IF you would of posted prior to replacement I could of mentioned the gently rocking of the thing prior to removal…

Briano1234 said

Jack the car so the wheels are off the ground, your gonna have to do it to drain the oil, you will need a 17mm allen or a 17mm bolt and 2 jam nuts to loosen the plug at the bottom anyways.  Prior to draining the oil, remove your new cable gingerly.  Shine a light to see if you can see the old gear. slowly with the car in 1st gear rotate the wheels front to back, it could of been that your gear box was torque binding the old speedo gear and by rocking the gear box back and forth a bit you can release the torque on the gears, and your old one may float up.

IF you would of posted prior to replacement I could of mentioned the gently rocking of the thing prior to removal…

Oh yes! Exactly what I was hoping to hear. Thanks a ton! The old cog must be lodged in there in the gears, which explains why I can`t install the new one.

Thanks a lot mate - I will give your technique a go. I`m sure that this will be a success - and retrieve the old cog Thanks!

mark1gls said

Have you shined a torch in the hole to find the old speedo cog? You could do with trying to find it and get it out of the gearbox if possible as you don't want it to lock up the gearbox.

Is the edge of the hole around the gearbox speedo cable hole damaged and stopping the cable going back in?
It should just push back in…

If you don't know how old the gearbox oil it's worth changing it anyway as it's so often overlooked, just undo the filler plug before removing the drain plug so you know you can easily fill it back up again to the right level.

Hi Marks,

Thanks a lot for the post!

The hole is not damaged, but must be down to Brians theory, which is that the old cog is locked tight in the gears and thereby is in the way for the new one. Must retrieve the old one, prior to fitting the new gear.

Gearbox oil is fresh though. Overhauled the gearbox last summer with new pushrod, pushrod seal, throwout bearing andendcap. Thats why I was not so keen to drain the oil again, but what the heck … Must learn to do things correctly in the first place ….

Thanks again!