John

Mine died on me at 75 mph on the highway.  Both the speedo and the odometer
died at the same time. I thought the cable unhooked at the speedo end but it
was on tight.  For sure, then, I thought the cable had broken and I was
beginning to see dollar signs (for parts and speeding tickets).  Called Bob
(my mechanic here in Delta, CO) and brought the Van into his shop.  It turns
out (unknown to me at the time) that the speedo cable is 2 part.  The top
half was fine.  The bottom half actually threads through the wheel and is
held on by a cap on the axle.  What happens most of the time, is the end of
the cable has what looks like a square nut on its end.  This is the part of
the cable that gets 'locked' by the cap.  This is what turns the cable
turning your speedo and odometer.  This squared off end of the cable gets
rounded off with many years of use.  Bob tried to get a bottom half of the
cable off several of his 'parts' Vanagons but they were all rounded off,
too.  Bob hit the end of the cable and the cap a couple of tacks with his
mig welder and voila!  the speedo is working beautifully again.  When it
comes time to repack the wheel bearings Bob will just grind it off and
replace the bottom cable with a new one.

John K

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Houser" <JohnHJhouser@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 11:49 AM
Subject: Speedometer

> Volks,
>
> Last week, on the way back from a trip to the mountains, my speedometer
> needle started jerking and progressively began to read slower and slower.
After
> about 70 miles it just quit.  Has anyone had this happen?  Are these
symptoms of
> a bad speedometer or a bad speedometer cable?
>
> TIA,
> John Houser, Jr.
> 84 Westy