Vanagon Syncros don't have grease caps up front because they have CV
axles up front. On Syncros the speedo cable is driven by gears inside
the front differential.

The numbers represent the cable revolutions per unit of distance the
speedo was built for.

2wd:
500 cable revs per KM
805 cable revs per mile
(early Vanagon mile speedos had 820)

Syncro:
1000 cable revs per KM
1600 cable revs per mile

As for the speedo BenT is asking about, my guess is that someone needed
to covert a KM speedo to MPH to satisfy importation compliance and they
changed the units painted on the face without changing the odometer
gearing inside. Thus it may have accurate speed readings but very
inaccurate odometer readings. Or maybe all they changed were the labels
KPM to MPH, or whatever was printed on the face to distinguish the type
to fool the inspector. In that case both the speed and distance reading
would be way off if read as miles.

Mark

Larry Alofs wrote:
> Could you review for some of us, what these numbers are supposed to mean?
>    Don't all vanagon speedometer cables connect to the cap on the front
> wheel and therefore turn at that rate?
>
> Larry A.
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 11:35 PM, Ben T <syncro@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm used to seeing the 2wd speedos marked 805 and Syncros 1600. Except the KPH speedos for Syncros are also 1000. Did any Vanagons come with 1000 on the 2WD? Auto trans, maybe?
>>
>>
>> BenT
>>
>> sent from my electronic leash
>