speedometer failure points, the quest of a safety certificate continues Options

[swl]

Ok folks - next on my to do list is the speedometer. There are really only 3 points of possible failure:

The sender gear
The cable
The speedo itself

The old car was working when she went to sleep so I can easily swap out parts. Whats the most likely place to start?

[swl]

First of all the failure was for sure at the angle drive itself input and output disconnected.

Things I learned:

With her butt up in the air (ramps) the transmission oil did not gush. Ooze would be a more fitting description. I had the replacement in hand and only lost about an ounce of oil pulling the old out and pushing the new one in. Nothing at all dramatic.

The Cap'n approach to just remove the angle drive with the 27mm nut would have been a totally acceptable repair. I would say, however, that I think it would still loose a little oil. There seems to be a journal in the barrel that lets oil into the worm gear. It would leak very slowly but if you are leaving it overnight or a couple of days you want to plug it up a bit.

If you decide to remove just the angle drive with the 27mm don't go all neanderthal with the wrench. The only thing that keeps it from moving is that little locking bolt. It only goes down maybe a quarter inch into the barrel. The barrel seems to be aluminum. It may just be me being overly cautious but I could see bad things happening there. There should not be any problem with that nut being seized - steel bolt into aluminum threads with lots of oil behind it. Should be no problem. If it is though be careful.

Given the number of "me too's" on Dr Evil's thread it is probably best to have a seal kit for the replacement angle drive. That will require pulling out the entire assembly.

I found another answer for the "what is the differences amongst the years" contest. The older car (08 72) has a different angle drive than the newer car (02 73). The pictures in Mike's threads show the newer one. I'll post a pic of the older one on his thread once I find the bloody cable for my camera. The older drive has two nuts on it instead of one. The second one is 22mm and has nothing to do with removing the angle drive. It is a lock nut holding the shaft onto the angle drive. The older drive has the shaft threaded on where the newer ones appear to be a press fit. BTW in addition to the lock nut there is a little pin through the body that engages the threads as another lock. I don't recommend you try to rotate that joint - you will mangle the threads a little bit. Nothing terminal but not good.