Date:         Thu, 28 May 1998 17:04:24 -0500
Reply-To:     Joachim Beek <beekj@TSDHP.JSC.NASA.GOV>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joachim Beek <beekj@TSDHP.JSC.NASA.GOV>
Subject:      Re: Broken ODO, was: Re: WTB: 87 Vgon Speedo (fwd)
Comments: To: Fred Porter <fporterNOSPAM@eyring.com>
Comments: cc: Fred Porter <fporter@eyring.com>, Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
In-Reply-To:  <356D143C.6076@eyring.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

On Thu, 28 May 1998, Fred Porter wrote:

> >
> > And after you've done this 3 or 4 times, you'll remember to rough up the
> > axle where it fits into its retainer ;-)
> >
> > The usual BTDT disclaimers,
> > Joachim
> > 90 GL with a roughed up speedo axle
> > 78 Scirocco with a pristine axle but superglued trip meter gear
> > ---
> > Do radioactive cats have 18 half-lives?
>
> How do i do this when i can't really access either end of the axle?  The
> end that has poped out of the retainer is totally inaccesible.

Hi Fred,
from what I remember on my speedo (it's been about 7 months since I last had
it completely apart), on one end there is only one retainer, while on the
other end there were two plastic flanges (for lack of a better word) in close
proximity and the axle passed through one of these (but not both, I think).
The speedo cable may go between these two flanges, but I can't remember now.
Anyway, I tried to fashion a retaining strap out of some thin wire to try
to hold the axle inside the retainer, but this failed miserably.  Then I
accidentally pushed the axle completely out of the single retainer end and
it dawned upon me (and I thought I remembered reading something about it)
that the axle/retainer was a friction fit, so perhaps my axle had worn
smooth (from those massive 50k on the clock ;-)

Now I had the axle, together with the gears, completely out, so scratching
the surface of the axle with a small file was fairly simple.  What was
*difficult* was getting my clumsy fingers to push the axle back into that
retainer without breaking anything else...buying a replacement unit started
looking real good:  "Oh, honey, you'll never guess how I broke the speedo..."

This description won't sound real clear until you have the speedo fully
disassembled, holding just the speedo card/axle housing unit in your hand.
Of course, you may be at that point already, and it still isn't clear.  Let
me know.

Joachim
---
Do radioactive cats have 18 half-lives?