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Vanagon odometer blues
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ourv12
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 12:56 pm    Post subject: Vanagon odometer blues Reply with quote

Ok, this is the 3rd or 4th time in the past 20 some years that I've had to press the gear back onto the odometer shaft after it worked its way off each time. The last time I even used super glue but now this morning it worked its way off again. Is there a permanent fix for this without replacing the whole speedometer? Gotta be a way to keep the gear from working its way off the shaft?!?!
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glutamodo Premium Member
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On my 85 Golf, I put some "splines" on the end of my odometer spindle with a few hard pinches with some pliers with sharp teeth, before pressing the gear back on. That was like 10 years ago, and have had no issues since.
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dhaavers
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Several options here (scroll down):
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2...mp;start=0
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Rhinoculips
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TenCents hard stop fix at the bottom of the first page of the link above has worked for me. No issues at all now.
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Bubusse
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went with the paper clip fix, along with a cushion between the paper clip and the gear, as shown on page 4 of the above mentioned thread. It's really my kind of low-tech fix and it works great. It's a little tricky to put in place correctly (I've used long nose pliers and pretended I was a surgeon) but I'm pretty confident once it's there and secured it won't move. Here is the picture again (not mine, I did take a picture of my fix but it's not as good as this one) :
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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riceye
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rhinoculips wrote:
TenCents hard stop fix at the bottom of the first page of the link above has worked for me. No issues at all now.


The hard stop will keep the shaft from walking out of the alloy gear at the other end, but the gear may still slip on the shaft even with the hard stop installed. Happened to me, verified by gps on a long trip after I noticed the 1/10 mile digit being "sluggish".

I tore back into it and pinched some knurls with a diagonal side-cuts, which seems to have solved the problem. A drop of super glue would have been a bonus, but I had none at the moment.

My calculated gas mileage improved, too!
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AtlasShrugged
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I scratched some grooves in the shaft with a single edge razor blade with the plastic gear partially removed..in situ.

Pushed the gear back on..it was now snug..three years ago. No issues.
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campism
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

riceye wrote:
I tore back into it and pinched some knurls with a diagonal side-cuts, which seems to have solved the problem. A drop of super glue would have been a bonus...

Careful with the sidecutters if you stake the shaft like this. Make delicate little cuts. You don't need to move a lot of metal. I did normal-size bites and wound up sanding down some of the resulting ridges so the gear would slip back onto the shaft. Still working after happy thousands of miles.
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fleetwood41
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 8:15 am    Post subject: Physical stop for odometer gear...did I break something else Reply with quote

(1987 Vanagon 7 Passenger)

I'm having some issues with my odometer fix. We purchased this van knowing the odometer was broken. Last week after reading all the information on TheSamba.com, I went in and pushed the green gear back onto the white cylinder gear, reassembled everything and it worked fine....for 30 miles. No biggie I thought. "I saw the fix on TheSamba.com, honey....piece of cake." So, first I tried the physical stop method. Put it back together and road tested it. For the first 10th of a mile, the odometer worked. After the first 10th of a mile...nothing. I tore it back down and loosened the screw holding the metal tab thinking that it was making contact with the gear and binding it. I set the tripometer back to 0, and reassembled. Same thing. Odometer rolls to 1/10th of a mile then stops.

Did I break something?? Anyone else experience this?
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Rhinoculips
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe your gears are slipping on the shaft? Did you put knotches into it before putting the gears back on?
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Westly
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is how I "fixed" mine - at least it has been working steadily for the past 5,000 miles or so.

http://bluehighwayvanagon.blogspot.com/2012/02/recalcitrant-vanagon-odometer.html
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fleetwood41
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I didn't take any gears off (yet). Gear slipping is a possibility since I haven't attempted knurling/notching anything just yet. I just don't get why the tripometer would go to 1/10th and then stop. I'm goint to tear it back down to night and trouble shoot again.

Thanks for any and all help!
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floggingmolly
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have the same issue. Mine started having problem when I was around 220,000. In cooler weather it seems to work OK, but on a warmer day I get 1/10 of a miles and that's it. I did tencent's repair but it doesn't seem to be working. I have tried others too. Back to the drawing board.

Scott
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campism
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had to do mine three or four times before it finally took. After one of my "fixes" it began racking up big numbers on the left end of the odo. Still don't know how that happened, but last fix I made the total what we calculated it to be and it has been working nicely since.
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Rhinoculips
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 9:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

fleetwood41 wrote:
I didn't take any gears off (yet). Gear slipping is a possibility since I haven't attempted knurling/notching anything just yet. I just don't get why the tripometer would go to 1/10th and then stop. I'm goint to tear it back down to night and trouble shoot again.

Thanks for any and all help!



Is it just the tripometer or is the odometer acting up as well? If its just your tripometer, I have a feeling your gear on the far side of the worm drive, the one that runs the tripometer is slipping. Its a larger gear (metal IIRC) on the far side in the picture above. Knurl it.
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fleetwood41
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 10:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rhinoculips: Both are not functioning. The tripometer goes to 1/10th, then stops...and therefore the odometer never moves.

I wanted to re-iterate that just last week, I fixed (temporarily) the odometer and tripometer by pushing the odometer gear back down onto the worm gear....worked for ~30 miles...then stopped.
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Rhinoculips
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a feeling that one or both main gears are spinning on the shaft.
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fleetwood41
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So is the shaft supposed to have two gears? One one either side of the odometer numbers? (If you were looking straight at the face of the guage.) I understood that there was only one, the one that engages the worm gear. ???? What am I missing?
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Rhinoculips
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As you look at the face of the speedo, there is the main gear on the left where the worm gear and 'drive' gear (the one that is prone for cracking and working itself off) On the other end (right side) of the shaft that goes thru the odometer wheels, is another larger gear that, IIRC, is metal. This one is prone to slipping on the shaft. I had to remove this one and knurl the end of the shaft and press the gear back on. Don't go overboard on knurling it. To much and you wont get the gear back in place.

If I find a picture of it, I'll post it for ya!
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Rhinoculips
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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a pic of the gear I spoke of, I borrowed it from whip618's gallery. Looks like he actually installed a couple of 0-80 screws to secure the gear. Nice job on his part! If you slide the shaft to the left, out of the plastic holder and out of the gear, you can remove the gear and either knurl the shaft, or using a philips screwdriver, tap a couple of compression notches to the inside of the gear or even better do whip618 fix.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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