Speedometer Locked Up? 1966 Bug Sedan

[r19rcv20]

Hey everyone! My 1966 Bug is almost done getting repaired. The technician said that the speedometer is "Locked up". He said that the cable will twist and get bundled up. Has anyone heard or have had a problem with with a locked up speedometer? If so, how did u fix this problem?

[grandpa pete]

there are several very detailed threads on how to re-build a speedometer...just do a search
Take the cable off the back of he spedo to isolate cable trouble from spedo trouble
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63 two fold rag
66 sedan delivery Type 6

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569619&highlight=sedan+delivery

[Aussiebug]

r19rcv20

You might find this useful http://www.vw-resource.com/speedo.html

The grease in the spindle inside the speedo does slowly harden with age, and can cause the speedo to lock up and break the cable.

Once you have the speedo out of the car, you remove the glass from the front by gently levering the chrome bezel around the around the edge so it's expanded slightly and it will pop off the unit, then the whole deal comes apart. You can sometime recover a sticking speed by squirting WD40 etc down the main shaft and turning it with a screw driver to free it up. But don't rely just on that, since WD40 dries to a sticky film itself. You need to replace the grease on the main shaft. I find that Vaseline or any light grease works fine - work it as deep as you can from the inside (using a small screw driver to push it in) and turn the main shaft backwards to it pulls the grease in deeper.

Speedo cables USED to come in separate parts - sheath and cable, which made regreasing the cable easy; but these days they come as a complete unit which can't be pulled apart, so if the cable breaks, you have to replace the whole thing. If you need to do this, make sure the bends in the cable near the wheel are as gentle as you can make them, so the cable lasts longer.
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Rob
Rob and Dave's aircooled VW pages
Repairs and maintenance for the home mechanic
http://www.vw-resource.com

[briansandiego]

Yes, I had the exact same thing happen on mine and I used a couple of web pages to help guide me through the repair. The problem on mine was that the grease on the "magnet wheel" (speedo input shaft) had dried up and solidified, seizing the speedometer and breaking the cable.

On mine it was pretty tough to get it freed up again. After the speedo was disassembled I think I used carb cleaner, or the like, to get the magnet wheel moving again, and eventually got it loose, pulled out, and all cleaned and greased.

These are the pages that helped.
B.

Magnet wheel pics 9 and 10 in this link...
http://dragonflypower.com/VWspeedometerHow2.htm

and

http://laudeman.com/bug_speedo.html
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Stock'ish 1968 Beetle

[LeninCas]

Yes, the input shaft is stuck.

You have to take your speedometer apart, remove the shaft, polish it, regrease it and put it back in. Make sure it spins freely and that will fix the problem.
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one, two, many
one too many

[r19rcv20]

ok thank you for all the advice i i will keep this stuff in mind if it happens in the future. i ended up sending the speedometer to a repair shop and the gentleman said that it did seize up. and it is working properly