Had my speedo needle in my squareback start to "oscillate" , markedly at low speeds. Easy thinks I, just a broken strand in the speedo cable. Got a new one, exactly the same. Tried my spare speedo, same thing. A month or so later I put a new steering damper on, problem gone!. Must have been some wheel wobble. Incidentally ( you blokes may already know but....) the damper from a superbeetle fits a T3 admirably. Had to pack out the thick chassis end of the damper by a washer. A moment of dismay when the rubber bush in steering box arm turned to dust. Got a bush from the rear leaf spring from a 1965 Holden ( Aust GMH thing for you USA blokes) and shaped it on my grinder , pulled it into place with a 1/4 whit threaded rod etc . The lesson here is NEVER EVER throw anything away. John
Speedo needle
Nov 30, 2009
4 Replies
LOL Well done! Frugal in the extreme.
Speedy Jim
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For some reason I just flashed on the "John Henry in a Speedo" gag! :D
Max
Congratulations on your easy fix!
Here was my fix for the speedo needle fluctuations at low speeds in my
1973 Beetle:
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Quote from vw-resource It's a good idea to install a new rubber sleeve in the steering knuckle to keep water out. If water gets into the knuckle, it can damage the bearings and allow the cable to freeze--and stick--in the winter.
You can get one here:
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Aircooled.net might also have one.
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Thanks for the tips gents. In inland Aust we get cold enough temps to worry about water freezing, on the coast where I am it has got up to 42 Deg C a few days lately. Not so much "frugal" Speedy as "needs must". There are a couple of VW suppliers within a 100 - 500 miles or so but they tend not to have small things like the speedo cable seal mentioned. In those situations a part can be weeks away so one adapts or restores. Suppliers in the States are miles ahead of us in the sense of ordering over the Internet. I guess thats the price of having 20 million people in a country this size!. Cheers John
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