Anyone who has replaced a speedo gear or worked with the VSS, please respond

[B94Sport]

I just want to make sure that my non-functioning speedometer problem is caused by what I think it is before I go buy a new $23 VSS...

I took my VSS out of the transfer case and spun the gear with a drill, and the speedo did not work. Then I removed the speedo cable from the VSS and spun the cable with a drill, and my speedo worked. I looked inside of the VSS and the hole that accepts the cable is round, while the cable itself (at least the 2" or so of it that I could pull out of the black casing) is square. I am guessing that the female connection in the VSS has gotten worn with time and now is so circular that it no longer makes contact with the cable. I forced the cable back in and drove the truck and the speedo worked for just a bit before it dropped back to zero again and stopped working.

Basically... Is that female connection in the VSS supposed to be square or circular? If it is actually supposed to be circular, I guess I just did not get the cable seated well enough and will go try again.

 

[B94Sport]

TTT

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

I would have to agree with your findings. Even if it is not the problem, you are only out 23 bucks which is much less than some of us have replaced unneeded parts before. I would sugget that before you buy it to compare the old and new in the store prior to purchasing it. Most stores will allow this.

 

[B94Sport]

Went to Autozone and got the replacement, the hole is definitely supposed to be a square. I bought some grease for the new VSS and replaced it and....
The speedo still does not work
Now this is really driving me nuts. When I remove the VSS and spin it via the gear, the speedo does not work... But if I remove the gear and spin it via the actual cable, it works perfectly. Is there some trick to getting this thing to function? I am sure I have the cable seated all the way... I replaced the retaining clip and it is right behind the large metal piece of the cable that has a bigger diameter, so that the cable does not slide out. I gave up for the night but will probably try again Thursday and I have all day Friday as well. Anyone have any ideas? The new VSS does not seem to spin as freely as the old one, but I don't think that would result in a speedo that does not work at all.

 

[B94Sport]

Got it working...

Troubleshooting today led to the conclusion that the cable had somehow become disconnected from the back of the instrument cluster. How this happened after troubleshooting a few days ago led to the conclusion that I had a bad VSS, I have no idea... Even more perplexing is how this could happen with that clip holding the cable to the back of the instrument cluster. Took the whole dash apart and found that yes, the cable had become disconnected. So I put some grease on it and popped it back on and now the speedo works again! I certainly hope that does not happen again any time soon... What a PITA it was to tear apart the dash and remove the instrument cluster.