I have a 1987 Dodge Dakota, 3.9 L automatic. I have been having issues with my speedometer - fluttering and just not working at all. I replaced the cable and it is now spinning freely.

My issue is now is with the speedometer gear housing and gear itself. The speedometer gear is traveling back and forth in the housing and eventually stops making contact with the gear in the transmission.

Can anyone tell me what stops this from happening. I would think there should be some kind of clip that stops it from moving in and out but I can't seem to locate it.

Any help on how to keep the gear from traveling in the housing would be much appreciated.

 

Look up the speedometer gear on a parts website and try to find one with pictures of the part, then you can see if it comes with a clip of some sort or if the issue is with the part itself. My '89 3.9L has 104k on it and I found an old one with a stripped gear under the seat from the previous owner, so I don't think it's uncommon that they just go bad. Wish I could be more helpful, all I know is how I personally go about troubleshooting stuff like this.

 

Hi Princess_Kota.

Thank you for the reply.

Your suggested course of action is exactly like mine lol.

After comparing the parts on Summit to what I have, they look identical. Like you said though, they must be an addition clip or something.

This is what I have.

 

Just a follow up. I redid the gear and housing assembly. No more back and forth. All I can think of is that I had the clip in wrong somehow and I "fixed it" when I put it back together.

 

Better to be lucky than good.

 

Yeah. Unfortunately that's how I solve most issues on this temperamental Dodge. 🙂