Don't throw away your broken speed drive gear housing.

[fastivaca]

The hold down tab on the speedo drive gear housing often break off. Rather than throw it away when (or if) you replace it make it into a transmission dipstick. I removed the o-ring and the gear and now I can get it in and out of the hole without it sticking. Saves fighting the seal when you're trying to check levels with the one on the car.



Doesn't make it any easier to get the housing out to begin with but makes it easier to check the oil level in the transmission. Hope you find this helpful.

Sent from somewhere west of here via Tapatalk!

[WTFestiva]

now I can get it in and out of the hole without it sticking.

Giggity

[Spike]

Giggity

LOL. Have that same problem, do we?

[Safety Guy]

I have an extra speedo housing too, for that very purpose. Us older guys can use the help!

Karl

[Festy46]

I do sort of the same thing with old CV joints. I remove the stub shaft that goes in the transmission from the rest of the axle and also the cir clip so it slips in and out of the transmission. Then whenever I remove an axle, I stick one of those in the transmission. It keeps the dirt out and the spider gears from dropping.

[Bert]

That O ring serves a purpose don't ya know! Rather than fussing around from down below, which is awkward, if you reach down behind the motor from up above you can get pretty good purchase and leverage on the unit. A long set of extensions on a 1/4 inch drive easily removes/installs the tab bolt from up top too. It may well be the mounting tab is merely insurance against coming loose, but without the tab and the O ring, I would think sooner rather than later is going to cause the failure of the sending unit (if it disengages slightly and gets ground up) or you're going to lose and/or contaminate the tranny oil.

[fastivaca]

Bert, I didn't intend for the the modified one to be used permanently but simply as a dipstick while the one being used in the car is out.

Procedure as follows:
- remove tab bolt as you described
- remove housing
- check oil level with modified unit as required
- reinstall original housing
- reinstall tab bolt being careful not to overtighten it

Ian

[defprun]

Currently I have a tab-less unit in my tranny, Im going to do this and install my new one in!!