speedometer troubles

As I was driving home my speedometer suddently stopped working it would sit at 0 and not go up. I removed the intrument cluster and made sure the cable was in good and that didnt fix it I then checked under the car and as far as I could tell it was connected allright. Although I do not have much experience so I may have been wrong. Any ideas or suggestions?  

Sometimes the speedo head just up and dies.

Check for a broken speedo cable first.  
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"So that is how you shine a skunk ? "

is there a way to test to see if it is broken or is it a matter of installing a new one and see if it fixes it?  

Detach the speedometer cable from the trany and see if your seedo gear is toast. While you’re at it, blow out the cable with compressed air, check the cable and make sure it turns smoothly, toss in a bit of graphite and work it through the cable to ensure good operation.  

bluemustang67:
As I was driving home my speedometer suddently stopped working it would sit at 0 and not go up. I removed the intrument cluster and made sure the cable was in good and that didnt fix it I then checked under the car and as far as I could tell it was connected allright. Although I do not have much experience so I may have been wrong. Any ideas or suggestions?

If the plastic gear that goes into the trans is eat up looking then replace. If not, turn the cable at the bottom and observe if the other end is turning as well. If not, its the cable. If it turns and the gear looks good too, put it back in the trans, leave the other end hanging under the dash where you can see or at least feel it while driving to see if its being turned. If turning, its your speedo. If not, there may be a problem with the tailshaft speedo drive gear.
Years ago, somehow the end of the cable that the plastic gear goes on got bent from being exactly square. If it wasn't oriented just so in the trans, the gear wouldn't engage with the tailshaft drive gear. But rotated just so, it works OK. I was about to pull my hair out before I realized what was what.
Hope this helps.  

Let me add a question concerning trany.  While trying to remove the connection of speedometer cable from trany so I can check it, I expected that as soon as removing the bolt from trany end of cable it would come loose.  It didn't.  How much pull do I need to do to get it out and will the plastic gear also come out?
joe  

If you have correctly removed the one bolt and retainer that retains the speedo gear assembly into the trans tail-housing it should come right out. (Or be easly leveraged out with a screwdriver).  

Yes it came right out.  Lubed the cable and put it back.  The speedometer still jumps around.  Must be the speedo itself.  At least now I know how to remove and replace the cable.
joe