its supposed to be easy!!! i have an '84 lifted wagon with a tranny from an '81 and i have tried and tried to fix this damn cable and it wont work...i checked the cable and it isnt brokenso i slipped it back in and it looks a little short ....but its longer than the spare i have.... i cut the little plastic housing on the tranny end so it colud get a little further down there but no luck with that either! what do you think is wrong?

I have had this problem a few times now. I found the only way I could install a cable in my brothers wagon was when the gearbox was out of the car. Getting the right angle is a PITA! With my 5 speed conversion I had to cut the non threaded part off the gearbox side too, and it did work, but took ages (40mins or so) to get it to go in. And I was in a pit under the car, not crawling around under it...

 

All I can give you as advice is keep trying.. :-\

Yea it took me about 10-15 minutes of turning it thinking it was in when it wasnt. All i can say is its not straight up and down. It leans a bit out towards the passenger side if that helps you any. just keep lining it up and applying pressure and it will go in eventually..and make sure your cable is lined up in the slot as well. Good luck.

I've had the best luck pulling the plastic bolt thing back so just the end of the cable is there, and turn the end of the cable until it lines up with the slot in the gear in the transmission, and stuff it in as far as it will go, and then thread the plastic bolt thing in. It takes some practice but you'll get it :-)

I've had the best luck pulling the plastic bolt thing back so just the end of the cable is there, and turn the end of the cable until it lines up with the slot in the gear in the transmission, and stuff it in as far as it will go, and then thread the plastic bolt thing in. It takes some practice but you'll get it :-)

 

basically stick it in the hole:-p

I've had the best luck pulling the plastic bolt thing back so just the end of the cable is there, and turn the end of the cable until it lines up with the slot in the gear in the transmission, and stuff it in as far as it will go, and then thread the plastic bolt thing in. It takes some practice but you'll get it :-)

 

+1

 

That's the best way I've found to do it as well.

dang well thanks guys...im pretty sure ive done that too but i guess ill try ans try till i cant tries no more:)

any further tips, helping my buddy with his XT6 and the threads simply won't engage.....?

I had better luck doing it from the top than from underneath. Pull the working spade piece out as far as you can (within reason) and stuff it in place, then hold it via the cable housing while you mess with the threaded part. It takes a bit, but it will go in eventually.

my buddy figured it out (his car) - turns out the speedo cable they sold him was not the same - it has a thicker "bushing" at the base, that doesn't quite allow the threads to meet the threads in the trans. it was like 1/16" thicker, making it close enough to look like the threads should engage, but they won't. he grabbed the old sensor and noticed and it screwed right in no problems.....

 

he's going to try to shave down the bushing and see if that works. i guess i should tell him to make sure it's long enough too...

This is where I would say: