Triumph Repair: speeddometer and cable, speedometer needle, speeddometer

Question
i have a 1976 spitfire 1500 that idid a complete frame off restoration on by myself.had a broken speeddometer cable.idid away with the 2 cablesystem  replaced with 1 long cable from trans. straight to speedometer,after 3months 3000 miles,cable broke, not on the end but 18 inches in the sheilded part.my question is do i need to have my speedometer repaired or could it have been a defective cable,odometer reads 34k.someone in our club thinks its a problem inside the speedo .it worked fine until it snapped , no jerky needle or bounce or sounds. any help will be appreicated  THANKS  RUSS

Answer
Russ,

It's possible that the speedometer froze up... or that the cable was defective.. or that you had it running at too tight a bend and the cable overstressed.

To test the speedometer, take the part of the inner cable with the square drive for the speedometer and gently insert it into the fitting on the back of the speedometer.  Try twisting it a few times to see if the speedometer needle jumps.  If you can't twist it at all, it's the speedometer.

Otherwise it's the cable.  


Cheers,

Jim