90 V6 A/T speedometer problem

[jerfi2003]

I am fixing up this car for my daughter and need to get the speedo going so she doesn't get tickets. I originally thought that the gear on the end of the speedometer cable shaft was broken or gone but after I finally got the old one out it looks like the gear that is actually part of the transmission is broken or missing. I would like to attempt this repair myself, and I don't really think I'll have trouble pully the transmission but I'm really leary about opening up the transmission to get a new gear in there. If anyone has any thoughts on this or even possibly a way to add an aftermarket speedometer/odometer I would really appreciate the help.

[fredk]

let me get this right, you uncrewed the cable off the trans and took the gear holder out that the cable screws onto and the gear was gone off the end of it?

[jerfi2003]

I unscrewed the female cable end from the transmission, then removed the keeper bolt and flat metal keeper. Then I removed the cylindrical aluminum housing that holds the gear. I expected to find this gear either broken or missing but that was not the case. After inspecting inside the hole left by removing this piece I came to the conslusion that there was nothing for the small gear to mesh with inside the transmission. Unless I have completely missed the boat, I am assuming that there should have been some kind of gear inside and that it must have been removed or is broken.

[Doctor J]

The plastic ring gear (aka drive gear) is pressed on the differential assembly.
use strong pen light and mirror to look for it.

[fredk]

its gotta be there, look for a belly in the gear teeth