My Odomiter Quit Working

[Donald Lamond]

Hi Bob:

I have just been through the same thing, but with a 1984  4Ks.  I do not know if
the gears are similar but there has been a lot written about the small 21 tooth
nylon or delrin gear which fits on the end of the shaft.  And that the problem is
that the gear is slipping on the shaft.  Mine was and I didn't look any further
until it stopped working again .5 miles later

The other culprit I found was the next gear on the inside of the housing which
looks like pot metal.  The nylon gear I repaired by scoring the inside surface
with a small (Jeweller's)  screwdriver, really putting in some very deep scores
so that the glue would have a place to adhere when the gear was forced back on
the shaft.  After making that repair (JB Weld two part epoxy is aptly named)  I
wasn't able to get it off so I had to come in from the opposite side to get to
the potmetal gear.  I did this by pushing the shaft the gears rest on with a
drill bit of almost the same size as the shaft.  As I pushed on the drill bit,
each wheel climbed on the drill bit,  if it got caught up, I would just wiggle it
in a circular motion until I felt it enter the next disc.  Finally, I had pushed
the shaft all the way through.  The 21 tooth nylon gear was still on the shaft,
unable to pull it off because of the excellent job of the epoxy.  What to do?

I should have heated the shaft and removed the nylon gear.  Then measured the
distance of where the shaft would be inserted into the potmetal gear wi th some
sort of permenant marker.  Then take a fine file and score over the ink marks
because with the handeling and pushing of the shaft the  ink will be gone in no
time.

Now we have the shaft marked where the potmetal gear will rest when
reassembeled.  Find a ste of small pliars with good sharp teeth.  I used a small
set of Sears pliars which at some point were called ignition pliars.  All that's
repuired is that they are small and have sharp teeth.

Fit the pliars onto the shaft so that when you strike the pliars a light blow
with a hammer, it causes the shaft i expand slightly.  This slight expansion or
scoring is what's going to hold the pot metal gear to the shaft.

Start your shaft through the outer housing, pushing your drill bit out  the other
side as you go.  When you get to the scored part of your shaft entering the pot
metal gear you can either hammer it in, making sure you have a nut on the other
end so that the shaft can continue through, or use a c-clamp to force the shaft
into the gear.  When you get the scored part of the shaft into the gear you're
almost home.  What's left is the nylon gear with scored innards waiting for the
epoxy fix and the small bronze piece on the other end which I just fitted on
(cleaning all surfaces with acetone)  and dapped some epoxy on the end of the
shaft to hold the collar on.

Voila,  as they say in New Hampshire north of Concord.

Another lister has found 10 of those nylon gears.  If you find him and he still
has any extras, would you ask him to get in touch.

Maybe we could have someone in the UK do a power buy for the listers.  Seems to
be a reoccuring problem.

Best of luck,

Donald

84  4Ks

NineK at aol.com wrote:

> Hi,
> The odomiter quit working in my wife's '88 Audi 90.  I took it apart this
> weekend to see if I could fix it and I found that there is a tiny gear that
> has a tooth missing.
>
> I called a couple of the junk  yards in town and could not find an audi 90 to
> get this part from.  Is there a good sorce for this kind of part in the web?
> does anyone have a used dash cluster from this type of car that I could get
> the odomiter from?
>
> thanks
> Bob Berger
> 88 Audi 90