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So, yesterday I went to check my front wheel bearings and torque them per the specs.

The passenger side was fine, I pried off the dust cap then did the allen wrench thing. Then I moved to the driver's side. I got the dust cap half-way pried off, but there was obviously something (I thought it was gummy glue) that was stretching and keeping the cap from popping on off. Finallly I pulled on it enough to shine a flash light down in, and there is what looked like the speedometer cable coming THRU the enter of the bearing. The end of this cable has be JB Welded or otherwise "glued" to the inside of the dust cap.

I went back through the tech svc manual, and there's not reference to this type of set-up AT ALL. I mean, the JB Weld job is so amateurish, it is obviously homemade. I've seen a lot of half-ass fix-its on this car, but this one is among the strangest.

My question in, how on earth did they get the cable through this way? How is it supposed to terminate at the wheel?

In the end I was able to adjust the wheel bearing and reassemble everything. The cable seemed to shove back through its hole, and my speedometer works okay (it did seem ever so slightly wobbley at about 30).

- Justin

I'm very ACVW ignorant, but I think the cable routing is stock. I seem to recall a friend mentioning the Beetle is like that. As for what the cable is supposed to attach to, and how, I have no idea. Sounds like it works, so I would just drive it for now.

ALL air cooled VW's had the speedo cable going to the right front wheel. The reason why someone glued it in, is because they usually improperly install the cable or leave off the E-clip on the outside. This causes the cable end..which is square...to spin in the square hole...rrounding it out. New caps are cheap. Also, you can fix an old one by setting it on an anvil and peening the square hole lightly from the inside with a flat drift to expand teh metal and make the hole tighter. Then finish with a small file. ray