Creative solution to fix the gear selector needle?

[bennylava]

On my 87 silverado, that orange gear indicator needle keeps coming loose. Because long ago the loop for the cable broke off. It's supposed to be like this image:

https://www.startpage.com/av/proxy-i...56c2b9c79c4d7f

They have the cable going off to the right, but it's supposed to loop around that light colored plastic piece that's directly beneath the blinker. On my truck, that's broke off.

So I'm going to have to get creative. Where the broke piece should be, now I can see the metal of the dash. About the only thing I can think of to make it function like stock, is to somehow come up with a tiny pulley to fix in that spot.

Only other fix I can think of would be to skip that section, and somehow affix the whole thing to the steering column. But the cable is a bit too long, and it looks like it would still need something to guide it. Otherwise it would just keep slipping off the column and that would mess up the repair.

I would like to avoid having to buy a whole new gauge pod. It wouldn't be fun to move all my gauges (and their mods I've done) over to a new pod. Any ideas?

[bennylava]

I think it's possible that I could affix something like this in the right spot:

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-V-Groo...9058454&sr=8-1

But I would need a shaft for it to spin on. Which would need to screw into the metal of the dash, and also be able to keep the "pulley" in place.

[ron350]

I found this.
https://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vbo...hift+indicator

[chrismoore701]

I simply put a bolt in mine with a sleave on it with a washer at the top, worked for years, still working

[bennylava]

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

I simply put a bolt in mine with a sleave on it with a washer at the top, worked for years, still working

Do you happen to have a picture of it, or just a pic of the parts that were used? Particularly of the sleeve. I'm guessing you needed the sleeve to keep the cable from slipping off the bolt.

The factory plastic kept the cable from traveling upwards and thus getting loose.

Because of this I'm considering using a small copper elbow with flanged ends. Epoxy glued in place. That way the cable can't ever come out.

[chrismoore701]

I looked, I do not. I would not epoxy an elbow on there, there is not a lot of stress on that cable, but I think enough to pull that elbow off. Good luck

[bennylava]

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

I looked, I do not. I would not epoxy an elbow on there, there is not a lot of stress on that cable, but I think enough to pull that elbow off. Good luck

Yeah I changed the plan, I'll go with the method someone linked. Just a thumb screw with knurling.