Did I ruin this speedo cable?

[arrover]

I took the cluster out for the first time today for cleaning and to try to figure out why I don't have dash lights and my fuel gauge doesn't work. The speedometer cable didn't seem to go back into place very easily. I test drove it very slowly and the speedo didn't work and I could hear the cable. This is what the end of the cable looks like now. It looks like the tip broke off and the cable started to untwist itself? It's very strange. What did I do wrong?

[J Knight]

Looks ruined to me.

[Rufton]

Looks like cable pecker did not purchase fully and broke the tip.
Speedo cables typically have some fastener to prevent backing out.
This fastener can be a real pain to install remove on some applications.
I've been tempted to use easy access cable ties to prevent pull out.