[T3] Speedometer needles

[Jim Adney]

One of our listees just asked me if I could replace his broken 
speedometer needle. I'd never done this before, so I just tried 
taking one off an old speedo I have here. To my surprise, I 
discovered that the white part of the needle is plastic, but the hub 
is silver painted brass.

The needle appears to be sort of crimped in place within 2 notches on 
the hub. I don't think it would be possible to remove the plastic 
pointer without breaking it. The hub itself, is thicker on the "tail" 
side in order to balance the extra weight of the "head" end of the 
needle.  

I thought people here had told me that the speedo needles removed 
easily, unlike the clock needles, but I couldn't get this one off. 
The shaft it fits on is about 1/2 mm in diameter and I'm pretty sure 
I'd twist off the shaft before the hub would come off. The one I just 
tried was from 1970.

Has anyone ever taken one of these apart? If so, do you have any 
tricks to offer?

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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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