The speedo on my WM20 packed up 6 years ago although the mileage recorder was ok, every speedo repairer i phoned wanted approx £150..sod that, so i fitted a halfords cycle one!thats been ok till battery died,so yesterday i had a go at the Smiths speedo myself..after trying everything to remove bezel (hot water,blowlamp,oilfilter strap,diesel) i eventually used a pair of 24" stillsons! hooray its off, then took internals out,removed needle,face then had a good clean with petrol, i found that the brass drive wheel on the main shaft had worn out at the top edge,after removing the cartridge(the bit with all the bells and whistles on)I removed mainshaft and saw that the gear is just a press fit on splines, i took off the brass gear and found that the bottom edge had no wear at all, so i just turned the gear over so the unworn part could contact the gear on the cartridge,reassembled everything and it only bloody works, total time 2hrs cost blood and sweat! now got more beer money
Just a word of warning, the drive in the speedo head will wear out prematurely if you fit a magnetic type speedo cable as the inner is too long and it places a strain on the drive. Even some of the new ones that are sold as chronometric ones are too long. Just to be on the safe side when fitting a cable is to put it on the speedo last and before you tighten it up check the flange of the cable ferrule will butt up easily with no gap, then tighten the knurled ring. If there is a gap take the inner cable out and carefully grind a little bit off it until there is no gap. It's certainly worthwhile as speedo reconditioning isn't cheap