Martin disagrees with me? Please tell me it isn't so. Whatever the cause, angle drive gears definitely behave directionally. Turning the spindle gear counterclockwise (our primary direction of wheel rotation) spins it right out of the housing. Turning it clockwise does not spin it out. Take the back off one of your extras and try it yourself if you don't believe me. Something caused my "high mileage" (with a DeLorean, "high mileage" is always a relative term) bushing to wear oblong. The only explanation I can see is torque skew allowed by that convex insert, as the directional effects of counterclockwise rotation forced the spindle gear mercilessly against it. Anyways, I've decided to make the spindle cable my weak link in the imfamous DeLorean speedometer chain. Obviously the gears themselves aren't going to be damaged. Cable fit in the wheel cup (usual weak link) is notoriously loose, so I bush mine out with a piece of brass channel pressed onto the cable end -- fits the wheel cup precisely, rather than wallowing around as most do. That leaves the spindle cable the weak link, weakened even further by being wound counterclockwise itself. My spindle gear now has a square cable receptacle (I filed the old brass insert square and pressed a metal receiver into it. All I'll ever need do now is insert a fresh spindle cable, square on both ends, into the receptacle to keep right on trucking. I chose the spindle cable over the wheel cup because they are available in stock locally, and only cost $5 versus $15. Feel free do disagree at your leisure. Bill Robertson #5939 >--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Martin Gutkowski <martin@...> wrote: > > Well I'm 100% convinced your wrong. By your argument, the fact that I > broke one of mine by going backwards means that they're definitely only > designed to go forwards. > > You can't just "turn the gears around" from a right hand drive car, the > speedo would want to go backwards! > > The symptoms you've observed are more likely to do with wear than design. > > The gears are NOT directional, by their very nature of being simple 90 > degree screw gears, they can't be. > > I think Marc's mechanic assumed they'd be bevel gears, which can have > helical teeth (like in an angle grinder) but screw gears cannot. > > Martin > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/