Need help fixing my speedometer cable on 97 tacoma

Hey yall.

So my speedo cable core snapped in half a while back. I attempted a cheap fix by cutting a universal cable core to fit and installed it, but the tip that inserts into the transmission seems to require a special pin/adapter of some kind. I attempted to solder the old one onto the new core after cutting it off and drilling it out a bit, but it didn't hold for too long (I had low expectations that it would work).

I would like to fabricate a new core with a new tip, but I'm struggling to source a way to make that happen. Ideally I'd like to find a drive tip that the standard square-tip end of the core replacement can just plug into, but I'm not sure exactly what those tips are even called.

I'm debating just ordering a whole new cable assembly OEM, but I'm not sure if replacing the whole cable & sleeve is in my wheel house. Pulling a core is easy, but I don't know how hard it is to pull the whole sleeve, then feed a new one in somehow. I also don't know how to properly plug the cable into the instrument cluster, since there is zero room to fit your hands behind it when it's close enough to do so. The last time I did it I had to mangle my arm snaking it through a tiny hole in the dash above the radio/heat control instruments, but I was only able to get a finger or two on it with zero leverage and I'm not sure if I managed to get it completely secure to the cluster.

If anyone has any experience with any of this, PLEASE share any tips you might have. Thank you!

 

I pulled the cluster out of my pickup a few months back. I had to go the same route to remove the cable. Wiggled my arm around through a hole above the heater controls. Then afterward I wondered if I could have given myself more room by detaching the cable from the transmission (or wherever it actually goes to, I assume transmission).

Maybe see if that gives you more room?

As far as replacement....

Maybe a junkyard? (You could practice pulling the cable on a truck that's not yours )