Re-attaching speedometer Cable to instrument cluster

Any Tips ? I just removed my cluster to replace the bulbs since one had burned out, and there's absolutely zero 'play' with the speedo cable to pull out and attach to the speedometer.

I see the cable has 2 mounting points (I have a new cable but don't necessarily want to replace the entire cable). One is down on the frame and doesn't look too bad to disconnect. The other looks like it's got an attachment on the firewall, but it's covered by insulation.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

I've always been able to just hook up the clips and push the cluster onto the speedo cable. Maybe a tilt left and right.

 

Thanks, but I guess you don't really know if it the cable's attached to the cluster until you start driving right ? I'll give that a try, though.

 

I have always had to put the cluster in as much as possible and reach my arm through the center part of the dash to connect it. There is not much slack.

 

I've been able to feel with hand and see when it connects.

 

I'll try that way again. When I pulled the instrument panel out after removing the 4 screws to access the 3 wire connectors, the speedo cable just detached on its own. So maybe I'll get lucky when reinstalling it so it lines up. There's absolutely zero slack and I don't see how I can get my hand back there, but I'll have to get creative..

Thanks for the responses!

 

OK, got the sucker in this past Saturday. In case someone has to do this again I'll explain. There was no way in the world I was going to be able to re-attach the cable to the instrument panel since there was zero slack in the cable. I found 2 clips that attached the cable between the instrument panel and the t-case. One was near the entry point of the cable into the t-case right under the passenger seat which was forward of the rear entry point on the t-case. That was really easy to find if you just follow the cable. Another was on the firewall towards the bottom. Mine was hidden by some insulation on the firewall, but I finally found it. I went under the truck, reached up, and popped it off the clip holding the cable. Did the same thing on the frame attachment and was luckily able to pull some slack on the cable and slid it in. For the Instrument Panel Bulbs I used Part Numbers 194-BHP5 (4) and a single 74-CWHP3 for the HVAC Bulb which had also burned out. Both from superbrightleds.

 

I found my own solution to this today after a few failed initial attempts to reconnect this speedometer cable. With the dashboard of my 1996 V6 apart, I took out this one screw (see yellow arrow in the image below) and moved the heater vent aside to the right a bit. This allowed me to reach behind the installed cluster and plug in the cable by hand. It was a tight fit for my arm, but it worked for me.

 

Yup, been there before, once you figure out the process it's easy