My 83 300D odometer never worked but the speedometer works fine. Thanks to the excellent pictorial how to from Dieselgiant, which provided the diagnosis of exactly what's wrong. After reviewing the procedure and the recommendation of applying threadlocker to the strategic spot on the shaft, I decided it was not do-able without getting the thread locker in places you don't want to and thus freezing up the whole thing.

The problem with my odometer was as described by Dieselgiant: the pot metal gear was spinning on the shaft. Applying thread lock to just that part of the shaft is not really possible unless you're a magician.

I used a different approach which is simpler and requires much less disassembly. Basically I "knurled" the part of the shaft where it contacts the pot metal gear so it will not spin anymore. See the murky photo where the shaky hand drawn line points to, that is the end of the shaft (with the brass gear) that you have to withdraw about half an inch. To do that, you'll need to remove the retainer on the other end of the shaft first (as shown in the dieselgiant photos), then use a small drill bit and push the shaft out about half an inch. Next, determine where the contact area of the shaft to the pot metal gear is by measuring it and marking it with a indelible marker. Now take a wire cuter and "knurl" the marked area of the shaft to make it just a little bigger in diameter where it counts. Don't go nuts doing it or you will have a hard time getting the shaft back in, just a few nicks all around where you have marked it is enough. Use a small flat ended punch and a hammer to tap the shaft back in and that's it!

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
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