Dodge Repair: 92 Dodge Dakota speedometer and odometer not working

Question
QUESTION: I have a 92' dodge dakota 5.2L v8 i recently purchased it with the knowledge of this problem, however i am trying to get this slight issue repaired, i was looking for some ideas. I had a friend who works in a parts store advise of a speedometer gear but cannot locate the part anywhere online and none of the local parts stores sale it. My question is could this be the issue? Is there a way to confirm this, and if it is the problem any idea as to where i might be able to locate and purchase the part.

Thanks in advance,
Terry

ANSWER: Hi Terry,
I don't have the manual for a '92 truck but I believe that the likely cause is rather an
'output speed sensor' which would be mounted on the automatic transmission proper if this has an automatic transmission which is "electronic", or it could be the speedometer "pinion gear" if it was a non-electronic automatic. You may be looking for a part that doesn't exist. So give that a try. The electrical pulsing from output speed sensor is used both by the automatic transmission controller and by the instrument cluster to operate the speedometer. If this is a manual transmission then that would be a different story. So which trans do you have?
Please read the PS (below) and respond to it.
Thanks for doing that.
Roland


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It's an automatic transmission. And I'm not very car smart so I really can't give to much detail without being asked, sorry. Is this something that I can verify, about the part being there, the problem or if this sensor is the issue. Is this easily accessible?

Answer
Hi Terry,
If your '92 truck has an automatic that is similar to what was the design in the cars of that year then my suspicion would be that there is a fault with the "output speed sensor" or one of its 2 wires to the transmission control module. You can look at the side of the transmission that has all the wiring and you will notice a couple of similar devices, each with a plug,  one located near the bell housing at the front and the other near the far end of the transmission at the rear. The rear one is the output speed sensor. Take a look at its wires to see if damaged.
Then if not, you can either take a guess and buy a replacement sensor OR you can go to a shop and have them do a fault code readout via the socket under the dash using a fault code reader that is set up to look for fault code numbers from the transmission control module. They would need what is known as an OBD-II code reader to get the code. Let me know what numbers they get and we'll go from there. The output speed sensor itself is under $100 and simply unscrews for replacement. Torque it in about the same as a spark plug (20 foot-pounds).
Thus when you asked for a speedometer gear you would not find one. Rather it would be the output speed sensor that you are looking for.
Thanks for the rating and nominations, which you are welcome to do again.
Roland