speedometer gear
 

So my speedometer stopped working and I disconnected from the transmission (th400), hooked up my power drill to the cable ran the drill. Speedometer worked so that told me that it was the gear. Removed the lockplate and pulled the speedometer gear housing to find the end of the speedometer gear (the one with the teeth) gone. Now I have no clue how many teeth this was supposed to have but that's not my main concern. The hole opens to the rear housing and apparently the end of my gear is just sitting somewhere in there. Does anyone know if and how this will affect anything? Can I pull the transmission pan and hopefully find it in there? I just did the transmission pan a short while back and that was even after the speedometer stopped working and I didn't see the gear in the pan. I can't jack my car up more than a about eight to ten inches with the jack stands I have so that kind of gives me only limited movement room. Does anyone have a recommended course of action or have had to deal with this before? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.transmissioncenter.net/64...speedogear.jpg

The picture's for reference. The brass colored coupling is for the speedometer cable and the silver gear running from it to the interior of the housing is the gear that apparently broke off.

Thanks!

RE: speedometer gear
 

Nevermind! On my first try with surgical long neck hemostats I pulled it out without a problem. It was just laying down on the bottom but had to come through the gap just right.