Replacing speedo cable

[Philpy]

I was driving along and the speedo suddenly dropped to 0....

I have pulled the dash apart and loacted the speedo cable pulled the cable and about 40cm came out to reveal where it snapped, so defiantly is down to this. But havent done anymore yet.
Anyway have been searching the site and lots of people mention dropping a spindle by accident into the gearbox. Will I run the risk of doing this when I remove the old one? Is this a pain of a job because of the spindle?

Thanks
Oh and how much is a new cable?

[Chris-White]

When i did mine there was no problem with the spindle dropping off, infact, it was bloody hard getting it off the old cable to put onto the new one! Mine was held in by a little circlip that i transferred onto the new cable, and then forced the old spindle onto the new cable and it was held in fine. The only issue i had was the gasket on the gearbox had perished and disintergrated when i undid the old cable.

New cable was about £20 from VAG.