speedo question?

Engineers did make the marriage of cable to instrument about 2 inches long to insure alignment to a point. Good for 100 thousand miles anyway. The instrument itself cant survive any pressure from the cable in any direction. If the input of the instrument is worn out you will see scaring farther inside where 1 part is hitting the other ( outside surface of what looks like a drum ). If that's the case, replace the instrument. To trim the length of the cable and route to align with the instrument as straight as possible is a hit and miss effort. Good luck