mashed bumper now no speedo trip or odometer

90 xj laredo, i searched first

it snowed today and while driving i slid off of the road and got stuck on a cement barricade but i didnt hit the barricade more landed on top of it it mashed my bumper out of true and basically took out the bottom six inches of bumper and quarter pannel in front of the driver side front wheel, theese things are bound to happen but when i returned to the road after being helped by some nice people i noticed that my speedometer tripmeter and odometer dont work any more, my question is: whats under that part of the bumper and that part of the jeep for that matter that would make this happen, also could this result from the shock of coming to a dead stop from 15mph?
i havnt had a chance to thoroughly examine the damage but i did notice that the horn and mounting bracket for the horn have been mashed up as well perhaps they pinched or chopped something , i also noticed that everythingelse works fine as far as i can tell including all of the electronics, 4wd, lights and other guages.

can anyone help me?

The speedometer, and the trip and odo, is run from a cable running from the t-case up along the transmission to the firewall. From there it's a shorter cable running from the inner firewall to the back of the gauge cluster.

It could have come undone at the t-case, could have been pinched by the motor or tranny if they moved during the accident or could have popped loose from the back of the cluster since it's just held in place by a simple plastic snap.

I would check those areas first.

thanks for the help, judjing on the landing that makes a good amount of sense

My guess is the cable came unsnapped from the speedo head inside the dash. There's not really anything holding it on but some friction (and indeed it may have never been pushed on all the way) and in between the cluster and the firewall there is a little gearbox of some sort inline in the cable that would have a fair amount of inertia, and there's enough room between that little box and the firewall to let it slide forward 3" or so.

If you have long skinny arms (and double jointed elbows would help too) you might be able to reach up from under the dash and push it back on without losing any blood. Not likely but you might.

thanks dave in eugene but sadly i have arms like treetrunks

Four screws to undo the dash bezel, a few screws to undo some of the side console pieces like the lower switch nacelles and the gauge cluster will come out with 4 screws IIRC.

Pull gently from the left side and disconnect the two electrical plugs and then the speedo cable should be flopping there disconnected. If undone from the gauge cluster, make sure the plastic tab that locks into the cluster is still intact. If not you might want to consider a replacement since they tend to fall out or get loose when broken.

You can then disconnect the cable from the gear box at the firewall, it screws on. Be careful as the threads are fine and easy to start incorrectly. Disconnect there, attach to the gauge cluster, put it all back together and then reach up from below and reattach to the firewall. This I found was easier than trying to hook it up to the cluster without being able to see anything.

This will require about a 6 pack of determination. Have fun.