[joe_padavano]

I'll wade into this thread. First, it is VERY easy to disassemble the speedo and manually reset the odometer drum. I've done it on several of my Oldsmobiles when I've rebuilt them. There is a very thin plastic shim between each of the individual sections of the odo drum. This shim is what breaks if you incorrectly force the drum to reset. If you do it carefully by disassembling the speedo, there's no problem.

Second, let's get serious here. There is absolutely no difference between resetting the odo to zero and installing a new one. For that matter, you can also install a whole new speedo with a different odometer reading. ALL of these are perfectly legal, since repair of the odometer is allowed by law. As with VIN tampering, the federal laws only address odometer tampering WITH INTENT TO COMMIT FRAUD. The VIN tag issue should be the topic of a different thread, however.

State laws do vary. Here in Virginia, you must note odometer inaccuracies in the appropriate space on the title. Do that and it's perfectly legal.