The steel cable inside the plastic/rubber housing can also move out of it's place sometimes if the steel part is pressed/pulled too much. I've had this happen once and even though the cable was in place, the steel part didn't touch the rotational assembly at the gauge end. It was only few millimeters too much out at the hub side. This was with the newer cable setup though.

New version of the hubside setup includes a threaded end of the speedo cable and instead of a clip, there's a nut which holds the steel end of the cable in it's place.