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Speedo work?

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philippalexanderdetscher
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 4:10 pm

Speedo work?

Post by philippalexanderdetscher »

A few weeks back my speedometer started jumping, wailing and crying. Stupidly I let it go for a few days curiously listening along with it. Soon after the needle snapped off and I disabled it.

I tucked it almost all the way under the instrument cluster, but am curious if by leaving it partially exposed/open I am doing it harm?

To get it fixed I was recommended to Palo Alto Speedometer. I have been in contact with them sporadically. Is this a shop any you have any experience in, or confidence in? Or should I look elsewhere for the work?

Thanks for the input as always!
Philipp Alexander Detscher 1976 R60/6

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philippalexanderdetscher
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 4:10 pm

CRAP! Such a long day. I

Post by philippalexanderdetscher »

CRAP!

Such a long day. I meant Tachometer. Wow. Sorry gents. Tachometer!
Philipp Alexander Detscher 1976 R60/6

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Darryl.Richman
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You should have this looked

Post by Darryl.Richman »

You should have this looked after soon. The wailing and flailing was probably caused by a lack of lubrication in the speedo cable. You should remove it and check the internal cable to make sure it's ok and not unraveling. You should then hang it vertically and put some light machine oil into it until it comes out the bottom.

If you leave it disconnected, you stand the chance of having rain and debris make its way into the top. Water that enters there will migrate into the transmission, which could be bad for the bearings. If you drain your trans and see "coffee and cream" rather than clean oil, you've already got this problem.

(You can also get this if the boot around the base of the speedo cable doesn't fit tight. It can act as a funnel to bring water in. The typical fix for this is to fill the boot with grease before fitting it to the transmission.)

There are several speedo repair shops; you can look in our Resource Links area (button on the left sidebar) for them. Personally, I have always had good experiences with North Hollywood Speedometer.
--Darryl Richman

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Darryl.Richman
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Oh! Tachometer! Well, some

Post by Darryl.Richman »

Oh! Tachometer! Well, some of what I wrote still applies.
--Darryl Richman

spo123
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:53 am

another step in the process...

Post by spo123 »

I agree with all of Darryl's recommendations.
One more would be to find a way to lubricate the inside of the cable attachment point of the instrument itself.....ie: not the threads, just the "hole" of where the actual inner, rotating cable "connects" with the instrument.
Either remove the "clock", turn the bike upside down, OR lean the bike over onto one of the valve covers.......soft grass or a board.......and use either a flexible method to get some lightweight lube....I like TRIFLOW......think bicycle lube... and get the BUSHING ASSEMBLY which surrounds the "hole" wet.......Last winter, in the freezing cold, I managed to subside this problem with a BENT Q tip loaded with said lubricant........After a dozen, or so, dabs up from the underside, on my /5.....and some dribbled down the cable......success.
My laziness, since the past winter, has me concerned that I may need to either perfect my method OR actually remove the "clock" and dribble down.
For those of y'all out there......do this at the earliest sign of the "dancing" needle.
Your experiences may differ from mine.....however, this recommendation MAY help out another "brother"...or "sister", for that matter.
Ride Fast and Safe!
spo
spo123 '73 LWB R75/5

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Bruce Frey
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:00 am

Overseas Speedometer in

Post by Bruce Frey »

Overseas Speedometer in Austin, TX is another source. They repaired the tach and trip odometer on my R90S so I can recommend them.

Bruce

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brixtonsaint
Posts: 115
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:28 pm

i will be adding an

Post by brixtonsaint »

i will be adding an aftermarket speedo/gauge cluster in the next few months. my bike had a mismatched harness/cluster combo. i know a few people have discussed it. i'll post pics and a break down. for now... i'm just guessing.

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AKHANZ
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:01 pm

check re-psycle

Post by AKHANZ »

I had my pod rebuilt... both speedo and tach. R75/7
$180 plus parts and shipping.
Seems reasonable and fair.

http://www.re-psycle.com/

My speedo started swinging wildly then spun it needle off. The drive cable was fine and well lubed.
The system just exploded inside.. the tach was jumping a bit over 4k by a couple of 100rpms.

They rebuilt both.. took about 3 weeks... had to send it to the midwest.

good luck on your fixes.

Jim Dahl. Ketchikan, Alaska
Hanz - 1960/R50
Gertie - 1977 R75/7
RFAR1 - R1100S

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brixtonsaint
Posts: 115
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:28 pm

I may go with something like

Post by brixtonsaint »

I may go with something like this. As long as your run your gen wire to a bulb you don't need to do anything with the rest of the wires. This would be the easy way so you don't have to splice the wires to a new unit but you won't have all your gauges. They have some fancier models and I saw some from KOSO? that were similar too.

http://www.trailtech.net/400-20.html



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brixtonsaint
Posts: 115
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:28 pm

I ordered the trailtech

Post by brixtonsaint »

I ordered the trailtech endurance yesterday for $75. It's only 3.5 x 1.5 so it shouldn't be as much of an eyesore as I thought. Now I need to find a waterproof plastic casing to put over my cluster wire/harness/gen bulb. I wandered the aisles of lowes and pep boys looking for something but no luck.

Should have it set up early next week. I'll post pics next week.

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