Speedo

[scruffysteve]

Nice ride out on a grey wet Saturday last weekend saw the activity on the speedo on my R80ST become erratic, then die altogether. Of course I thought "new cable required". Ordered and duly fitted last night - still no activity. It now transpires that the speedo drive is the culprit (but at least I have a spare speedo cable!).

My manual says that the instruments are not repairable. Is this true? The costs of replacement seem high (new;£300, replacement £80).

Does anyone have any other suggestions before I lash out my hard-earned? I do not want to fit a bicycle speedo - would rather stick with original equipment.

Many thanks, Steve.

 

[r100/7]

i think my speedo on my r100gs has the same problem new cable and still not working. but i have just left it and been using thr rev counter to work out my speedo been like tht for over a year

 

[Beemerboff]

Our guy over here in Oz can repair them, but not cheaply - it seems it is a minimum of $170- labor to strip and rebuild plus any parts needed, so $250+ is a probability.

If you can get a runner for GBP80- I would grab it.

If you can get a G/S straight drive one for GBP80 let me know where and I will grab it!

 

[ontic]

Pull it apart carefully and have a look. It is fiddly but will very soon make sense.
The speedo on my G/S was absolutely screwed.
Trip meter button (through the glass) was broken off with a open hole left for the rain to pour in.
Speedo needle was broken and just did constant laps around the clock.

I pulled it apart and found this

lots of rust, many shafts rusted so bad that they had seized, plastic gears stripped, the funny magnetic thingy ruined, etc, etc- absolutely nothing working.
I got given a R65 speedo for nix and managed to salvage a few essential donor organs out of it and repair everything else. It took a bit of ingenuity, creativity, patience and bloody minded persistence, but it seems like I have got it working again.
for example, this little unit was completely seized- you can see the swelling in the plastic where the rusted shaft has expanded. Lots of parts like this went in an electrolysis rust removal bath until I managed to get them moving, got out some of the scale, some more electrolysis, etc...

It has been a saga, but a very satisfying one.
anyway, now it looks like this.

Bench tests perfect. Be a while before I can road test it.

 

[Steptoe]

Does anyone have any other suggestions before I lash out my hard-earned?

While riding along try moving and holding the speedo cable where it enters the speedo from side to side . This sometimes makes it work.
If so you can then cable tie the speedo entry over to the side that makes it work - if you get what i'm rambling on about.

A few of the airhead speedos i've temporarily fixed in this way are still working years later

 

[slowkitty]

Trying along shot here ...

My speedo needle is fluttering. Is that normal? If not, would appreciate the direction for the fix.

Cheers

 

[GEOFFREY DEACON]

If you twist the outer cable when tightening the cable end?(speedo/G-box), then it will catch the inner cable and flutter the needle!. Undo and check free routing of the cable and secure carfully..

 

[PeterSibley]

As I have said elsewhere Ontic , bloody brilliant !

 

[brassmonkey001]

Pull it apart carefully and have a look. It is fiddly but will very soon make sense.
The speedo on my G/S was absolutely screwed.
Trip meter button (through the glass) was broken off with a open hole left for the rain to pour in.
Speedo needle was broken and just did constant laps around the clock.

I pulled it apart and found this

lots of rust, many shafts rusted so bad that they had seized, plastic gears stripped, the funny magnetic thingy ruined, etc, etc- absolutely nothing working.
I got given a R65 speedo for nix and managed to salvage a few essential donor organs out of it and repair everything else. It took a bit of ingenuity, creativity, patience and bloody minded persistence, but it seems like I have got it working again.
for example, this little unit was completely seized- you can see the swelling in the plastic where the rusted shaft has expanded. Lots of parts like this went in an electrolysis rust removal bath until I managed to get them moving, got out some of the scale, some more electrolysis, etc...

It has been a saga, but a very satisfying one.
anyway, now it looks like this.

Bench tests perfect. Be a while before I can road test it.

I might have a go at that. There's nothing to lose, after all. I can't make it not work any more than it already doesn't.

 

[fayeslane]

I might have a go at that. There's nothing to lose, after all. I can't make it not work any more than it already doesn't.

Hmmm.........I think I know what you mean

 

[bumpmuncher]

My speedo needle was a bit wobbly, and the trip button had all but siezed because of the snow this winter. so I thought before I destroy it trying to fix it I would try to revive it without opening it up I filled a syringe with wd40 and put a fine needle on it and inserted it down the side of the trip button and trickled the oil down the trip button into the guts of the unit and hey presto after a few days it started working perfecty. No lazy start, no needle wobble. It seems to be working perfectly and now we have had a bit of sun the the condensation has gone from the back of the glass aswell wonder how long it will last

 

[brassmonkey001]

My speedo needle was a bit wobbly, and the trip button had all but siezed because of the snow this winter. so I thought before I destroy it trying to fix it I would try to revive it without opening it up I filled a syringe with wd40 and put a fine needle on it and inserted it down the side of the trip button and trickled the oil down the trip button into the guts of the unit and hey presto after a few days it started working perfecty. No lazy start, no needle wobble. It seems to be working perfectly and now we have had a bit of sun the the condensation has gone from the back of the glass aswell wonder how long it will last

If it sees the week out I'll be surprised.

 

[bumpmuncher]

If it sees the week out I'll be surprised.

Thats what I thought when I did it I got over the surprise a couple of months ago

 

[fayeslane]

My speedo needle was a bit wobbly, and the trip button had all but siezed because of the snow this winter. so I thought before I destroy it trying to fix it I would try to revive it without opening it up I filled a syringe with wd40 and put a fine needle on it and inserted it down the side of the trip button and trickled the oil down the trip button into the guts of the unit and hey presto after a few days it started working perfecty. No lazy start, no needle wobble. It seems to be working perfectly and now we have had a bit of sun the the condensation has gone from the back of the glass aswell wonder how long it will last

So a bit like a Scott chain oiler for speedos?

 

[bumpmuncher]

So a bit like a Scott chain oiler for speedos?

"I will squeeze those last few miles out of it"LOL

 

[Valker]

Pull it apart carefully and have a look. It is fiddly but will very soon make sense.
The speedo on my G/S was absolutely screwed.
Trip meter button (through the glass) was broken off with a open hole left for the rain to pour in.
Speedo needle was broken and just did constant laps around the clock.

I pulled it apart and found this

lots of rust, many shafts rusted so bad that they had seized, plastic gears stripped, the funny magnetic thingy ruined, etc, etc- absolutely nothing working.
I got given a R65 speedo for nix and managed to salvage a few essential donor organs out of it and repair everything else. It took a bit of ingenuity, creativity, patience and bloody minded persistence, but it seems like I have got it working again.
for example, this little unit was completely seized- you can see the swelling in the plastic where the rusted shaft has expanded. Lots of parts like this went in an electrolysis rust removal bath until I managed to get them moving, got out some of the scale, some more electrolysis, etc...

It has been a saga, but a very satisfying one.
anyway, now it looks like this.

Bench tests perfect. Be a while before I can road test it.

What sort of job was it to remove to outer black rim and did it go back ok, I have an old mph speedo that's not working so any tips would be great. R's J

 

[ontic]

I might have a go at that. There's nothing to lose, after all. I can't make it not work any more than it already doesn't.

Exactly. Rip into it. At the very least you'll gain a good understanding for the next one on how to stop this stuff happening again.

What sort of job was it to remove to outer black rim and did it go back ok, I have an old mph speedo that's not working so any tips would be great. R's J

That rim bezel thing is sort of crimped on around the back as you can probably see on yours. A little bit of careful prying with a sharp flat screwdriver bent the edge out enough to get it off.
The crimped over edge was only remaining on about half of mine, most on one side, and a tiny bit opposite. The tiny bit opposite soon broke off.
So, I've only got about 9:30 to 2:30 left of crimp left. I've put the crimped edge of the bezel on the top leading edge of the speedo. I don't have to crimp any more I just have to carefully stretch the thing over on and on. Regardless of that, when squeezed and jammed on it sits down pretty tight, and having two speedos to pick from (the G/S and the R65) I was able to get a very nice set of gaskets. I am pretty confident that it is reasonably watertight. I will however be keeping my eyes out for a bezel in better condition (with more crimped edge left) to replace this one.


The problem with the bezel is that being very thin alloy, a couple of bend and straighten cycles is probably enough to make it brittle and start cracking the metal. If I was to put a new or better condition one on I'd be inclined to only crimp over the edge in a series of stitches- eg. 12 oclock, 3, 6, 9- that would be enough IMO to hold it all together and it would leave me enough unbent material to be able to do it again the next few times I had to pull it apart
I did pull this thing apart and put it back together many many times.