Speedo cable replacement no bueno..What next!?

[bmweerman]

As some of you may recall I was recently describing my speedo problems...speedo hangs out, sometimes, at 10-20 MPH with corresponding movement of the odometer.

 

Have now replaced Speedo cable and now nothing registers at all...and yes I did double check to make sure everything's engaged.

 

What should I look at next---speedo drive or speedo itself?

 

BTW bike is 99 1100RT with 51+ K miles.

 

As always

 

TIA

[USAF1]

When you hooked the new cable in.....did you spin the front wheel and make sure the cable was turning before connecting to the speedo?

 

I'm guessing that you've already pulled your front wheel, and pulled the drive unit out, and checked the plastic drive gear inside? The corresponding "dog" inside the wheel tends to wear a groove in the plastic/teflon gear and over time makes no contact and won't "push" that gear. If that's the case, then depending on where the wear is, you might try bending the "wings" (on the dog) one way or another to allow for better contact. Might also make a couple of extra shims out of a coke can, and add them to the ones already under the drive gear....that'll raise the gear a hair and will increase the contact area for the "dog". Can post a couple of pics this afternoon if you'd like......

 

Pat

[bmweerman]

Yeah...actually I'd very much like to see that...thanks!!!

[flars]

Take the speedo drive off the front wheel (you don't have to completely remove the wheel - just pull the axle speedo cable, and the wheel will roll far enough forward to get the drive off). Looking into the wheel you will see the 'drive dog', which is a great big washer with two ears sticking out toward the fork. Try to rotate that dog. It shouldn't rotate but a tiny bit since it has two ears on the back that engage slots on the inside. These 'inside ears' can get completely chewed off, believe it or not (99 cents for a new dog). If the dog is good, check the plastic piece in the speedo drive hub as mentioned above. The metal drive dog chews a groove through the two little plastic ears on that piece, and the speedo stops working. This plastic piece is not available separately - you have to buy the $42 hub assembly. However...I cleaned all the grease, etc off the plastic piece on mine and used JB Weld to fill in the groove that the dog ate, and it is holding up fine so far. Also - the little teeth on the bottom of the plastic piece will get chewed up by the worm gear that it drives. I used a knife (a dremel would be better) to clean up those teeth before putting it back together.

For everyone --- these things fail for a reason. If the drive dog or plastic drive gear get chewed up, it is time to replace the speedo cable no matter how well lubed it may seem to be.

[bmweerman]

Great Stuff...thanks!!