what did you wrench on today??

[Burque73]

A while back my speedo needle started bouncing and eventually quit moving alltogether. Replaced it with another and it was good for a thousand miles or so, now it's doing the same thing. This time I pried open the bezel to clean and lube everything inside before it's totally shot.

It was a bit gunked up but not too bad.



After a good spritz of carb cleaner and some lithiumm grease, I reassembled it. After a good three hour ride tonight, the needle is pretty steady with a tiny bounce around 80mph.

[LeT]

That's a good job. What did you use to pretty is the bezel? I've tried this a couple of times before to address speedo and tacho problems (dirty faces, needle) and have made a mess of the bezels. I found the steel bezel crimping to stuff to move without a screwdriver but the edges were too sharp to stretch the metal without distortion.

[Baatfam]

The power switch went bad on my garage stereo....Haven't found a replacement yet, so I am going to open it up, and see if it is fixable.

Kenwood KR-710 by R John Thieda, on Flickr

[Burque73]

That's a good job. What did you use to pretty is the bezel? I've tried this a couple of times before to address speedo and tacho problems (dirty faces, needle) and have made a mess of the bezels. I found the steel bezel crimping to stuff to move without a screwdriver but the edges were too sharp to stretch the metal without distortion.

So, the original speedo with the white plastic housing (in the background in my pic) was too difficult to pry open, plus it was shot and not worh the effort. The replacement unit has an orange housing and the metal wasn't crimped nearly as tightly. I was able to pry against the orange housing with a flat blade screwdriver working my way around. After reassembling it, the thick rubber gasket hid most of the chipped finish on the metal bezel.

I'm not sure what model or year the orange speedo came from. Bought it from another member who said it was from an "L".

[Gorminrider]

So, the original speedo with the white plastic housing (in the background in my pic) was too difficult to pry open, plus it was shot and not worh the effort. The replacement unit has an orange housing and the metal wasn't crimped nearly as tightly. I was able to pry against the orange housing with a flat blade screwdriver working my way around. After reassembling it, the thick rubber gasket hid most of the chipped finish on the metal bezel.

I'm not sure what model or year the orange speedo came from. Bought it from another member who said it was from an "L".

as a CAUTION: I'd love to find and orange tachometer one for my 1981 GSX400E....the White ones (very common) do not fit the housing...

De crimping definitely stretches the metal and is impossible to re-shrink-crimp perfectly in my skillset...sigh
An OPTION is to CUT the ring, drill tiny holes and cinch the ends back together with a twisted wire 'buckle" where it can least be seen.. It's also far from perfect and is harder to re-assemble but is worth a try if you have a sacrificial spare?

[Hayabuser]

Maybe bad ground, specifically to the RR or the mounting bracket it is mounted on. No ground, no regulation...

Regulator is internal in the alternator. I did trace the wiring, checked all of the connectors and grounds but no joy. The RF service manual just states that the voltage should be above 13.5v but doesn't give a maximum... from my experience, ~14.5v should be the ceiling. 15.4v is just asking for trouble, IMHO.

[Sandy]

It's been a few years since the old girl got deep cleaning. Started from the back today. Pretty routine. Removed a bunch parts, cleaned, reinstalled. Everything was in pretty good shape so not much to actually repair.



20210103_141151 by soates50, on Flickr

[cowboyup3371]

Took the front end off of my 550T this weekend and confirmed the forks are not bent . Ordered new fork bushings to reassemble everything and then will need to verify the actual lengths of the new brake lines I'll need to order. I could go with what I had but I want to be certain one of them wasn't too long. Otherwise, it looks like I didn't do much damage to the bike itself back in October.

[kochic]

removed lots of bondo on the S gas tank to find a '78 gas tank under the thick layer.
Marc
CIMG6172.jpg

[cowboyup3371]

Opened up the tachometer I had on the 550T when I wrecked in October to find this lovely crack:

Cracked Tachometer by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Steve offered to apply some slurry to it so I can keep this as a spare or sell it since it is still working properly (verified it with my drill last night).

In the meantime, I found an old spare that I had mistakenly oversprayed white lithium grease into some time back.

Tachometer Before Cleaning by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Removed and cleaned the glass then applied some paint to the needle. Unfortunately I didn't notice some dirt/dust settled onto the glass before I crimped it back on but it's looking much better now and is ready to put back onto the bike

Tachometer After Cleaning by Scott Baker, on Flickr

[Brendan W]

Removed and cleaned the glass then applied some paint to the needle. Unfortunately I didn't notice some dirt/dust settled onto the glass before I crimped it back on but it's looking much better now and is ready to put back onto the bike

Tachometer After Cleaning by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Talk to my wife, Mary. She frames her own artwork. If she had a penny for every time that happened we could probably buy a bar of chocolate

[Burque73]

In between football games this weekend I removed the windjammer and installed some fog lights on the 850. I need to sort that birds nest of wires, install the headlight and indicators, but the windjammer is gone for good! I plan to use the same H4 lamp, for a short while at least. Can't wait to ride and see what difference the LED fog lights made.

[GS1150Pilot]

I did some tuning runs with the AutoTune on the Power Vision. It's an impressive tuner!

[slayer61]

Rebuilt rear master on the 1100 and took for test drive. More bleeding will be needed.

[GS1150Pilot]

Man. After three runs of mixed riding on the Sportster with the Autotune on, the bike runs so much better. Snappier throttle, great roll-ons, awesome off idle acceleration. I should be getting aroun 70-75 lb ft of torque at the rear wheel, and it feels it.