I hate Speedo and TACH cables

[Guest]

Once again this morning my tach cable snapped, this is my second one in a year wtfh.... I have it routed as direct and straight as I can but the darn thing just does not last and I try and squeeze oil in it often enough... am I just getting crap cables or am I seriously cabling clueless? I thinking go with dennis kirk and get a brand other than OEM because seriously this is retarded....

UGH... I'm going to BED

[Nessism]

Tach binding causing the cable to get overworked?

[DanTheMan]

I had a problem with mine unscrewing on the drive end (both the cable housing and the driver itself) and replaced mine 4 times. Each time for the same part number I got a different housing/cable length. This was from Suzuki parts, it said it was a genuine Suzuki cable.....
Anyway, the last time it happened (the driver always would trash out) I took a piece of 1/4" brass stock I had around, drilled a hole the right size for the cable, made it a little longer than the original, put the slot in it, checked it all for fit, and epoxied the driver end on the cable. After lubing the cable, I put red loctite on the driver side threads, installed it and have had no problems since other than the tach end unscrewing from vibration. that's been two years now and 37k miles later.
Make sure your cable and housing are long enough to loop going into the driver end at the engine, you may have too sharp of a bend there causing your problems.

[conrad]

fwiw I also hate 'em. I think cables are for pulling not twisting. Personally, I gave up on guage cables in the 90's (got sick of them snapping with despatch miles) and have since gone with digital push bike speedos. More recently i see you can now get wireless ones for a few bucks too, haven't tried them though. I think sparkcounting tachos have long been available, but I don't bother with tachos either much. You can also these days get 'proper' mbike digital all-in-one jobbies, coming out of the off road scene. They're well pricey but at least they've mostly got a backlight, which was always the hard to find thing in push bike speedos.


regards,

[chef1366]

The inside of the tach needs lubed.

[almarconi]

I believe most oem cables are shipped dry. Pull the inner cable out, put some motor oil on it and reassemble. I've never had a problem with OEM cables only the motion pro crap.

[Kcwiro]

The inside of the tach needs lubed.

I have squirted WD-40 up where the cable screws in... guess this time I should just take the whole thing apart and get it over with. Once I get the for new tach cable | for now I am going back to riding....cable snapped at the part that paths through the frame leading up to the headlight bucket FYI

[chef1366]

I have squirted WD-40 up where the cable screws in... guess this time I should just take the whole thing apart and get it over with. Once I get the for new tach cable | for now I am going back to riding....cable snapped at the part that paths through the frame leading up to the headlight bucket FYI

Where the cable screws in goes nowhere. Spray it into where the holes in the back are and where the light goes in.

[DanTheMan]

Use something like 3-in1 oil, not WD-40. The lube qualities of WD are marginal at best. Sewing machine oil is a lightweight oil that colletcts very little dirt and has good lube qualities as well. I'm talking about the tach itself, the cable needs a heavier oil like motor oil. Check that bend going into the frame, your cable may be one of the short ones.

[posplayr]

I would only use axle grease, and preferably some waterproof motorcycle grease. The thicker stuff will also tend to dampen the mechanical needle if it is because of the cable.

[Ponderosa]

Motion pro..

I bought a cable lube kit years ago, it had a can of cable lube with it, the stuff is a little heavier than oil, and a little thinner than grease. But I usually use a good synthetic grease on drive cables, something that will not separate..

[Flatline_Racing]

I know you are asking about cables, but I am using one of these on my build. Veypor Gauges. No cables to worry about and lots of neat features.

[LarryA_Texas]

dry slide

I am reminded of a product from my youth called Dry-Slide. It is a graphite cable lubricant in a spray can. I have not seen any in years but it seems like the perfect solution to the sticky cable problem. A quick Google search shows that it's still available. It's interesting that this web site indicates it's for industrial use only. Not for home use. Hmmmm. (Home industry?)

https://www.russack.com/view_doc.php?view_doc=8

Maybe just because it's a wholesale outlet...I dunno...but this is available from other retail outlets.

[Kcwiro]

I would only use axle grease, and preferably some waterproof motorcycle grease. The thicker stuff will also tend to dampen the mechanical needle if it is because of the cable.

Posplayer and Chef:

So.... where do I want to put this lube....guess when I have gauges taken apart I will do a pictograph of it and post in here. As I am just stumped

[DanTheMan]

The grease is for the cable, not the gauges.