Odometer stopped working

[Anonymous]

Hi folks,

My 1981 GS1000G odometer stopped working today. The speedo needle is fine, just the odo and trip meters are gone.

I've searched the site and found that some people say you can take the speedo units apart, and some people say you can't. Perhaps it depends on what bike etc.

Assuming that my speedo will come apart, does anyone have experience with repairing whatever goes wrong inside?

Thanks
Kim

[Anonymous]

I can get into my speedo, because the housing is broken... I didn't try to tamper with it at all when I had my cluster apart, but I think you should be able to get in there. If there's been no trauma to the unit, I'd say that you most likely have a broken gear in there, such that the odos no longer get pushed.

Having recently been in my instrument cluster, I'd offer this advice: It's not worth it to fix what's in there. Major pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong, it can be done. It's just not worth it.

If you really want an odometer (often required by state law, I think) I would suggest that you get a little bicycle computer. I got the Sigma Sport BC 800, shown on their web site: http://www.sigma-sport.de/index_usa.html. It cost me $22 at my local pedalbike shop. It has some handy-dandy features, including odometer, speedometer and clock. If you choose to go this route, you'll probably need the sensor extension kit ($8). I had to customize it a little bit to get it to work, mostly superglueing the sensors to my mag wheel support (is it a spoke?) and the brake caliper housing.

Good luck.

Michael

[saaz]

One day I want to fix my trip meter as it keeps on turning the 100 scale along with the 10 scale! They can be fixed (KT&T used to do them , but I think he retired). I will be having a look in mine in a while so will let you know...

[Anonymous]

I replaced mine with a unit from jc whitney for about 35 dollars. The only drawback is no tripometer and it doesn't light as well as the original. I solved that by adding a white led but it is readable without it.

[bgmart450]

I can get into my speedo, because the housing is broken... I didn't try to tamper with it at all when I had my cluster apart, but I think you should be able to get in there. If there's been no trauma to the unit, I'd say that you most likely have a broken gear in there, such that the odos no longer get pushed.

Having recently been in my instrument cluster, I'd offer this advice: It's not worth it to fix what's in there. Major pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong, it can be done. It's just not worth it.

If you really want an odometer (often required by state law, I think) I would suggest that you get a little bicycle computer. I got the Sigma Sport BC 800, shown on their web site: http://www.sigma-sport.de/index_usa.html. It cost me $22 at my local pedalbike shop. It has some handy-dandy features, including odometer, speedometer and clock. If you choose to go this route, you'll probably need the sensor extension kit ($8). I had to customize it a little bit to get it to work, mostly superglueing the sensors to my mag wheel support (is it a spoke?) and the brake caliper housing.

Good luck.

Michael

To your spoke? I glued the magnets to the disc. My line is pretty taut, but I was able to use the stock wires from my Sigma 1600.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Unless you have another one for parts forget about repairing it There are NO parts available

[Anonymous]

To your spoke? I glued the magnets to the disc. My line is pretty taut, but I was able to use the stock wires from my Sigma 1600.

To your brake rotor!!?

Michael

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Today I stayed at home so I could sleep (been a hectic few weeks), then did the mindless thing of opening up the speedo housing. Got it fixed. :-)

The speedo unit comes out of the cluster body easily, but I had to peel the metal facing ring off the shell to get inside. That was no difficulty.

Inside I found this.



You can see the metal dust that used to be the worm gear and spindle.



Just in case you can't see it. :-)



I decided to attack the spindle mouting point amd move the spindle closer to the half worn out worm drive.



So I cut the frame like this,



And this,



And bent out the tab so I could remove the spindle to enlarge the hole.



The hole has been enlarged so the spindle moves up and closer to the worm drive.



The spindle now sits at an angle, which is not going to effect it much as the wear in the gears is so extreme.

Than I put a piece of plastic fuel hose against the spindle (loaded up with moly grease) for a decent bearing surface and held it in the new position with a cable-tie. The gear drive was also loaded up with moly grease. (Next to duct tape and epoxy, moly grease is one of the basic elements of the universe.)

The last thing was to fill the enlarged hole with metal epoxy to take up the space where the spindle used to sit. (No photo of that bit) When the epoxy was going off I span the thing over so it didn't bind to the spindle. My cordless drill can run backwards at 30 kph. 8O

The odo and trip meters are working again. However, I am on the lookout for another speedo as this repair has done nothing to fix the worn gear pieces and they will continue to damage each other until there is no 'repair' left.

Kim

[trickyarcher]

I can get into my speedo, because the housing is broken... I didn't try to tamper with it at all when I had my cluster apart, but I think you should be able to get in there. If there's been no trauma to the unit, I'd say that you most likely have a broken gear in there, such that the odos no longer get pushed.

Having recently been in my instrument cluster, I'd offer this advice: It's not worth it to fix what's in there. Major pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong, it can be done. It's just not worth it.

If you really want an odometer (often required by state law, I think) I would suggest that you get a little bicycle computer. I got the Sigma Sport BC 800, shown on their web site: http://www.sigma-sport.de/index_usa.html. It cost me $22 at my local pedalbike shop. It has some handy-dandy features, including odometer, speedometer and clock. If you choose to go this route, you'll probably need the sensor extension kit ($8). I had to customize it a little bit to get it to work, mostly superglueing the sensors to my mag wheel support (is it a spoke?) and the brake caliper housing.

Good luck.

Michael

I just picked up a 6 function speedocombo by Trek. I purchased it from revolutioncycles.com. I will let you know how the 85cm cable works out on my 85 GS550 L