Open speedometer top?

[Anonymous]

The 2 small screws that secure the face on my GS650L have come free allowing the face to turn aimlessly. Has anyone opened the face cover? How?

Thanks

[sv650]

On all the Suzuki speedometers I have seen, the bezel sorrounding the face glass is formed in place. You can very carefully pry the metal up around the circumference of the glass, remove the glass, effect the repair, replace the glass, and recompress the bezel. This might also be able to be accomplished from the bottom end of the bezel, however, in either case there is a great potential for the final result to have an ugly appearance, unless great care is taken.

Unfortunately, the gauge is not easily disassembled.

SV

[Anonymous]

Thanks

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I'll try what the previous owner was thinking of, orthoscopic surgery--drill a couple of very small holes above the screw holes and manipulate the screws til you can insert them. Then plug the holes with rubber plugs.

[focus frenzy]

drilling holes in the glass lens is even harder than prying the lip on the ring up!
I just did mine it wasn't to hard, you just have to take your time and with my bike the speedo is under a outer cover so you cant tell I had it apart other than the peg at 85mph is missing now.

[Anonymous]

I'm with focus frenzy on this one. It's not too hard to pry up the underside of the bezel ring and get the glass up. Someone on this site tried to drill through the glass; not successful due to the hardness of the glass. I pried my tachometer for the same problem you have. It looked great after I was done.

[Anonymous]

What tool to pry

OK, so prying sounds like the way to go. What did you use to do the prying and the recompressing?

[focus frenzy]

Re: What tool to pry

OK, so prying sounds like the way to go. What did you use to do the prying and the recompressing?

I used a pair (why do they call it pair when there is only the one??) of needle nose pliers with a fine point to pry the lip open starting at one of the wide spots and slowly worked my way around.
putting it back together I placed the speedometer flat on its face so I could put some down presure on it to compress the rubber seal in the ring and used a flat tip screwdriver with a fat tim to press the ring back in and down.

[Anonymous]

The deed is done

Pried off the top as suggested and afixed the plate. Made something of a mess of the crimped area but having a usable speedometer was worth it. In retrospect I probably could have done this neater.

Thanks all for the help.

[argonsagas]

I have done it with a WIDE-nosed pair of pliers. The pump-type pliers, with channels for sizing. I thought the larger surfzce area was less likely to stress the glass, and thus less likely to break it.

Put a small piece of tape on the edge of the metal bezel ...do NOT touch the glass.........to prevent the jaw scratching it, then pry gently upwards at several points.

Use just barely enough pressure on the jaws to hold it, and just enough movement that you feel something shift a tiny bit each time. Two or max three lifts at different points and it will either be free completely or at least free enough to slide a knife blade under and lift the bezel.

Taking it really easy is the best way to avoid damaging the bezel or breaking the glass.

Once the repair is done, the bezel will snap back in place easily. Small tip...clean the glass on BOTH sides before re-installing.

[Sandy]

For this type of job there is available at most craft and art supply stores smooth jawed needle nose and wide jaw type pliers. They have no grooves or serrations on the jaws. While they don't grip things very well they are great for small jobs on soft metal because they don't leave any marks. If you are fussy about about what the finished job looks like these would probably be a great help.