Speedometer drive problem

LUCAS · Post by **LUCAS** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 7:03 pm

Picked up an RVF 2 days ago. Was out on it earlier and was doing about 70mph. Happened to look down at the speedo to see it reading 35mph lol. From that point onwards it was reading whatever it wanted before packing up completely. Got home and surprise surprise, the plastic fitting which sits on the end of the front sprocket nut, the other side which has a rectangular slot in had rounded out. Now I had the same problem on my CBR400 last week with the replacement only lasted 42 miles!!

I thought with the CBR that i could have done something wrong when putting it back together even thought it's not bordering on rocket science

however the RVF i haven't touched and the same has happened to that. I can't be the only one having this problem?? At £5 each for these plastic fittings it's getting a joke. Any suggestions?

The bevel gear part of the speedometer drives are fine and moving freely also.

I bought 2 of these to hopefully get a fix:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... _993wt_913

Thanks

Post by **Neosophist** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 7:39 pm

They are known to die quite easy. However, they only self destruct when they can't run free.

If it's died it's becuase it can't turn properly.. this is likely to be a stiff speedometer cable. Even if you can turn it, if it's slightly too stiff it'll wear the plastic away.

You could clean / oil your existing speedo cable or get a new one before you replace the plastic thread.

Rarely is it that the clocks are the actual proble, but dont' rule it out...

LUCAS · Post by **LUCAS** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:08 pm

Neosophist wrote:They are known to die quite easy. However, they only self destruct when they can't run free.

If it's died it's becuase it can't turn properly.. this is likely to be a stiff speedometer cable. Even if you can turn it, if it's slightly too stiff it'll wear the plastic away.

You could clean / oil your existing speedo cable or get a new one before you replace the plastic thread.

Rarely is it that the clocks are the actual proble, but dont' rule it out...

My CBR400 has done 45000 miles and i really do suspect the bevel gear drive. Its now on it's 2nd speedometer cable and will be on its 3rd plastic fitting if i was to replace the broken one at the moment in 2000 miles. The RVF has only done 14000 miles but like you say something is jamming and Im suspecting the same thing. It's as if im cursed lol.

I was tempted for one of these anyway which may sort the problem out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifVNX-HJ070

I was looking for an excuse for putting these on my 400's! Mighty expensive though bill mind you!

karl BKK · Post by **karl BKK** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 1:17 pm

I had this problem a few weeks back, replaced the plastic gear on the front pulley, couldn't find the reason why it had actually rounded off in the first place, so i gave every thing a good lube :)
Few weeks later same problem, replaced the speedo cable as i couldn't find any thing at fault.
Few more weeks and the plastic drive rounded again.
Turned out to be a high speed jerkiness with the bevel drive gear (Metal drive that bolts the the front puller casing)
Replaced that and no more problems :)

LUCAS · Post by **LUCAS** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:05 pm

karl BKK wrote:I had this problem a few weeks back, replaced the plastic gear on the front pulley, couldn't find the reason why it had actually rounded off in the first place, so i gave every thing a good lube :)
Few weeks later same problem, replaced the speedo cable as i couldn't find any thing at fault.
Few more weeks and the plastic drive rounded again.
Turned out to be a high speed jerkiness with the bevel drive gear (Metal drive that bolts the the front puller casing)
Replaced that and no more problems :)

Thanks for that. That bevel drive gear was all that i could put it down to. The older one on my CBR does have more play in it than the RVF one which has covered a 1/3 of the mileage. I did however drown the end where the cable fits in with WD40. I literally filled it to the top about 4 times. While it drained out of the bottom i kept on spinning the drive. Now it spins a lot easier. I could occasionally get it to jam, as if there was grit inside but this isn't the case now. I fitted the older one yesterday and it worked fine and covered more than the 42 previous miles

I bet it wrecks itself next time out

How much was the bevel gear drive out of interest? They're not exactly going to get any better! Thanks

karl BKK · Post by **karl BKK** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:41 am

My drive was free, secondhand from courtesy of the shop i take my bike to all the time :)
A new one..... i would hate to guess, but i will anyway.... 40??

Gazzahh · Post by **Gazzahh** » Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:03 pm

I made a few of the alloy speedo drive adaptors a couple of years ago and still have a couple left if anyone is in need ... PM me if your intersted.. but I must stress the cable and bevel drive must be kept lubed cos the original plastic one is designed to fail... after all its much cheaper to replace than the bevel drive unit....

LUCAS · Post by **LUCAS** » Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:24 pm

Gazzahh wrote:I made a few of the alloy speedo drive adaptors a couple of years ago and still have a couple left if anyone is in need ... PM me if your intersted.. but I must stress the cable and bevel drive must be kept lubed cos the original plastic one is designed to fail... after all its much cheaper to replace than the bevel drive unit....

Thats a shame that i didn't put up a wanted topic for those metal adapters. I would much prefer buying off someone on here rather than someone in Hong Kong! It will more than likely not fit or something when i get it so will end up contacting you anyway

Speedometer drive problem

Speedometer drive problem

Re: Speedometer drive problem

Re: Speedometer drive problem

Re: Speedometer drive problem

Re: Speedometer drive problem

Re: Speedometer drive problem

Re: Speedometer drive problem

Re: Speedometer drive problem