Speedo Woes

[Ljay40]

Hi Gang

Can anyone explain to me how the speedometer gear off the front axle is spose to work.realativey theory. tire Spins the gear
which in turn spins the cable hehhe
When i got my 80 special the speedo worked for a about week then bounced very erraticaly just like my tach does, then speedo died .
So I figured it was the Speedo gauge that was faulty and grabbed another set of gauges off of ebay .(Wrong they both do the same thing as the ones I took off Ive been through the "tach tips" and have just given up on that! even changed out regualtor this morning, and die elctric grease not working either) So anyhow now the other side, the new speedo dont work neither so I checked out the inner cable , its fine both ends are there not broken,so lets go next step, take off front tire the speedo gear,and replaced with another one from ebay tested they say , when I spin the gear by hand I can see where the cable will go inside It will spin,so I take out my inner cable put it in hole and turn gear by hand and the cable will spin, ahh thhis one works right Hmmm so I put new one in bike making sure its lined up proper When i tighten axle down .put inner cable in the open end and then spin the tire and it wont spin the cable ugh ,now im geting upset :0 grab the old one I removed from bike previously and that gear will spin the end of the cable by hand to, so from what im seeing there is nothing wrong with either gear? Or am I 2 for 2 both shot why would they spin bye hand tho,, Do the XS have weak gears that under load they wont spin or something,Gosh seems so simple Front rim shot perhaps.
thanks
Ljay (with no hair left) Only way to tell how fast I go is to ask Cops NO tach No speedo

[John]

You need to check the small 'drive tangs' in the front wheel hub. It sounds like they are not engaging the speedo drive. What you are describing is a classic case of the drive not being lined up properly at some time, and the tangs have been bent inward. The very same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I had a spare wheel, so I took the 'tangs' out and when I removed the one from my wheel, I compared the two tangs, and I could see what had happened. Try removing the wheel again, and pull the tangs out and look it over real good.

[Ljay40]

Ok thanks for the reply John

How are these tangs removed or seated in there, are they just pressed in ?

Originally posted by John
You need to check the small 'drive tangs' in the front wheel hub. It sounds like they are not engaging the speedo drive. What you are describing is a classic case of the drive not being lined up properly at some time, and the tangs have been bent inward. The very same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I had a spare wheel, so I took the 'tangs' out and when I removed the one from my wheel, I compared the two tangs, and I could see what had happened. Try removing the wheel again, and pull the tangs out and look it over real good.

[John]

You'll need to remove the wheel seal, but do it gently so you can reuse the seal.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Ljay40,

See picture below, it's not very good, it's from BikeBandit, note part #7, it's called the "meter clutch", it's the part that has the 2 tangs that the wheel turns, and the "clutch" turns the speedo drive gears, so IF those tangs are bent/broke, it won't turn the speedo gears. As you can see, these parts ASIDE from the actual Speedo Gear are still available for purchase!
T.C.

7: CLUTCH,METER 28375-001 $2.82
8: RETAINER,CLUTCH 28385-001 $2.14
9: OIL SEAL,SDD-TYPE 358809-001 $6.58
10: DISCONTINUED 21654-001 $999.99

[Ljay40]

Speedo

Thanks to John and Topcat I was successful today to get the speedo working you were right the tangs were bent back just a bit a close look and some very fine manipulating and just holding speedo gear in wheel and slowy rocking back and while looking at cable outlet i could see it start to spin but it would miss a bit so i did some more slight adjustments and now it works great Once again Topcat and John for your sugestions and Tc the blowup diagram was exactly what i needed
thank you
Ljay 40
On the road again
Now I realize Ive been doing average 65 Now i got excuse to slow down

[Mortman22]

Would this be the same fix for an XJ11? My speedometer doesn't work and neither does the light. Or the hazards for that matter. Any ideas? These are the only things left to be fixed I really want to get out riding and know how fast I'm going. It's hard to judge your speed from the trafic when there is none. Thanks

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Jake,

The speedo on the XJ is mechanical, so this gear could be the problem, you'll need to pull the cable off and see if it's turning when the wheel turns, and then pull the other end close to the wheel, then put a reversible drill onto it, and spin it to see if the gauge needle moves. If the needle moves, then the cable isn't getting spun. IF the needle doesn't move, the cable could be broke so make sure the gauge end is spinning when the drill end is!

As for the lights, there are simple bulbs in the housing, are you sure they aren't blown? Have you pulled them out and checked for power to the sockets with a meter?
T.C.