Speedo Problem...HELP!

[papanovember]

Hello to all...I am currently on a cross country road trip on my 79F. I left Basalt, CO and I am in Dodge City, KS. I will be heading to Joplin today and them down to Birmingham to the Barber Museum. Then I am going up to Boston and New England area.
Here's the problem. My odometer/trip meter stopped working, but the MPH indicator still works, so I know its not the cable or the cable drive on the wheel assembly. Does anyone have a spare that they would want to SELL($$$) to me along my route. It's a long shot, but I thought I would try. I will try to find another hotel tonite that has internet access. Thanks!

[fredintoon]

Quick fix

Hi Papa,
just as a stopgap to get you home, stop at the next bicycle shop and buy a Lynx or other electronic bicycle speedo/odometer. Less than $100 for the fanciest one. You can dial it in to suit your exact front tire OD and get a more accurate reading than the stock speedo will give. Or if you are swimming in loot, get a GPS, that'll tell you where you are as well as how far you've gone.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[papanovember]

Thanks Fred! I will give it a try. I think I have a speedo sourced that I can have shipped to my parent's house. Thanks again, Paul.

[fredintoon]

effin' speedos

Hi Paul,
my speedo seems to work just fine BUT
it seems to be breaking it's drive cable.
Stupid thing had broken it's cable just before it got winterized. Fed it a nice replacement from Andreas and it lasted all of 17KM! Does anyone know? Can a speedo still work but develop enough drag that the cable gets overloaded & breaks?
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[xschop]

speedo

don't throw it away. There is usually a plastic helical drive wheel that can be replaced...I had two porsche 944's that I was able to just turn the gear around and go for anther 100k...I bet this is the same case here...

[TADracer]

Re: effin' speedos

Originally posted by fredintoon
Hi Paul,
my speedo seems to work just fine BUT
it seems to be breaking it's drive cable.
Stupid thing had broken it's cable just before it got winterized. Fed it a nice replacement from Andreas and it lasted all of 17KM! Does anyone know? Can a speedo still work but develop enough drag that the cable gets overloaded & breaks?
Fred Hill, S'toon.

Fred, speedo on my 79 special can get stiff enough to twist off a cable. Where the cable goes into the speedo is a brass sleeve that is square cut for the cable end. That turns a worm gear for the odometer and the magnetic cup for the needle. The bushing it turns in can dry out from time to time. I usually just put in a couple of drops of light machine oil once a year.

[fredintoon]

Oil it?

Who'da thought of that?
Hi Mike,
now I'm really torn. Do I risk my expensive & hard to get new speedo drive ($15.95 to Dennis Kirk for the cable, fine; airmail + import taxes more than doubling that cost really brings tears to my eyes: try buying one locally and get sneered at by teenage countermonkeys) on an oil job for my existing speedo or fit the MPH spare I've had for years and I'd better feed it some 3 in 1 as well? Or take my own advice and pony up for a Lynx to see how far I've gone. Or say "buggrit", rely on the low gas red light and always carry a full jerrycan?
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[HobbyMan]

Don't chunk it yet. It sounds like the worm gear is stripped. You will have a really hard time replacing it on the road. I have never gotten it fully apart yet. I bet with the right tools you could fix it.