speedometer

[clyderider]

Ok heres the deal,I am not a mechanic but I can follow instructions if they are clear and concise.That said, heres the story,I bought my xs11sf off e-Bay and the speedometer cable was loosened from behind the speedometer so no miles would register and I did'nt get a chance to find out till I was down the road after purchase as the needle was jumping around close to what I thought the speed I was going at.Well it went kaput 3miles down the road and never worked again.Ok no biggy tach works fine so I used that as a rough judge of speed till I got it home for a further check.I have the Clymer manual and it does not tell me in terms I can understand how to replace the necessary parts to remedy the problem.Could someone please tell me what I need to do to replace the cable and or stuff in the front wheel housing.step by step like i'm a friggin' 5th grader.I have a complete replacement on my spare parts biike /same year etc..It's so nice to have everything working as it's supposed to ya know!?! Please help clyde (bikes name) get his speedo working.. thankyou in advance.

[03mach1]

Should be just the little hub part that teh cable hooks to on the front wheel (must remove wheel).

Try this.

make sure it's hook to the back of the speedometer and finger tight.

Unhook the cable from the bottom of the wheel hub, Hook the center of the cable, should be a square center, to your cordless drill, and spin it up and see if the speedometer works, if it does, it;s in the wheel part, if not, then maybe the speedometer or cable is bad.

Also, unhook the cable at the speedometer and spin the front wheel, if the inside of the cable turns, the speedometer may have a problem. If it doesn't it's either the hub or cable.

You can even unhook both ends and spin it by hand or drill and see if the inside of the cable turns...

Change cables and repeat above to eliminate the cable. Then if one end works and the other doesn't.

[clyderider]

speedometer

Thanks Dave. but thats way too technical for me...Now I need to find someone in Minnesota that can do the deed for me maybe in excahnge for a part or two! ant takers?????? Help Clyde-Clydes buddy gives parts! lol anyone????????

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Cycle,

IT's just a matter of diagnostics to determine IF it's really your Speedo that's bad, OR it's the cable, OR it's the wheel drive gear!

Hopefully, it's just the fact that the cable came loose, and it just needs to be put back into the speedo and tightened!?

There is a larger round threaded housing on the end of the speedo cable where it fits into the speedo unit. The inner working part of the speedo cable is a square shaped spring section, and JUST to determine whether it's working BEFORE you put it back in is to jack up the front to get the front wheel OFF the ground, so you can free spin the tire. While you spin it, look at the square inner part of the cable to see if it's turning!! IF so, then just wiggle it to get it to slide up into the speedo housing, you can turn the wheel if needed to spin the cable inner part to get the square edges to line up with the square receptacle of the speedo, then slide the inner threaded outer aluminum part up the cable onto the speedo and thread it onto the hub that's sticking out, use a pair of pliers to tighten it a bit, and then test it by again spinning the front wheel quick enough to see the speedo needle rising a bit like this:



Now IF the square part doesn't spin when you spin the front wheel, then the cable "MAY" be bad, but it could also be the front speedo drive gear!? So...we need to check for that. There is a screw that holds the cable into the drive gear at the front wheel, so you can unscrew that and PULL the cable from the drive gear.

Now, you can spin the square inner cable at the drive gear end with your fingers and see if you can see the other end that plugs into the speedo to see it's spinning. IF you see it spinning, then the cable is probably okay, move onto the front drive gear. IF the cable doesn't spin, or one end spins but not the other, then the inner cable is probably broken and you just need to replace it.

But if it does spin easily, not binding/hard to spin, then you're down to checking the drive gear. Pulling the front wheel off is needed for this. Once you get the wheel off and the drive gear separated from it, you should be able to see the slots in the drive gear...below photo is a bit dark, area of interest is notated with red brackets:


And inspect the tangs on the wheel/rim, they should be sticking outward to fit into the gear like this:


IF they are bent, you can gently rebend them back into position and it should work. Once you bend them and put it back together, again connect the known good cable to the drive gear and spin the front wheel....IF the inner square part STILL doesn't spin, then the drive gear is damaged, replace it!
T.C.

[03mach1]

Sorry, got carried away....
What he said, but with pictures....

[petejw]

i want a front wheel like urs TC
no spokes. :-)