Bad way to start a week...can this be fixed?

On my ride in to work this morning, I started to hear a loud whine. The engine seemed to have good power, shifting was normal and the bike felt OK. There was just this whining noise and the tach was reading about 1000 RPM high and was bouncing around a little. When I got to work, I found out that the sound is definitely coming out of the tachometer. The connections are tight and the sound goes away when the tach is disconnected. The other problem is that between the vibrations causing the sound and bouncing around, the needle on the tach snapped off. So, if I can fix the problem causing the noise (no idea what that might be at the moment), is the needle a replaceable item? I would rather not replace the entire assembly because I am cheap and the odometer just passed 50k last night.

The noise is quite annoying. Is there any issue with disconnecting the tach so I can keep commuting this week? The season is winding down and I would like to ride as much as possible.

 

Well, you don't want to accidentally lose the cable (inner part) but there's no problem driving without until you fix it.

BigFitz52 has a photo how-to for going thru and lubing a speedo, and cable driven tachs are the same. You will find the needle, glue it back on, and paint it. If lubing doesn't work, you'll be buying a tach.

 

I didn't realize there was something inside the tach cable. Thanks for the tip on Fitz's photo guide. Looks like an interesting project.

 

TIMEtoRIDE, I am a little confused. The inner part of the cable is attached to the exhaust camshaft, so I don't see how I could lose it. If I disconnect it from the exhaust camshaft, won't it leak oil? I guess I don't see how to disconnect it. Is it safe to just take it off the tach and let the inner shaft spin freely?

Sorry if these are dumb questions. I haven't done any wrenching in almost 20 years and this is my first bike. I am looking forward to getting into it more, but I feel like a fish out of water at the moment.

 

You can take the cable right off the bike.
The lower end screws onto the tach drive gear which is actuated by the cam.
No oil should leak, if it does then the O rings in the drive are bad.

 

The exact same thing happened to me on the way to work the other day. Tach started whining really bad, next thing I know the needle is broken off. I pulled the cable off, and now my speedometer is whining and wobbling.

I think I'm just going to get some new gauges from Mikesxs this winter, they'll match the style I'm going for anyways.

 

To expand on this a little bit: There is an oil SEAL and an o-ring in the tach drive and Hound is right, if there's any leakage it they'll need to be replaced: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=19538.html

If you take the cable off, you can cap it with a dime and a screw cap salvaged from an old cable or any appropriately sized plastic screw cap as a temporary fix. The only reason to cap it is to keep debris out, not oil in.

These 25+ year old mechanically driven instruments don't like the cold, and generally start acting up as soon as the weather gets cooler. They're just telling us it's clean and lube time.