Speedo cable broken in hub

Yeah.... Pretty much what the title says.

I was harassing a blacked out BMW light to light when my speedo cable snapped. I got home and took it off and found the break, and it's inside the hub. I'm just about to pick up the new cable from the shop on my way home from work and figured I'd ask here if anyone had experience pulling speedo pieces out of the hub, or suggestions for how I could readily get it.

 

Not sure about getting the pieces out, but when I got my XJ650 the previous owner had installed a second speedometer to the handlebars. I asked him about it and he said it was on the bike when he got it. I switched the cable over to the original speedometer and the cable snapped. I pulled the speedo apart, cleaned and greased it and now it works fine. Just a heads up so you don't end up snapping your new cable - might be worth investigation.

 

Do you mean wheel hub?

Gary H.

 

The cable is broken off inside of the speedometer drive housing? Needle nosed pliers or a strong magnet. You may want to clean the grease out with some carb cleaner to make it easier to extract the borken peice.

 

@MarkDS I'm pretty confident the inside of the speedo is still sound. I think I'd do more damage taking it apart to do "maintenance" than I could fix. Not a bad notion if my new one snaps though. This was a barn bike, so I'd wager it was the original speedo cable. I was thinking of replacing it anyway when it snapped. Lesson learned!

@rocs82650 Yes, I do.

@k-moe That's brilliant. I wasn't thinking at all of cleaning that grease out, but I guess I was going to get new grease in there anyway. If I'm lucky the piece will wash out with the grease. If it doesn't I'll try the magnet. I also had in mind to jam a ziptie in there in the hopes that the ribbing would catch some.

We'll see what works. Thanks for the responses!

 

Take the wheel off. The drive will come out the hub. Then, as ds and k-moe advised, you can dis-assemble, clean and re-grease it (it needs to be done).

Gary H.

 

We just pulled the gear drive out of my front wheel -- the cable is fine but the drive teeth are worn flat to the point of speedo failure.. Just pull it off, open it up, pick out any loose pieces, grease it up and replace the cable. Could be some water or road crap has gotten in there and it's about to seize up which caused the cable failure. You'll want a couple of strong wire hooks to hold the calipers while you remove the wheel.

 

@k-moe

The bit of cable washed right out with generous application of carb cleaner. No removal of wheel needed. Now I'm just waiting on that cable. Thanks all for your help!

 

Think about it...you also washed the grease out and as iX stated don't know the condition of the drive which may have caused the original cable to break. The drive is one of components that's easier to dis-assemble, clean, inspect and re-pack. We want you to ride safe.

Gary H.

 

That's a good point. I won't have the part until Monday at least now (apparently there was some snafu with the shipping), so I probably should adhere to best practices and make sure the whole assembly is in the best condition possible.

I've got a Sunday to get it done and it doesn't sound like it will be an unreasonable amount of effort.

 

Wasn't too tough, I highly suggest pulling it. Mine was frozen to the point where I couldn't turn it by hand at all, which is why the teeth stripped. I have waited a full week to get the speedo drive though. Supposed to be Monday.

 

Mine should be in reasonable shape, but I haven't had it apart like the rest of the bike, so it can't hurt to be sure. I checked it against a GPS and it was accurate (+/- 2 mph at 60mph) within 200 miles of when it snapped. I'm pretty sure age killed the cable and not the hub, but the more I think about it, the more I want to get it 100% sure.