Speedo output shredding cables

1980 XJ650 Maxim

I recently noticed the speedometer on a new bike didn’t work. I assumed the cable was bad as it was likely original. It looked awful. Hooked up a new one and still nothing. I checked the cable at the whee hub and it was all shredded. Some of the wires were left behind inside the hole. Got another new one. Installed it. Put it up on the center stand. Moved the front wheel by hand. Had some resistance but broke loose. Speedometer still didn’t read anything. Pulled the new cable from the hub and it shredded this one too! Tried twisting the cable by hand while connected to the speedometer gauge itself and couldn’t really get it to move. Sounded really gritty and clunky.

I don’t know what to do now. Take the whole instrument cluster apart? Then what? Or is the issue somehow in the wheel gearing? I don’t want to loose another cable to this job.

 

Any hints? I’m at a loss here. Just got another cable in the mail today but don’t want to shred it too

 

You'll want to take your instruments apart, I think. The problem sounds like something within them, or like something within your speedo at the wheel.

Try plugging the new cable into your instrument, see if you can turn it by hand. If not, then you'll want to do a teardown as per this:

Speedo and Tach dissection with pics | XJBikes - Yamaha XJ Motorcycle Forum

 

If you're having trouble getting your instruments apart, just let me know, I'm happy to help how I can.

 

I suppose for starters, any tips or tricks to getting the housing apart without damage?

 

Here's how I did it, keep in mind I was working on a 550, so your instruments may have more (or fewer) fasteners:

1) Disconnect the speedo and tach. cables from the instruments and zip-tie them out of the way.

2)Remove the ignition switch shroud (I believe this should just pop off, and removing it gives you better access to the long bolts).

3) There should be 2 (maybe more, maybe fewer) long bolts holding the instruments to the triple tree via a bracket. Take these off, they'll probably be pretty seized up but hit 'em with some PB and they'll come. The entire instrument cluster should wobble vertically now, giving you room for....

4) Unscrew the rear plastic fake-chrome portion of the instruments. This allows you to crack the instruments open, and it's pretty durable plastic from what I saw. As always, be careful, but it's not too bad. Now take pictures of which wires go where, and pull all the lights out of their housings (there's a rubber boot around each one, I found a fingernail or GENTLE application of a small screwdriver was all I needed). I'll attach pics of my instruments in another comment to show what this step looked like. Here is where you also want to take note of any burned out bulbs, or replace the lights with appropriate voltage LED's if going that route.

5) With the lights/boots removed from their housings, you should be able to pull the instruments out of their place and work on them wherever you'd like.

From what I know, you shouldn't need to disassemble your instruments much further in order to diagnose the source of the problem. The link I posted above should give you some ideas, but if you get stumped post up some pics of your instruments and we'll be able to help you troubleshoot them.

 

For reference, here's the ignition shroud as well as that picture I mentioned previously:

 

Also, I told a fib. Following what I've mentioned previously, you'll want to remove the 2 screws which are angled down in the pics I posted which highlight each instrument. From what I remember, you should be able to carefully lift the instruments completely out of their housings at that point.

On a side note, if you find something hilarious/outlandish which is causing your cables to eat themselves, I'd be interested in seeing a picture. I have a feeling that a screw may have vibrated out of the speedo face and fallen perfectly into your input shaft, jamming it against the frame. On my bike, there was a screw that had vibrated out but it had luckily stayed in the instrument window. That's the only thing I can think of having happened really, but either way I can almost guarantee you that you'll want to give everything a good cleaning and greasing (once again the article I posted above is pure gold. Bigfitz52 is someone who knows these bikes inside and out, better than almost anyone else on this forum) as per that article.

Also, once you get your instruments out of the housing, BE CAREFUL! the needles and faces can easily be scratched, bent, or otherwise put out of tune. When I took my instruments apart, it was to grab that one screw that was bugging me, and because my tach wasn't working properly. Turns out the needle was ever so gently rubbing against the dial face, causing it to hang up and not display properly. A little bend is a big issue.

Best of luck, and if you need anything else I try to check the forum at least once a day.

 

I suggest taking the front wheel off.
Have a look at part #5 below, make sure the tabs are not crushed flat, if not make sure they are inserted correctly
with the worm drive #13. Next make sure the worm drive unit #13 is moving freely.
Let us know when you get this far.

 

Well I completely removed the cluster. Was successful in pulling the speedometer/odometer machinery out of the housing and just as you said, one of the little screws from the face had fallen out and been sucked up into the magnetic part causing it to have issues spinning. Only problem was that hooking a drill up to a cable and spinning it full speed, the speedometer didn’t really read anything. I messed with the needle trying to figure out the mechanics behind it and it snapped off. About to chuck this thing across the room. I might be in the market for a new gauge cluster...

 

Is it possible to replace just the speedometer needle?

 

For the new speedo needle, go to Xj4Ever, i.e. click the top right corner of this site. If anyone has it, it'll be him. Message user @chacal for more info.

If you're SOL with finding a new one, ebay should have new gauge clusters for relatively cheap. However, diagnosing whether or not getting a new needle or just getting a new cluster isn't a bad idea.

Can you post a couple pictures of the input shaft/guts of your speedometer?

 

Awesome thanks for the info. I’ll see what I can find.

I actually put it all back together just so I didn’t forget how it went. Only photo I had was of the casing, sorry

 

Unfortunately we do not have replacement meter needles for any of these gauge clusters.

 

Ahhhh shoot.

@jekyllman I'd say your best bet would be finding a gauge cluster/needle on eBay. Short of that, I'm not sure how to fix a snapped needle, my apologies.

Best of luck!

 

glue a tooth pick to it or a red tube from carb cleaner

 

A flat tooth pick painted red , carefully cut off the remains of the original needle on the round part of needle. Doing so gives a flat surface , superglue in place. The other item if you check a drill bit in backwards in a drill , you have to put your drill motor running counter clockwise.