Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cable?

A little background on this bike.

I bought it in rough shape for $320. I cleaned the carbs an it runs awesome. Changed the oil, new clutch lever, waiting on new handlebars, fixed all the HORRIBLE wiring, well for the most part, and am currently cleaning an sealing the tank.

A rat bike.

I went riding today before the rain got here. When I left a gas station after riding for a little while I noticed the tach broke. Checked it out an the cable was broken. The PO didn't take any care of this bike so it wasn't a suprise. Although it runs suprisingly nice it needs a few things here an there.

My question is Can I just replace the cable an be ok? What can I do to prevent this?

I am going to order a new cable and grease it an install it Should I do anything els?


After I left the gas station and saw my tachometer not working this is what I found.



Do I need to do anything to this? I am going to take it apart an clean it weather or not it needs it, But is there anything specific that I should or need to do.

 

Re: Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cabl

You should be able to just replace the cable. My question is how was it working in the first place? Looks like your PO had it wired in place & not threaded on. I would check the threads where it attaches to the engine, check & make sure it is actually broke (cable). Also check to see if either end is locked up, at the engine & the tach. AS bad as that cable looks I would replace it for sure.
Gregg

 

Re: Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cabl

OH I am sorry, Here I will post a pic. The reason I am so confused about it is there was nothing on the end of the wire. It is broken. I think it may have came lose or some thing.. I am unser. This bike was SO RIGGED. I have pulled a good 20Ft of wire an a switch off of it witch ran to nothing. After running new wires an removing the old ones it runs alot better.

Alright, I went to take more pictures of it then I thought about what you said. I remember hearing a screeching sound such as the one I have read about when the Tach or speedo starts to braek down. I am thinking maybe indeed it did lock up then broke the wire. I also screwed it back down an the threads are fine.

Do you know of a way I can test the tach without getting a new cable. I havent tacken it apart yet, but I was wondering if you knew of a way that I can just unscrew the cable housing then turn the tach to check an see if it is locked up or not.

 

Thanks alot I think It locked up I just need to get out there an see it I can check to see If that is the case. I rather find out an fix that before I buy a new cable. This way when the new cable gets here I can just swap it over.

Thanks alot. I am off to see If I can't get it moving with some thing before I take the whole dash apart.




After I pulled it out.

 

Re: Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cabl

You can take a screw driver that will fit in the square hole the cable end fits in to & turn it. The tach end should turn if it isn't locked up. I don't think the same will work at the engine end. You will probably have to start it up & look at to see if it is turning. Now that I looked at your pictures better I see that the wire I thought was a coat hanger is actually the cable from inside the shroud. It appears to me that the end came off at the engine, got loose, kinked & broke the cable.
Gregg

 

Cut the end off the broken cable (square solid metal part). Chuck it in a drill. Use drill to turn tach. If it doesn't go, switch the direction on the drill and try the other way...

 

Re: Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cabl

Yea, thanks alot. I figuerd I could take a screw driver to it or some thing. I also checked when I first saw the cable broken an saw it was turning on the engine. Thanks alot for the help. This forum Is amazing.

 

As sorry looking as that inner cable is, the inside of the outer sheath is most likely just as bad.

If you're not going to replace the outer sheath, at least remove it and flush it real good before you shove a new inner cable in there.

Lubricate with a good all-temperature lube like light motor oil or TriFlow; DO NOT USE WD40!

 

Heh, actualy this is exactly what I was thinking. Wasn't sure witch way to go lol.

 

There really isn't anything in there to break (the tach) that would freeze it up. It's not connected by gears. When it goes in there, the cable turns a little disk/wheel. That disk/wheel sits inside of a bell shaped thingy. The two things don't touch, but are magnetic. This magnetism causes the bell thing to want to turn. It is balanced by a spring that controls how far it will turn and thus the reading on the tach. I really don't see how this could "freeze up" and cause the cable to break. However, if you look at your pics you see a lot of stuff that looks like mud on the cable. I imagine that is bad lube and that could have seized the cable.

Good luck with the tach. If it turns, then replace the entire cable. Can't imagine you can get an internal cable for it for a price that makes it worth while to keep the outside. Belive I paid like $20 ish dollars for the entire cable...(mine was broke and leaking oil).

 

Re: Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cabl

I hope that it is your cable only. It does look in a sorry state.

My tach stopped working and I checked the usual, cable, tach itself etc. With mine, the actual tach gear housing (which fits in the cylinder head as per your pic) had failed. Not only that, on removing the valve cover I found the worm gear (which goes through the tach gear housing) had chewed up the worm gear on the exhaust side camshaft.

The metal on the camshaft is much softer than on the shaft that connects to the cable and any wear/play in that gear housing and the camshaft gear is likely to strip. It happened to me twice!

New gear housing (with seals) and a new exhaust camshaft fixed the problem. An expensive way to resurrect the tachometer.

 

Re: Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cabl

An electronic tach would have been cheaper...

 

Re: Tachometer cable broke today. Can I Just change the cabl

KT,

Indeed, and I did look at that option at the time. There wasn't a great deal of electronic tach's here and i didn't want an "out-of-place-looking" gauge in front of me. Parts (from the Yamaha dealer) here in the Philippines are considerably less expensive than in the States so it didn't break the bank (the camshaft was about US$80 new).

 

Ooops, didn't see you were in the philippines...$80 is pretty close to the price of an electronic tach...

Wonder how much shipping from the phillipines is...