Speedo and Tach dissection with pics

Yes, you can swap the odo. OR you could simply reset your replacement to match. It's not difficult; but changing odometer readings is highly illegal (even for legitimate reasons) so I won't post a "how to" here.

BUT (if) you were to PM me with an email address (that may or may not be yours) I might (allegedly) be able to send you the (theoretical) procedure that I (may or may not) have for changing it.

 

If you look very carefully at how the odometer works you may figure out how to "adjust" the new one to read actual mileage without damaging it. Let's just say that no parts have to be removed from the odometer to make this process work. To keep it legal you will need to have a shop do the paperwork for an odometer adjustment. That is sometimes difficult as most shops want to sell the parts and do the adjustment themselves.

 

Very interesting - looks like I have two options, but I'm wondering if the legality issues only come into play if I sell the bike someday. As I've had it 27 years and counting, I bet that selling it as a saftied "on road" vehicle is never going to happen. I rode it into the ground by 2000, restored it, and will likely ride it into the ground again. But I would like to see that odometer roll over whether its the original parts or not.

Just a note - when I purchased the Vmax, the owner noted that it had a replacement odometer that did not show the correct mileage - but he had some paperwork to show what the old odometer had prior to replacement that was part of the used vehicle sellers package you need to get here in Ontario. I had to sign an acknowledgement of that fact so there was no misrepresentation of the actual vehicle mileage. If my Seca will be showing the correct (documented) mileage under either type of modification, I wonder does it matter?

 

When I got my motorcycle the PO had installed an aftermarket speedometer/odometer to the handlebars - which prevented me getting a safety on the bike as it hit the gas tank regardless of where it was positioned. I seem to recall the MTO telling me to just add up the readings from the two odometers for the total mileage on the bike.

I've since cleaned and lubed the original speedometer (wish I'd found this thread beforehand, but I used to fix photocopiers so it was a walk in the park; only aesthetic issue is I greased everything including the numbers) and removed the superfluous unit - any thoughts regarding what will happen if/when I sell the bike? The sum of the two readings was ~110,00km. Just hit 50,000km on the original (and only) speedometer yesterday.

 

I'm 2 days away from a 3,500 mile trip and my speedometer broke yesterday. Its the B - worm gear that is completely shot now. Is there any way to get a new speedo on the fly? The needle was going crazy yesterday and snapped in half and when I took it apart today, that gear is fried. I'm more worried about counting mileage for gas than anything else.

 

Nothing you can do unless you find a replacement.... Just have watch miles carefully

 

As a

As a temp fix for your trip you could use a cell phone and a speedo app.
Been working for me until I can replace my worn out display.

 

I happened to find one on ebay in Lost Hills. He was stoked about my trip and is going to give me the whole cluster for free! I only need the speedo side, does anyone want the remainder of the gauges?

 

I'll be glad to take the gauge set off your hands!

 

Hahahaha.......look at that!!!! Len beat me to it------

 

I just got back from my trip and picked that one up in Lost Hills. It is a little dirty and the trip knob broke via fedex on its way to my house. The speedo that was in it is stuck with a trip at 666 and the speedometer needle is off. Someone told me about a guy in Seattle that fixes them but I had already shipped the old one back. I'll ship it to you if you're still interested!

 

I would be interested in knowing who that is................

 

I just did a quick search and it looks like seattlespeedometer.com is the ticket. The owner is Buz Ras, but he looks expensive.

 

this link is bad too

 

Bad link, bad! Daddy spank!

An old online file repository I don't use any more. Let me check the XJ4Ever site... well, I'll be dipped. It's not there. I thought Len had everything I'd done. Is this why you tried to email me a while back?

I'm sure I still have the file somewhere, although I'd rather have Fitz's permission to distribute, as ISTR he had reservations about that in the past.

 

yes it is . there was/is a problem with photobucket shuting down the photos on the web pages Hogfiddles is working to restore the info with fitzs ok .
we lost all the photos from fitzs writeup and many others members to due to photobucket changes. but if you use chrome and add the photobucket extension it brings the photos back until photobucket catches on.
thanks for the reply

 

I'm working on it....

 

Just checked the system I was using to do all the writeups -- I have the original file I did up in Wordperfect, and the original pictures that went into it, but not the PDF. I'd want to rework the file in Word to pretty it up. I did up his tach cable seal, but he had asked me to hold off on distribution.

I could probably do up the others as well, if needed -- just let me know.

 

What an absolute fantastic breakdown and information with photos. Well done Fritz. Found it so helpful. Issue I have is I have the seca xj650 with usa speedo going up to 80mph. I want to restore it to uk spec with a clock face of 140mph. I have the clock face but not sure how or what drives the needle to go so far round. The speedo drive in wheel is the same as uk. So has to be something inside clock that will need changing. Any ideas?

 

Get a speedo from a ‘78-79 xs750. It’s a bolt-on swap