81 XJ 650 Maxim tachometer worm gear came out while traveling

The bike is a heavily modded xj 650 maxim. I don't normally use gauges and rife more with a feel foe the road and the bike. While I was riding i had noticed oil all over my pants and came to a stop. The worm gear that ran the tach cable had come out and it was spewing oil everywhere, Bike still rode fine besides the slippery oil slicks I went home and since I didn't use a tach anyway I just stuck a piece of rubber in it. It rode fine like tht for a few days when eventually it came back out.

So my question is does it hurt it to not have the gear in there? I'm thinking about tapping the channel and just plugging the hole. will that cause any problems?

 

I would say no because I believe there is a block off plate available for that.

 

No, it can be blocked off as long as you can tell where redline is without it. There is a retainer clip that screws in with 1 screw to hold the gear housing in so you can use that hold a plug in. It would probably be cheaper just to buy a used gear and re-install it.