The other day while on a ride I noticed the speedometer was shaking. One of the retaining rings had come off the rubber grommet, so I started to unscrew the screw inside the odometer reset ****. The head of the screw broke off. Previously, I had put a generous amount of vibra-tite on after noticing the screw was loose. Long story short, I used too much and had a bear of a time getting the screw out. That stuff is extremely strong and is what the government uses; for a reason. Anyway, something happened to the odometer and it stopped working. The trip odometer will spin and reset to 0, but will not show an accumulation of miles while driving. It probably happened from either pulling up and down too hard on the trip meter **** trying to force the **** off; or turning it backwards too many times to see if it would unscrew. Has anyone ever taken one of these old, analog 120 mph nippon seiki speedometers apart; and/or seen what is inside? It looks like the speedo case is machine pressed on. Are there any tricks to opening it? I don't want to maul it open, but would like to figure out what is wrong with it. Thanks

 

You have to pry it off with a bottle opener. Takes a lot of time and patience. I've not done one of that style (pressed on) but Yankee Dog has and probably others, so it can be done. The tripometer part is fairly easy to repair. Mountain Kowboy did his odometer to adjust the mileage, that side of it is a bit more tedious. So maybe they'll drift by and weigh in.

So far as why it's not advancing, there are tiny pieces on the drums and shaft that advance and turn the wheels. I've repaired several on the other style speedos. Easy to do, but you need a (red) wheel off another unit at the very least. Best to buy a junk speedo for parts since they were never available and the older "dash" type parts should work.

There are a few speedometer shops that specialize in that style if you want to go that route, no idea of the costs though.

Here's what mine looked like for while, until I could find a junk one for parts. It worked but gave me a headache lol
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I'm sure someone with lots of experience in this will chime in. Only problem I've had with mine is 2 drive units going.out. use search function in the evo forum. Also search YouTube. Year/ model of bike always helps. Hope you have introduced yourself in the new members forum. Correct protocol. Ken

 

Thanks for the reply. It gave me some ideas. After doing a little research I purchased a tack removal tool, an old Montgomery Ward paint can opener and a duplicate broken '85-'90 Harley speedometer to practice on. Supposedly the angle on the tools will greatly help to peel up the metal to open the speedometer case. Then I'll have a look see inside. Hopefully nothing is broken on the original and the problem is due to something being knocked out of place. I'm curious to see the red wheel and tiny pieces on the drum you're talking about.

 

All the wheels have the little pins or whatever they are. Paint can opener would work, but again - patience and time. YD said he used "something" chucked in a drill press to re-crimp... maybe he'll be on in a day or 2. He can give you better info on the taking apart and re-assembly. I may have whatever mechanical parts needed. Enjoy the project

 

Cool. Thanks

 

Sorry, late to the game...yes they can come apart. Just takes time. To be clear, the metal lip that needs to be raised is accessed from the underside of the stainless ring where stainless meets the housing, NOT the area where the stainless meets the glass on the face of the gauge.

First thing I did was wrap the housing with some electrical tape to protect the finish. The shaft of the screwdiver I use will scratch up the housing when prying the lip. Then I just used a small screwdriver to slowly raise that lip. Just a little at a time going around and around raising that lip higher and higher. Takes time and you need to go slow, lifting a little at a timeo. Going to fast and you will tear the stainless metal lip. I slowly moved up to the next size larger screwdriver going around and around again till finally the stainless ring can be pulled away from the housing. Then can remove the ring, a rubber seal, and the glass. I never used the paint lid remover trick...will try it next time if I have a next time.

Now it will come apart and you can see the mechanism and what might be wrong. Please post pics of what you find...

Reassembly: Clean the glass really well, then only touch the edges of the glass. Get the dead bugs out, gently clean the rubber seal and put all back together. Use a clean rag to protect the stainless ring. Place rag on a smooth surface. Put the gauge face down on the clean rag and "push or press" the gauge housing into the ring. You want the rubber seal to be slightly compressed (does not need much force to seal against water intrusion) so that is why I am saying "press gauge housing into stainless ring".

While pressing, you need to bend back over the stainless lip back at say 12:00, 6:00, 9:00, and 3:00 with the flat part of a screw driver. Your like "bending the tab back over" to hold it all in place. Once you have it locked in place in about four spots, you can let go from compressing the housing into the ring. If you have a drill press, you put say about a 5/16 drill bit into the press backwards, then using a rag again to protect the face of the stainless ring, you use the drill press as a ram/press bending the ring lip back. A little at a time, going around and around till the lip is pressed back flat against the lip of the can. You can get the lip surprisingly factory smooth again.

The trick to not tearing the stainless ring lip is to go slow, and bend a little at a time. That is for removal or reassembly. Slow and steady wins the race.

Let me know if you need to remove the face and needle. That can be done, but is a little more technical, and is another long post, sorry, gotta get to work...Good luck.

 

Thanks Ken!

 

Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to write that out. It'll take a little while to have everything come in. I'll try to take pictures.

 

I replaced the speedometer on the Fxr after my son rode it and broke the little reset **** on the trip meter...which also functions as my gas gauge. I bought a used one and wanted to bring the odometer miles up to match the old one.