speedometer gauge

[kevinr]

On my ride, the speedometer went from working normally, to violently shaking. Then, over a short period time it started loosing accuracy, reflecting a lower and lower speed until it eventually hit 0.

The cable spins freely, so it's not locked up. I used a drill to see if I could get the gauge to move, and no dice. So at this point, do I have to replace the entire instrument panel? Any chance of taking it apart and repairing?

[cranky]

... it'd be a lot easier to just replace the broken speedo cable... and
lube it up good so it will last a long time... Pull one end out of the speedo
side and one out the wheel side, IIRC, and at my age.... sigh....
Best to Ya!!!!!

[kevinr]

I think you missed my second paragraph. The cable isn't broken. I did actually buy a new cable and attached it. But then realized that the original cable still worked fine. I did the drill test and I'm not getting any movement from the gauge.

[triton28]

If you look at the parts illustration entitled "Meter" at any of the online Voyager XII parts suppliers you will see that all of the gauges are replaceable in the assembly. While the service manual says not to without replacement assemblies, I have taken one apart and put it back together and there are several points to be aware of.
First: wear new, clean latex/nitrile gloves as the flat black background can be ruined by the oil from fingertips and will never look the same again.
Second: be careful popping the needle off the speedo, ( or temp/fuel gauge/tachometer), as any tool, similar to an upholstery tack remover, used to pry the needle off of it's spindle can damage the flat black background. Use a protective material such as business card thick paper/non adhered, glue side to glue side masking tape under the heel of the "popping tool" while it is doing it's job.
Third: if one removes the temp and/or fuel needle, be aware that there is a certain amount of prewind on the fuel gauge spindle and possibly the temp gauge as well. Once the needle is removed from the "against the peg position" the fuel gauge spindle will then rotate to a different setting. It appeared in my case as the fuel level being shown as overfilled by about a quarter of a tank. I suspect I should have introduced a resistance load equal to a full tank to the fuel gauge before pressing the needle on again. The temp worked out OK luckily. The next time I have the meter assembly off I may get around to fixing it.
Just be careful and take your time as it is akin to being a watch maker without ever having done it before. I'm sure others have done this as well and may offer better technical methods than my dumb luck approach to accomplish this process. Let's hope we hear from them as well.
Dave

[Furchin]

Are you doing the drill test while running the drill in reverse? If not you should be. If running the test with the drill in reverse moves the needle then I would next remove the front wheel and check that the flat gear with prongs on it are intact. It is located on the left side of the front axle. I would more than bet that this piece is bad.

[kevinr]

Furchin, you were right. I was running the drill the wrong way. Is it the drive gear hub, or is it a different part?

triton, thanks for the info, even though it turns out that isn't the issue. Looks like I'm still going to need to get in there, because I see a screw has popped out of one of the gauges, but that should be easier to deal with than taking the entire thing apart.

[triton28]

Remounting the popped out screw will certainly be easier than taking the meter assembly all apart.
Hopefully your speedo problem will be the tanged receiver which is mounted to the wheel hub and not the gear assembly/housing which is driven by the receiver.
Dave

[Nails]

It appeared in my case as the fuel level being shown as overfilled by about a quarter of a tank. I suspect I should have introduced a resistance load equal to a full tank to the fuel gauge before pressing the needle on again.

I think all our fuel gages read "full" until it's a lot less than full. When I replaced the red-light low-fuel sensor, I tried to figure out a way to bend the float arm to shorten it's range to match the range of the gage. I don't think that's possible -- not enough room in the tank to make this work. (You'd have to extend the float arm, not bend it shorter.)

Moving the needle on the spindle might at least make the gage better "centered". But not even I am anal enough to go to all the work to take the gages out again, just for that.

[Nails]

I would next remove the front wheel and check that the flat gear with prongs on it are intact.

Search here for a mod to change this gear thingy from factory. You get a choice between an accurate odometer but speedo that reads high (stock) to a speedo that reads right but an odometer that reads low (the change I like better).

[Nails]

Remounting the popped out screw will certainly be easier than taking the meter assembly all apart.

This would also be a good time to replace your dash lights with LEDs. Search here, because some of these lights don't work with LEDs. And you can change the color of your dash -- I like the bulbs that give mine a Kawa-green cast.

[Furchin]

kevinr, the hub can go bad with the worm drive gear stripping out but rarely does this happen. I still say check the flat washer type looking gear with the two flanges located on the left side axle as it probably has bent or worn prongs on it. As stated there are adaptations that can be applied to the hub assembly but I would not change it. I would rather keep the odometer mileage correct versus the speedometer mph readout correct.

[ihc1470]

In my case the gears were wore out in the speedometer drive case. Bike has 180000 miles on it so not bad considering no lube beyond what the factory installed. Most of the time they get damaged when the front wheel assembly is off. The ears do not get matched back up correctly.

[Barry]

Kevin, Did you ever get your speedometer problem fixed?