Speedo drive removing from rear wheel

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J

JanH

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Aug 12, 2011
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Hello everybody,

I just bought a restored '71 commando. I've been riding it for a few weeks, and today I noticed the speedo wasn't working anymore. By checking everything I noticed the speedo drive was wobling and rubbing against the rear hub cover. I removed the wheel, but could not remove the speedo drive from the rear wheel. I could pull it away from the alu hub cover for 0.5 cm. Is it supposed to come off easily?

Thanks Jan
 
I have seen then fused right to the aluminum disk/cover. Something happen to that tophat spacer and they are never the same. You may want to start shopping. I think that black spin art is an idicator of failure in this regard.
 
The drives have two little square "ears" that fit into two square holes on the hub. They tend to get beat up a bit & can be hard to get off, just try gently prying it off working around in a circle it should let go.
 
Here you can see the 2 dogs (at the top and bottom) that engage the slots in the wheel bearing retainer. They can get stuck in the slots they engage. Just keep rocking it, you shouldn't need a crow bar. The arrow is pointing to the top hat spacer that gets crushed. Sometimes the body of the GB gets knocked in towards the wheel cover, the metal is pretty soft pot metal. It should not touch the cover because the GB is not rotating and the cover is.

Speedo drive removing from rear wheel


Dave
69S
 
Today I pulled it apart and the speedo drive was all worn out. I replaced it together with the tophat washer and everything is working good now.
They sold me a 5330/168 gearbox instead of a 5330/171. It fits good, but can someone tell me the difference?
Thanks for the advice.
Jan

Speedo drive removing from rear wheel
 
Don't throw that out, if the gears are good it can be repaired. Send it my way if you're getting rid of it.

Where did you get a new one, or was it used?

Dave
69S
 
That's about average, they're about $140US over here if you can find one. Glad it worked out for you.

I'm not kidding, they can be repaired if the gears are good. It may not look like original, but will work.

Dave
69S
 
DogT said:
That's about average, they're about $140US over here if you can find one. Glad it worked out for you.

I'm not kidding, they can be repaired if the gears are good. It may not look like original, but will work.

Dave
69S
Click to expand...

Any details on what you do to repair them? I just had another failure after only 4000 miles and now have two broken drive units. Might be a good idea to rebuild them.
 
Very few have had any success by the "do it your self" method. When loose and sloopy they rarely recover. You can get lucky in egay but lots of risk for they are in the same place you are generally.
 
I forget who, but someone suggested that the housing around the top hat bushing is the part that wears out because it's rather soft metal. As long as the gears are working and not worn out, I would think the housing could be rebuilt with some judicious brazing with washers. If anyone has one that can be sacrificed, I'd be willing to work on it (I have the oxy/acetylene), but no guarantees. Mine is real soft in that area and I've added some washers to give it some strength, given the prices on them, I'm not willing to work on a functioning unit.

Dave
69S
 
You can read my post from July 4th 2011 "Speedo Drive again" in which the Famouse or infomouse Sir Jim Commstock known here as commoz talked about how he opens his up to the steel part and make his own shims/spacers to rid the stress on the pot metal parts. I keep meaning to send him one of mine but I'm not sure I have a good enough used one. I was lucky & bought a new one for $80.00 from a friend who had it in his shop for so long that that's what the price was back then. If I was smart I would send it to Jim to be modified before it gets tweeked. Seems to me that by now someone would have started making better high quality ones for those of us who want to still use the stock gages.
 
Given all the problems of design, wear, possible cable snagging and ripping, etc etc, I removed my speedo drive and cable completely some 18 years ago. I couldn't be happier riding with the tach only. I have a pretty good idea of what my road speed is from the tack and what gear I am in, purposely only to keep from getting any speeding tickets.

Yes, I know this choice is for only strict minimalists like me, who also removed the turn signals, gear shifter indicator(how could someone NOT know what gear they are in), and head light shell idiot lights at the same time.

As my wife would say, "really, why bother"? The less there is, the less that can go wrong, irritate, and have to fixed.
 
1up3down said:
Given all the problems of design, wear, possible cable snagging and ripping, etc etc, I removed my speedo drive and cable completely some 18 years ago. I couldn't be happier riding with the tach only. I have a pretty good idea of what my road speed is from the tack and what gear I am in, purposely only to keep from getting any speeding tickets.
Click to expand...

However, a working speedometer is often a legal requirement in many countries, and computing road speed from a tachometer would not be legal.
 
Ah, yes the legalities!

I am SURE that you, LAB, never exceed the speed limit, that would be against the law of course.

Again, and again, this was my choice only, and never would I steer someone else's opinion on a legal issue.
 
1up3down said:
Ah, yes the legalities!

I am SURE that you, LAB, never exceed the speed limit, that would be against the law of course.
Click to expand...

I live in England-where nobody sticks to the speed limit. We only slow down when we go past speed cameras!
 
I can pretty much tell my speed from the tachometer but the odometer is really nice feature
 
Yes I understand & like the less is more thing but I just like some of the old motorcycle mechanical things & my speedo is one of them. Oh & yes I do very much like my odometer. One thing that really suprized me when I got this 850 was how "spot on" my speedo is.
 
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