Speedo needle removal

As some of you have seen under the 'wanted' section here, I dumped the bike yesterday, me astride it, from my work platform onto my garage floor. Not fun! The speedo outer aluminum housing is quite bent, the glass shattered, and the inner case bent inward at the '0-30 mph' side of the speedo. The face, too is bent, but the innards seem untouched. I'm go to attempt a restoration. I want to remove the needle so I can remove the face and flatten it properly. Is the Smiths needle simply a press fit? I pulled upward on it but it didn't budge. Before going any further I thought I'd better ask you experts.

I'll need a new glass, gaskets, and bezel. Where's the best place to get them theses days?

As always, thanks for all your help. 'Take a deep breath', I tell myself, and I suppose that the silver lining is that I'll now be able to insert an LED strip into the housing--if I can straighten it.

Well have a read of this for that question and a few more to be answered.

http://members.shaw.ca/randell/Smith/Speedo.html

Fantastic site. Thanks very much for that.

I just got my speedo back from Scott at Smiths Magnetic Instrument Repair. One week turn around He replaced my glass, bezel, seals, grommets, and checked calibration. He even cleaned out some spiders that had some way found a new home inside my speedo. All for around $110.00. Don't know if he sells parts for the DIYer. I found Scotts' ad in the Norton News. scott@smithsgagerepair.com or 224-595-2037.

eskasteve said:

I just got my speedo back from Scott at Smiths Magnetic Instrument Repair. One week turn around He replaced my glass, bezel, seals, grommets, and checked calibration. He even cleaned out some spiders that had some way found a new home inside my speedo. All for around $110.00. Don't know if he sells parts for the DIYer. I found Scotts' ad in the Norton News. scott@smithsgagerepair.com or 224-595-2037.

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Thanks for that! I tested the speedo with my drill, and it seems to work fine. Despite the speedo needle being a press fit, I could not pull it off--and didn't want to reef on it. I was able to straighten the dial face anyway by removing the two plastic grommets that hold it to the machinery, and spinning the dial around so that I could get at the side that was bent. Had some satin black remarkably close to the dial colour, so the dial now looks pretty good. Not 'as new', but pretty good. In the end, I got off lightly--though my ego still feels pretty bruised

I've done 5 of my own instruments. The needle is a snug fit. Push down the wire stop and let the needle swing past it and then mark where it stops without the wire stop. You may have to flick it a couple times. Mark on the face (masking tape and pencil mark) where the needle stopped at.
Use two small levers and some cardboard and wood fulcrum and then pop the needle off.
To reinstall I turn the unit upside down and then press firmly straight down, important - don't tilt!
To install the bezel, I've seen others use a lathe and make some attachments.
I didn't have a lathe but did have a decent drill press that I could lock and thereby apply constant pressure.
I made a jig that had a movable arm with a small bearing attached. As I rotated the instrument I could manipulate the edge of the bezel with the bearing.
It worked pretty well but it all depends on what you have in your shop to work with.
If you just have the one instrument to do, the $110 is not a bad deal otherwise you'll be spending a lot of time building something to get it right.
I haven't loaded images before so I'll see what it takes and will give it a try.

Looks like the image location needs to be on a public web server, so I guess I can't upload from my PC. Sorry.
If that is incorrect let me know.
Thanks,
Peter