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Display Mesage #93822


Speedo fail
Written by spacetiger_j... on 6/6/2010 at 01:55 pm

Kevin,

Thanks for the post.

I have been tracking my mileage and note its very low - 42.0 avg over 4 fill
ups. Riding steady at 65, the best I get is 43.6.

Yesterday on a trip to the lake house, I noted the odometer was only showing
about 85 miles traveled. It should be 90.3 miles which is almost 6% to low. So
I suspect something is a miss, but not sure what. I think you have provided me
the clue where to look - speedometer cable.

A few questions: where did you get your cable from? and how long did it take
you to replace it?

Jerry

--- In ipcrc@yahoogroups.com, "Kev" <kperham986@...> wrote:
>
> Hi again! Haven't been checking in for quite a while, but I wanted to relate a
quick story from a few weeks back. So I was riding out to Road Atlanta to watch
the AMA Pro races a little bit ago. Saturday rode out, spent the day, rode back
no issues. Sunday rolls around, and I'm headed out to the track when I notice
the speedometer and odometers aren't working anymore. Great, I thought, speedo
cable is shot. With many miles left to ride I started thinking about my recent
drop in gas mileage. I keep track of it on Fuelly.com, and since October it has
dropped from over 50 mpg nearly every fill up to under. Usually between 47-49
mpg. I started wondering if the cable was dragging, and bringing my mileage
down. Not actually affecting the consumption, but showing fewer miles traveled
per fill up. Thereby giving the impression of increased fuel consumption.
> Anyway, I got home that evening no trouble. Of course I had to cancel my turn
signals manually, like the common folk! Oh, the horror! LOL! I resisted the urge
to immediately get a speedo cable on order, instead waiting until I could tear
it down the next day. Upon inspection, the cable was indeed intact and
functioning when spun up with my drill. So took off the wheel and found a
broken tab on the drive gear inside the hub. From the fiche I ordered a new
gear, and the two thin washers. I think they act as bearings. Probably were
fine, but they were cheap and I was already in there. I decided to go ahead and
replace the cable. 63,000 on the original, I figured it had served it's purpose.
Also a small o-ring for the bottom connection of the cable. (I found out when
they arrived that the cable comes with a new o-ring.)
> New cable was a revelation! So flexible and soft, compared to the stiff old
one.
> Put it all back together with no problem. First fill up after the repair
resulted in 53 mpg!
> My conclusion is that my initial impression was correct. The old dry cable was
indeed dragging my mileage down, affecting my mpg. Also this was putting added
stress on the plastic drive gear trying to spin the cable, which resulted in
it's failure.
> Kevin
> '96 PC800- Givi Trunk, Datel LED Voltmeter, Full LED lighting Conversion (For
Sale)
>

Message Thread for message #93822