Speedometer stop working

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CrackerRican

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Just installed new batt & R1 R/R & took it for a ride, checking on the charging system & all is well now. Noticed the needle on the speedometer started bouncing & just went to 0 mph. Anybody have any suggestion before I tear into it
 
The cable probably came loose from the speedo... had the same thing happen earlier in the year to me.
 
You didn't, by chance, take any ground wires near the battery loose, while you were putting the new one in, did you? Seems like there may be a ground wire for the cluster attached to the frame just outside the battery box, and if one of those wires were not secured to the frame, or broken in some way........................
 
Speedo is mechanical. Has to be a bad cable or speedometer head. I'd bet on a cable. I had 2 fail in the 30 years I've owned the bike.. They actually rusted away till the cable broke. Funny - I replaced a long broken VBoost controller about 5 or 6 years ago. Got on the bike, hit the boost for the first time in years. Jumped it up to 100 mph, and the speedometer needle dropped to zero... Fortunately, I had a spare cable. (long story)
 
Speedo is mechanical. Has to be a bad cable or speedometer head. I'd bet on a cable. I had 2 fail in the 30 years I've owned the bike.. They actually rusted away till the cable broke. Funny - I replaced a long broken VBoost controller about 5 or 6 years ago. Got on the bike, hit the boost for the first time in years. Jumped it up to 100 mph, and the speedometer needle dropped to zero... Fortunately, I had a spare cable. (long story)

True enough, when I stop long enough to absorb what the OP typed. My speedo troubles when I reattached all but one ground wire next to the battery that time had to do with weird turn signal indicators and the neutral light doing weird things.
 
You didn't, by chance, take any ground wires near the battery loose, while you were putting the new one in, did you? Seems like there may be a ground wire for the cluster attached to the frame just outside the battery box, and if one of those wires were not secured to the frame, or broken in some way........................

No, only took off the neg side of batt. I don't think it would matter being its mechanical
 
Speedo is mechanical. Has to be a bad cable or speedometer head. I'd bet on a cable. I had 2 fail in the 30 years I've owned the bike.. They actually rusted away till the cable broke. Funny - I replaced a long broken VBoost controller about 5 or 6 years ago. Got on the bike, hit the boost for the first time in years. Jumped it up to 100 mph, and the speedometer needle dropped to zero... Fortunately, I had a spare cable. (long story)

I replaced the original cable last summer with a SS braided cable. It probably came loose, won't know until I take it apart.
 
Geez, a SS braided cable? Wasn't that just the casing? I'd throw a NOS one in there, at-least the drive cable, if it fits.
 
Brilliant minds think-alike

I talked to Sean & that's what he said. Pull the inner cable from my original & put in the SS braided outer cable. Just have to find it.

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Say, guys.. On this same topic, do you pack grease all the way into the speedo cable?
If so, what grease do you use?
I hear some guys just lube up the inner cable and that's it.
 
Say, guys.. On this same topic, do you pack grease all the way into the speedo cable?
If so, what grease do you use?
I hear some guys just lube up the inner cable and that's it.

IF you "lube up the inner cable", aren't you, in a sense, packing "grease all the way into the speedo cable" anyway? :ummm:
 
IF you "lube up the inner cable", aren't you, in a sense, packing "grease all the way into the speedo cable" anyway? :ummm:
Anytime I have access to the speedo cable (when I have either of my fairings off), I always disconnect the cable from the back of the speedo, and drop 3-in- one oil into the cable, until I see it bleeding from the other end, at the wheel drive adapter. I also lubricate the throttle cables whenever I have the throttle tube assembly off.
I know some may disagree with this practice, saying it only attracts dust to the cables, but I've never had a cable break, or unravel. The stock inner cables are not stainless, and will eventually corrode and break. Keep the suckers lubricated! Any moving part need lubrication!
Cheers!
 

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