Classic Motorcycle Speedometer Repair

Let's take a look at how I fixed a jumpy speedometer needle on my classic Honda Motorcycle.
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[@ka0skontrol504]

2 years later and this video is still helping out people who have old bikes like this. Mine is a 1981 Kawasaki KZ305 CSR and it's got the same gauge design.

[@EdisonCollector]

Hi. Some comments… 1. No need to get into the headlight. That wiring harness just goes to the bulb. Unbolt the speedo, wriggle your finger in the mount and ease out the bulb from back of the speedo. Then pull speedo out. Quick, easy. Maneuver bulb back in when replacing speedo, then rebolt. 2. The headlight DOES NOT PULL OUT! There is an inch-long locking tab up top of the headlight shell (visible in some of your photos). A corresponding metal locking tab on the headlight ring goes behind it and secures the top of the headlight. Do not try to pull out the headlight! If you do, you will bust the top tab and take out a chunk of the top of the headlight. Unscrew bottom screw of headlight ring, then rotate headlight clockwise (often it is stuck from age) until the tabs separate. (Again, DO NOT just pull on it if it is stuck!) Then, depending on model (for instance CB175 or 350) allow headlight with wires attached to rest on the front fender if you like and the wires are long enough. To replace headlight, put headlight back into shell off kilter to the right and screw counterclockwise until the tabs fit together. Then screw in bottom screw. Done.

[@G3CK0S]

Nice! Love the gentle, patient work and attention to detail. Good stuff!

[@randmo24]

I had the same issue on my 1973 CB 750 Honda. Shaft was definitely the issue, my trip reset was quite different, it connected from the bottom and have a few spacers and a gear that had to be put back together a little tricky, but if you’ve got the right needle nose, it works

[@kenlizzio7096]

Thanks. Nice clear description of how to do this. I have a Honda speedo that works fine, but the needle has broken. Need to replace it and this is a good guide to get inside.

[@qivarebil2149]

This problem comes, when owners or mechanics are using to much force, removing the wire. Wiggling and pulling to hard, when the wire seems a bit stuck up in there, breaks loose the cylinder. Thanks a million, for a very nice tutorial video here! Nice bike!

[@roby14]

Thank you. The trip set knob was holding me up now I know. I'd suggest a pair of duckbill pliers for the trim ring. I'm working on a 1993 Honda Nighthawk cb750. It was abandoned and I'm bringing it back to life. Thanks again!

[@stephaniegustafson3464]

Great video. I appreciate that you left the trial and error in for us to learn from. Thought the trip mileage being stuck at 777 was kinda cool....I would have convinced myself it was a sign to buy a scratcher or go visit the casino lol.

[@vintagebikes4215]

superb repair, patient, thorough, effective

[@paulmitchell9430]

Was riding today and my bike started whining from the speedometer so I got on safari and typed in my issue and your video came up and helped me solve the problem so thank you!!

[@yllib68]

Nice job as usual Rob!! I love those bike repair videos. 73!

[@isaaczaman]

I am having the exact same problem on my 81 cm400e, I wish I knew where to get another trim ring!! You're a godsend man gonna attempt the same repair this weekend with my buddy

[@SevenFortyOne]

I think you can buy new trim rings...just do some digging and they will turn up.

[@anthonyriek1296]

Just wanted to say thank you for making this video. Somehow a spider got into the speedo of my 1985 Honda nighthawk and I used everything you did in this video to get the cover off and clean out the web. I would have without a doubt ruined it trying to figure it out myself. The needle nose pliers and using the groove of it worked particularly well for me in peeling up the ring. Cheers!

[@SevenFortyOne]

Awesome! Glad this helped!

[@ball_soup]

Ha same thing happened on my 81 Suzuki GS450. When I get the chance I’m going to clean the webs out so I know how fast I’m going past 35 mph

[@twowheelrodeo]

I also have Hondamatic 400 and found your video on first search of speedometer cable. I have had the same or similar issue to a lesser extent though the gap on the housing would maybe a good place to look. Thank You so Much!

[@trevorjameson3213]

This is great, now I can repair my speedometer too. I have a '79 Honda CX500. So thank you for the video instruction!

[@acvn-hg9gy]

How was your luck? I just bought a cx, and the speedo does the same thing AND the resettable counter doesnt work

[@ericmartinez4053]

@@acvn-hg9gy Waiting for a response too! I have a 1979 CX500. Speedo and tach were both working perfectly last year, but when I started it this season, both needles are shaking like crazy. It's time to try this repair myself.

[@tomhall3175]

Hi . very useful. I am worrking on it now because the speedometer cable broke or was cut at the entrance to the speedometer. The ring is a little tricky lol Thanks.

[@danielmesa5703]

Thank you for making this! I’m having the same problem with my car speedometer. There were no other videos that I could find to help me, but this video about a motorcycle speedometer should help!

[@SevenFortyOne]

Modern car speedometers are quite different than this so proceed with caution

[@danielmesa5703]

@@SevenFortyOne Yes I will. This is an old style speedometer. Cable run, and jewel balanced. I’m gonna try to tighten up the magnet assembly with glue. It is loose like yours was.

[@SevenFortyOne]

Cool! Sounds like a fun project

[@majorskepticism7836]

One thing about government-mandated 80mph speedometers from that era - they are dead nuts accurate. I don’t know if Big Brother made them do it, or if speedometer error would be just way too obvious if 160mph isn’t squeezed into the dial. I have a 1982 CM450, checked the speedometer against mile markers with a stop watch, police radar, and finally with GPS. Same result, accurate to within the width of the needle. Odometer is within about one percent. And now I know how the speedo works. Thanks.

[@ravensilver2727]

you did a wonderful job explaining things in the video. thank you for taking the time to make it.

[@SevenFortyOne]

You're welcome.. glad you liked this!

[@benjaminhunt7782]

Thanks for this! Mine was having a very similar problem, just needed a bit of lubrication and it started working normally again! I ended up using the Dremel method though and some jb weld, we’ll see how everything holds up under vibration

[@Badenhawk]

The 2 screws that hold down the number plate came loose on my tachometer and it's sitting upside down, and 1 is missing from the speedo, so thanks very much for this video because I need to tear both apart. I'll definitely add locktite to those 3 face plate screws as well.

[@NHDualrider]

Great video. Helped me repair the speedo on my 79 GL1000

[@just_in_time5518]

Nice fix Rob! I probably would not have the patience for that. lol

[@aguiristante]

Great help . Thanks. Will try and fix the loud noise on my cb750s nighhawk

[@artguess9893]

Great video, that E6000 is great stuff, also Goop is same thing, I use them all the time for different things.

[@guyk2260]

Great video , well shot and explained , thank you .

[@640amthemix]

Great Video. Had the same bike. Sold it but it brought back memories

[@tomsparenberg409]

Great video for troubleshooting speedo woes. Thanks for the thoroughness and attention to every step. I just got a 1994 CB250 Nighthawk, and the upper and lower metal housings are mangled up from being dropped, but the speedo itself is intact and working. I'd like to replace the housings altogether, but haven't found these parts anywhere on the web. Who knows of a good source for old bike parts????

[@SevenFortyOne]

Try this place: oldbikebarn.com/

[@diane4642]

Lots of info I can likely use. My trip meter is what's not working...you covered a great hint, that maybe I can rectify. Covering how to separate the instrument housing, ...finally, found a great video, with excellent dialogue...well done. '79CM400T should have minor changes. Diane

[@Captain_Zero_]

Mine was due to the shaft for the cable. I lubed it up with some silicone lubricant, but after a while it came back. I wonder if you can drill a small hole and use a chain saw bar lubricant tool to grease the internals.

[@SevenFortyOne]

That seems like a good idea. Small hole and rubber plug to keep debris out

[@Nich_Pavelow]

I like you man. You look like your are funny as hell! Bet sitting around the bikes with beer would be a legendary time! Cheer bro and thank you for this video! ✊🏾👊🏾✊🏾👊🏾✊🏾👊🏾

[@RaoulMooyaart]

Very thorough. Great video

[@rvfrick2355]

E6000 is a flexible rubber-like solvent based adhesive. It is not hard or two-part epoxy. I like it because it bonds a variety of materials, has exceptional strength, remains flexible and can be removed. Comes in black, white and clear. It's one of my favorite adhesives to have on hand along with JB Weld.

[@SevenFortyOne]

It had quickly become my go to adhesive sice I learned about it last year.

[@LeFraudHasChokedInSIXFinals]

Appreciated the detailed narration. Also that you show your mistakes so we can avoid them.

[@dabugman6415]

Nicely done!!

[@garyconstant4234]

Good video 👍 greetings from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@jesusfan4242]

I need to replace the glass on my 1979 Suzuki gs425e... these old seiki spedometers are tough

[@pilkjaer]

Thank you for the great detailed video!

[@SevenFortyOne]

Glad you liked this

[@mordechailevinson8646]

..... thanks for posting this... very helpful

[@Rainstorm45]

I had the same problem on my 1983 kawasaki 550 but the needle broke in half I been looking for a new replacement that will work and the rpm gauge doesn't work at all

[@MoMoneyMeric518]

Got a 74 gt185 both the tach and speedo have stopped working now I'll have to try this

[@ericmartinez4053]

Great video. Thank you for taking the time. Question: Almost two years after you doing this fix, is the adhesive holding up to the vibrations? Or did it come loose again?

[@SevenFortyOne]

It hasn't come loose yet but I also don't ride that bike much

[@murraykriner9425]

Been a few riders in our group who have been getting flutter from the speedometer needle as you have. Gonna suggest they check out your video before chasing other avenues.

[@leorepair6405]

您好，我来自中国，刚好摩托车的时速表出现了和您的摩托车一样的情况，十分感谢您的视频

[@SevenFortyOne]

不客气

[@aaronrittle7981]

Same exact bike I have needles is stuck at max

[@blutey]

Good job. Several years ago I tried taking apart a faulty Suzuki tachometer without using a hose clip to prevent it deforming. Ended up totally mangling the mating surfaces.😒

[@SevenFortyOne]

Bummer

[@stratowing]

An alternative to prying the crimped ring off is to use a Dremel cutoff disc. Carefully cut through the ring, preferably towards the bottom where you won't see it. Then you can spread the ring apart enough to get it off the lip. Very much like getting a piston ring off of a piston. Reassemble the same way, if you have to, you can carefully squeeze the ring a bit smaller so that it fits nice and tight, and or apply some of that nice adhesive to the cut ends. Place the joint at the bottom, and voila!

[@SevenFortyOne]

Does cutting the ring leave enough material to reassemble?

[@jaytodd5809]

​@@SevenFortyOneyou did it the right way. The only easy way was a custom pry tool thats similar to the old paint can pry keys..Grinding slots in the ring towards the edge would be impossible unless you have a micro disc and jeweler's lenses

[@clunkdriver1]

My 1983 Yamaha Venture has a similarly failed speedo and odometer. A recommended fix was to shoot oil into the case, through the cable input port. Alas, the speedo works fine, however. the odometer does not. Do you think the disassembly and the guts for my instrument, are similar to that on your Honda?

[@SevenFortyOne]

Its probably similar but different if that makes sense. Its kind of a tricky task so I wouldn't attempt this unless you are mechanically inclined and patient. But inspect yours and see if anything feels loos like it did on mine and take it from there. It might be worth taking it to a bike restoration shop for an opinion too.

[@anderseskilsson9494]

Nice done! I have a similar problem om my suzuki. The speedometer is really slow and doesnt want to go above 40 km/h. I manage to take it apart as you did and nothing obvious about it. Put some lube in it anyway. I tried it with the drill and now it seems fine. Problem is my drilling machine takes it to about 40 km / h which was the speed i got to when riding the bike so i really dont know if anyting is different now. is there any way to test higher speed range. I saw in the video you reached 80 mph at some stage to reproduce the symtoms. Thx for the help.

[@SevenFortyOne]

If your drill can't spin fast enough you might need to try a different drill

[@brettsonter3236]

Very good info mate

[@darksondap94]

Any advice on cleaning the dial face without creating glossy spots or fixing existing ones? When taking my dial apart, i accidentally touched the face plate and got a smudge. After cleaning it , the dial now has a glossy spot, easily noticeable at direct sunlight

[@SevenFortyOne]

I've had good luck using name brand dish soap mixed with water cleaning my ham radios. It's a mild degreaser but shouldn't damage the materials in the speedo. Go slow, use just a small amount, and test on an inconspicuous surface firts

[@thomasflippen4341]

I have a 1983 ascot ft500 I'm going to see if this is my problem. It vibrates a lot so it might be the same problem.

[@atcmadness4351]

I don't know if there's any type of magnetism going on in there. I read there's an oil filled damper so that the needle moves smoothly. I'm trying to repair some old Honda ATC speedometers, they run anywhere from 200$ used to 400$ and up NOS....

[@mncitizen4364]

The way all speedometers work is the flux field in the permanent magnet attached to the cable when spun, causes the aluminum dish mechanically attached to the needle to follow along. It's basically the same way a motor works. It's magnetically coupled rather than directly by some mechanical means.

[@RayCis1]

question, do you turn the speedometer with the drill in counter clock wise mode, or direct (clockwise)?

[@SevenFortyOne]

I don't remember...I probably tried both and went with the one that worked

[@1800Beatdown]

Any idea how to repair the threads that screw the cable to the speedometer? Mine completely broke off leaving no threads to screw on to.

[@SevenFortyOne]

I would look into buying a parts speedometer from eBay and swapping out your broken parts. Just make sure you get one that had the same part as the one you are trying to fix. There were any designs over the years that were similar but not identical.

[@zxc9884761]

Amazing thank you

[@danielivancamposserrano5635]

Is the part that got glued in place universal? The thread on my 98 triumph thunderbird speedometer broke in half and im trying to avoid replacing the whole unit.

[@SevenFortyOne]

If triumph used this same manufacturer for their speedometers it is very possible...but I don't know for sure.

[@trainmaster0217]

Nice video but I think I'll just get another speedo after seeing all the work you had to do. Don't know if that will work on mine.

[@thedaydreamer7972]

You really put out great videos,I have a chinese scooter, these chinese speedometers are innacurate, Ive seen 5 and 10mph off,,,,the question is, do you know how to calibrate these speedometers so they read accurate? what is it that you need to tweak or adjust to get them to read accurate, is it the needle coming from the cable, is it at the wheel? What do you think? TY again!

[@SevenFortyOne]

I'm not sure what you need to do

[@polly_sacharride]

The screws on the back of the speedometer (and pretty much every other screw on the bike) are JIS, not Phillips. Using a JIS screwdriver will prevent stripping them. JIS screwdrivers are also less prone to stripping Phillips screws as well. The screwdriver in your bike's factory-supplied toolkit is JIS.

[@SevenFortyOne]

Good tip - thanks!

[@ALJO1122]

Nice job. I'm more into mopeds but I've had the problem that you had with your speedometer many times on my Yamaha mopeds and with trial and error, mostly error I've found that all you need to do to correct the needle jumping problem is lubricate the place where the cable goes in, the glueing part is a good idea but was'nt what solved your problem, your problem was solved when you lubricated the hole before glueing it.

[@trevorjameson3213]

That's true, anything made in Japan that uses a cross point screw is JIS. And man, those screwdrivers are hard to find unless you order them online. Everyone I asked at local hardware stores had no idea what I was talking about!

[@couragewoodworks2843]

I had found a kit on Amazon for $20 bucks that had 5 screwdrivers of different sizes. Been using it on my Honda the past couple weeks and it’s been working great!

[@cosmicbird1850]

what kind of lube did you use? @@ALJO1122

[@mrblonde2112]

Great video thanks!

[@SevenFortyOne]

Glad you liked it!

[@j0nezki]

Hi one thing you should do in these honda 400 engines is adjust the balance shaft chain. Just one more thing for you

[@SevenFortyOne]

I have an old video about that in my archive

[@mncitizen4364]

Best adhesive by far for this application is 3M 8101 epoxy.

[@danmantyla3315]

Was the drill in forward (tighten) or reverse (loosen) mode? Very difficult to tell from the video but it looks liken forward mode...? My speedo is gummed up and barely moves very slowly with a lot of force required. Hopefully it just needs cleaned and oiled.

[@SevenFortyOne]

I honestly don't remember

[@qivarebil2149]

Usually, the japanese speedo drives, goes in a counter clockwise direction. And I think I just saw this one was the same.

[@trevorjameson3213]

It goes counter-clockwise. So you must have a drill that can go in reverse.

[@rickearle1737]

Thanks!

[@SevenFortyOne]

Thank you!!!

[@joaopreichardt]

I think my Sportster have the same issue, thank you!!

[@PibsMegie]

This is a useful video but I had to fast forward alot but atleast I can hopefully fix my 79 XS 1100 speedo it would save me alot of money

[@JasonKirin]

Your mistakes are truly invaluable. Thank you.

[@krcycles8305]

Man I wish my virago wiring had that simple cram it all in the headlight style. All my wires are crammed between my headlight and my speedometers and I have to take off my speedometers to get to my main starter wires etc. It's shit.

[@miken6imy]

How would a IC705 look on that bike?

[@SevenFortyOne]

Pretty good!

[@cameronbeyerbeyer8825]

Is this the same, or similar process, to the tachometer?

[@SevenFortyOne]

I think it's similar but not sure

[@burhanimeterrepairing3071]

Verry verry good job Sir me Gujarat India se METER repair VALA

[@frankcrouch2764]

Thanks av got the same problm with my cm250t 1981 al fixit no thanks

[@yagami41]

good vid

[@pilkjaer]

Maybe it's time to do the brake in maintenance

[@Radiowild]

It's Feexed! I probably would have broken it getting it apart.......

[@raspybob9905]

Can i send you mine??! Lol having the same problem!

[@mestep511]

Ok here I go. Some idea how deep it is, just need the courage to jump.

[@anthonycaroselli834]

Why not just use white lithium grease instead of brake lube or some other thing?

[@SevenFortyOne]

Because that's what I had on hand.

[@scottw550]

Inside the speedo 8:50

[@user-mx4sm9cv7e]

Mine just stays on 0

[@yllib68]

Nice job as usual Rob!! I love those bike repair videos. 73!