Hi, I have an annoying issue on my 1964 A65 with breaking speedo cables. It has now broke three times at the engine connection at the transition between the rigid end which fits into the gearbox drive and the flexible section. There is float in the cable so that it is not over compressed and the speedo head is free.
The outer cable pulls up nice and square on the gearbox fitting when tightening the nut.
The only thing I can think of is the very slight bend put on the cable by the silencer support. I could if required grind a shallow grove in this to straighten the cable run.
Any suggestions much appreciated.
Peterc
Hi,
The slight bend should not cause this problem assuming that the4 cable if nice and free to turn. Is this 3 cables from the same supplier?
Dave.
Hi Dave, cables from different suppliers including venhill.
Peterc
Hi,
The only thing I can think of is to disconnect the cable from the gear box and see if you can turn it freely with the slight bend at the silencer support. Then try out from behind the exhaust but roughly near to the gearbox. This will eliminate or confirm the slight bend as a problem.
Dave.
surely thats why the cables are oingy boingy to iron out these 'kinks'.
if the kink was an issue there'd be millions off dissatisfied people with broken cables in their grubby little hands queued up at bike dealers through out the world.
my oldest sportster has a near 90 degree 'kink' and i've not had any breaks
cable not oiled?
speedo end not turning correctly or intermittently (does the speedo jump and jive?)
Hi Dave, finally found out what was breaking speedo inner cable. I followed your guidance fitting the new cable to the speedo and turning the other end inner by hand. I noticed that it was tight. On comparison of the speedo head drive with the Rev counter drive they are different. The speedo has a rotating part which then presses on the outer when the cable is tightened up whilst the revcounter is a fi=xed boss. Whilst I have a smiths magnetic speedo of the correct drive ratio for the A65 it looks like the end fitting is different from standard. I attach a pic for info and would welcome and info on what type of end fitting this is.
Hi,
I must admit that I have never looked that closely at speedos. There must be an expert on the Forum who pop up with the a solution.
Dave.
Found out that the speedo was missing a small pressed steel cap which was used on some of the earlier magnetic units. Ordered one up for £5 and now all good. The supplier said that a lot of the speedos he gets in for repair are missing this cap and that he now gets batches o them made up. Every day is a schoolday :)