Speedo Excessive Noise

[frankie177rg]

My '83 is having a chronic & annoying speedometer noise. The original speedo had to be removed and turned, cable connection up, and fill it with penetrating lube 3x/year. Eventually it went crazy and inaccurate. I found a NOS unit with only 00083 (!) original miles on the clock and installed it. Now this almost brand new one is screaming the same way. It's so loud I fear it'll seize up and take the cable or some other part inside the speedo. I guess my mistake was assuming that with such a low-use inst. panel I could just plug & play, but I was wrong. Any ideas how to fix or repair this problem? My old bike is still pretty quiet as a whole, but when this screaming noise from the speedo comes in (it's intermittent, of course) it literally hurts my ears! I make my living with my ears so this is an important issue for me. I'm thinking that now I'll probably have to have this new unit repaired, but who in the world repairs motorcycle speedos?

 

Frankie177rg

'83 XVZ12, '89 VMX12,

85 VT110C, '03 XR650L,

BMW/Subaru Homebuilt

Cessna 177RG

[BlueSky]

I remember seeing a youtube video of speedo lubing. Do a search.

[Great White]

 

And:http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?79642-Occasional-quot-Whining-Whirring-quot-noise

 

Edited August 24, 2015 by Great White

[Venturous Randy]

This is a post I did a long time ago on 1st gen speedometers. You must fix this before you damage the one you have. Putting any kind of penetrating oil is not the answer as these "oils" are NOT lubricating oils and will actually wash away any lube there is. You MUST get grease into the area between the sleeve that the cable goes into and the housing. Another way is to remove the speedometer and put grease down inside of it on the sleeve.

What makes you think the speedometer you have is not 100,0083 or 200,083 miles?

Randy

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?36254-Lubing-the-speedo-on-a-1st-gen&highlight=lubing+speedometer

[Flyinfool]

What Randy said.

 

Penetrating oil will do more harm than good, you need grease in there.

 

I think it was Golf&Venture was making a tool for greasing the speedo. You take off the cable, screw on the tool and it has a Zerk for your grease gun. Easy clean and quick.

[frankie177rg]

Good point, Randy, but the unit looks like brand new; the two needles were actually a little sluggish at first but after a few miles they loosened up. I think the last time I might have used chain oil because it stays where it dries. There may be that perfect lubricant but I have yet to discover it or hear from someone who knows. I've taken the whole instrument panel off several times, turned it upside down, put lubricant right into the cable connector and let it sit for about 36 hours, until it disappeared. Problem is, the noise always appears when I'm some distance from home base, and I have to put up with the noise & possible further damage until I get back to where I can repeat the process. What exactly is the right lube, and how do you get it in between the opening & the sleeve? I've never had another motorcycle speedo that does this, EVER; and I've had bikes for 50+ years.

[Flyinfool]

I use the same grease that I use on the ball joints and tie rods of my cages. Mainly cuz that is what is in my grease gun. With that neat little tool greasing is a snap and you do not even have to pull the cluster out of the bike to do it.

I hit mine with a small shot of grease every time I put on a new front tire.

[frankie177rg]

Hey Flyinfool... Can you tell me where I can get this special grease fitting? I looked up Golf&Venture And it said "cannot leave any messages or posts". Does this company even exist anymore? I'm getting desperate with this problem and this would be a good way to at least eliminate several steps in this chronic "maintenance' I'll probably have to do for the rest of the bike's life..

 

Frank

[Flyinfool]

@Golf&Venture is not a company, he is a member on this board.

 

Here is a link to the tool.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?67849-2nd-Group-Order-4-Speedo-Bearing-Coupling-Greaser

[frankie177rg]

Looks like the last contact from "Golf&Venture" was in 2012. I don't think they exist anymore. I think I'm going to thread a 1/8" hole directly at the point of contact, right in the speedo base, if there's enough metal. Then I'll add a flexible extension to an external spot where I'll put a zerk fitting so I can grease it without having to dismantle the whole front end of the bike all the time. For all you Venture riders with this problem I'll let you know if I come up with a solution. It might take a while though because I have so many other projects that supersede this one. Thanks for your help thus far.

[Freebird]

He is still a supporting member here. You can send him a private message. He was last active here at 10:04 a.m. today. Here is link to his profile.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/member.php?10098-Golf-amp-Venture

[KIC]

I'll call Brian and have him check in here. I have one of his screw on grease fittings. If I was home i would put it in the mail and loan it to you. But I am TDY in Northern VA for another 6 weeks. I used mine recently and it seems to work better and faster than removing the unit and tearing it apart like I did the first time.

[GolfVenture]

Hi: Its me Golf & Venture. I will check soon and see if I have an extra one this weekend.

 

Been very busy, with my new garage, kitchen remodel, Reroofing, landscaping. Will be posting pictures of my new 89 VR accessory recently added. Don't think I've ever seen any Venture with this accessory, but I could be wrong.

[KIC]

Could that accessory be you riding yours ??