With interest, I will explain a good way to open GL gauges

[pistolpete]

Sandy,

No silver solder unless you are putting tabs onto the ring when removed.
The unfortunate thing about sawing the ring is now the seal has also been separated.
The upper and lower shells are also cut and all this can lead to a leak and rust in the gauge.

I would suggest donor gauges and separate them like I point out above.

Pete

[Sandy]

"I would suggest donor gauges and separate them like I point out above."

I found a speedo that had been in a fire.
Most plastic was melted but the ring was good and still in place.
I was now able to follow the ring removal as described and after cleaning it up, installed on the good speedo.
I then took the opportunity to repaint both the speedo and tach.
I did this after reinstalling the ring to avoid scratching any new paint.
Units are now installed and working great.
Thanks Pete.

[pistolpete]

You are welcome Sandy.

Pete

[buggss]

Great thread Pete, I use the same procedure except no clamps. I will use a clamp next time. Thanks

[pistolpete]

buggss,

You are welcome.

Pete

[socrace]

Just used this method to rebuild, clean and grease my '81 tachometer after it got noisy during the latest cold weather onslaught. Pretty easy!

[NunzioGL]

I split the ring and use a good aerospace adhesive on the ring to re-secure it. It is clamped tight and squeezed together and the adhesive also acts to seal the gap. It's a urethane type epoxy and can be removed and cleaned up if you need to get back in the gauges.

I know it looks like I pried the ring off and I did, but the spare gauge that I robbed the parts out of I cut the ring. I then discovered that the ring looked too battered then decided to use the split ring and glue it.

Go here: http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 0&start=15

[damorsoft]

Sounds like a great idea, I have a tach unit that works but is sticky so the response is slow, but steady.

[ianstaley]

Hi I have followed this thread and done the deed with a tacho, mine is of the variety rev counter with temp control. Now to get the plates off, I need too to change out the face from green to white. I have had to take off the main face plate and the smaller temp plate, the problem is the screws they are so small and "fixed" in place with some loctite or other.

Does anyone know the tread size and pitch of these screws the heads are very soft and the star head is now fubarb on two screws.
see below, oh and on one pic you can see the hitch hiker a fly and just to the bottom and right a leg. Lol. How did it get in here???



and

[ianstaley]

So I have discovered that the screws (measured) are between 2.14mm and 2.25mm. Why the variation I have no idea, they are 5mm long and according to tables I have the pitch could be either 0.40 @ 2mm to 0.45 @ 2.5mm Head diameter is given at 4mm and 5mm respectively. Isn't it always the same the Honda head size is 4.77mm. Also I got some appliqués from an American E-Bay site. I order white, they aren't white but transparent, so you have to paint the faces in any colour you like. So I now have to try and match the colour to the VDO Cockpit Royal fascias. This is still a great article and without it I would have completely stumped and would have had to go riding with old clocks on the bike.

[ianstaley]

Okay so to go on, I had to rub down the two faces and paint them white then add the vinyl decals. so I got this....



and this



What a pain in the butt putting them back together, my hands are hurting a lot now. But I think it was worth it. see below....





Just got to do the speedo now.

[Thickasaplank]

Thank you very much for such a great tutorial... I have used the process here to pop open my 78 speedo, as the needle was "jumping" up to about sixty kilometers per hour... I suspected a kinked cable, but could find no evidence of it as I stripped the bike. (Bolt by Bolt rebuild). I have unfortunately broken the (very old) trip boot, and am not certain what I can use to replace it...

The other question I have is to do with the plate that is attached to the speedo needle, that runs between two sensor plates that have an electrical supply.. I am uncertain what that electrical connection does. Does anyone have any ideas??

Thank you,
Brad

[ianstaley]

I am trying to visualise what mine looked like when I dismantled it, on my speedo, there is only two wires a brown and a blue one. These provide power to the light bulb to illuminate the meter. without knowing what model you have makes it a little difficult to know what meter you have. To all out there with greater knowledge than I have of the different versions of meters on the bikes; mine is a GL1000, I can safely assume that there is no electrical circuit in my speedo other than already mentioned. There is a damper which is created by a a couple of magnets it creates an eddy field? which dampens the movement of the needle. Now I am no electrician, and my Physics goes back 50 years to school time. So I am sure that someone on here will explain it to you.

As for the trip boot? I make an assumption that you are referring to cover over the shaft on the side of the trip adjuster. They are no longer available. however, if you need top make one (mine is okay), I thought about using a cut down boot of an electrical household plug. Where the wire meets the plug there is a sort of Boot! to stop ingress of water. Don't use the type that is fitted by a manufacturer, you need an after market product where the boot slides over the cable and slots in just inside the opening of the plug. you could use one of those and modify it. see picture. Ian

[BikeMaine]

I'm posting just to refresh this thread as it is very good information.

As for a boot around the trip knob, as someone else mentioned, a tire valve-stem with the metal removed works well.

[TNTbefree]

Would also like to know how to clean up tank gauges found on 78 and 79 Gl1000's. The set I have looks like dog squeeze.