Anyone have a suggestion how to pull needle off a Speedometer dial

D

DennisMo

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Jun 6, 2023
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I took my speedo out as the glass was very cloudy underneath and it needs cleaning as well as lubrication.
but attempts to pry the needle off, with two screwdrivers either side and dial protected, did not work.
If you have any advice for a tool, I would be grateful appreciated!

And, while cleaning it with brake clean I got some brakeclean on the very small turns per mile white printing.
It dissolved the white letters. Not good

It will bother me to see it is not right so can anyone suggest a source for a used dial or used gauge?

Thanks

Dennis
 
DennisMo said:
I took my speedo out as the glass was very cloudy underneath and it needs cleaning as well as lubrication.
but attempts to pry the needle off, with two screwdrivers either side and dial protected, did not work.
If you have any advice for a tool, I would be grateful appreciated!

And, while cleaning it with brake clean I got some brakeclean on the very small turns per mile white printing.
It dissolved the white letters. Not good

It will bother me to see it is not right so can anyone suggest a source for a used dial or used gauge?

Thanks

Dennis
Click to expand...
Send it to Nisonger
 
Richard Tool said:
Send it to Nisonger
Click to expand...
Nisonger announced a while back that they no longer would be in the instrument repair business, at least for our instruments.
But they probably have the parts on hand. My perception is that, despite the fine work they do, they have always seemed
to display a condescending attitude towards customers. A new face plate can be found from many sources including eBay.
they are quite inexpensive.
 
lazyeye6 said:
Nisonger announced a while back that they no longer would be in the instrument repair business, at least for our instruments.
But they probably have the parts on hand. My perception is that, despite the fine work they do, they have always seemed
to display a condescending attitude towards customers. A new face plate can be found from many sources including eBay.
they are quite inexpensive.
Click to expand...
Their website still says repair - needs updating perhaps ?
 
Noooooo.... There are other good places from what I hear. Try researching this site because I remember seeing a number of newer guys that do this or have stock.
 
I would try WestValleyInstruments. They have been in business for years and good service. They also repair electric speedos and tachs. I had good service from them.
Mike
 
You could make a simpler version of the, rather expensive, needle puller that @Stephen Hill posted in #4 yourself.
A shaped thin(ish) small piece of stainless, tapped to suit M3-4, a small aluminium crossbar and Bob's yer uncle.
Cheers
 
There is another guy in Ottawa I can P.M. you if you are interested. He did three Commando Clocks for me.
There is also Walridge Motors which sell rebuild ones with your core returned to him. Or send him your clock and he will ask you weather to keep your original odometer numbers or to be reset to zero.
Your choices are good but at a price.
My needles before the rebuild was waving about 10 MPH or so and when I got them back the were rock solid. My Garmin XT2 GPS to speedo was about 2-3MPH difference.
Good enough for me.
 
The actual dial has little support under it so levering with spoons could distort and bend
the dial. I might try flattening a fork, putting it under and pulling up somehow!
Dennis
 
By the way, I have never taken a norton tach apart before but I notice that the needle
seems damped a little. ie if I nudge it to 2000 rpm and release it, it seems to return a
little slower than only if the spring was acting on it. Can anyone comment as this damped
needle return could be due to old sticky lubrication from 1973!
Dennis
 
Place 2 business cards on each side of the pointer. The cards will be either side of the pointer stop. Get the cards right up on the pointer shaft. With 2 thin flat blade screw drivers, with a quick twist pop the pointer off. The dial face is held on with push rivets. push out the center pins and lift off the dial. After that, it can get tricky. The remainder of the instrument is riveted together. If it were me, I would send it off to Andy in Alberta. Based on what you're describing, you'd be best served that way because there's other things going on. If you were in the US, there's a couple of us that can do the work.
 
I ended up not pulling the needle but getting lubrication into the mechanism.
In addition, I put in new clean glass, seals and bezel. The prime problem of
the cloudy bezel glass underside is solved.
Putting the bezel on and crimping it was easy.
I put the assembled tach facedown on a piece of cork on top of a very thick wood slab.
I clamped it and compressed the bezel seal by clamping the tach output downwards
towards the wood.
Then I went around it with a flat punch and hammered the bezel in at about a 45 degree
angle. Then I went around again and hammered it flat.
But it was an uneven flat. So I took the female end of a ratchet extension and hammered
it while moving it slowly around the crimped bezel.
The tach slid into the tach housing assembly easily and I can't see any flaws from the outside.

Thanks to all for their comments
Dennis
 
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