Speedo cable wrapped around axle

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@swooshdave from the top pic it looks like the housing is dished out a bit from flat? If so, the ring gear may not have aligned properly with the spiral gear?
 
Whilst the pathology of the trauma would be nice to know, if You find nothing obvious out of sort, sometimes new parts on these almost as old as I am bikes is the answer. In this case a drive cable and new drive.
Maintenance, inspection are all very important, but age takes the toll. Bottom line for me, (You ?) I reckon, is thankfully cable didn't get wrapped up in Your spokes motoring at 70 mph.
 
ashman said:
Here is my spin on it, I am still running my original speedo drive and original cable and after 46 years still works good, I don't grease by the grease nipple but everytime the wheel is off for a new tyre or wheel bearing maintenance I give the drive a good clean in kero and once clean I give the drive a spin with my fingers when it feels right I put grease on the drive with my fingers and work the grease into the gear box, I don't over do it with the grease just enough to keep things lubed, I makes sure the 2 blocks that mount to the wheel is in good condition before refitting, I also lube the end of the cable that goes into the drive, I also put a dash of grease where it mounts to the speedo, not to much just enough to lube, to much grease is not good, I think my speedo cable has only been lubed twice in all these years its the ends that have problems mostly and is normally where they break.
Its just part of any maintenance anything that has moving parts in it needs to be cleaned and relubed not just pumping grease into it, old grease can go hard if to much is in there, working as a T/A to maintenance Fitters for over 20 years I have seen bearing that have over heated from over greasing and not having the bearing cleaned out of old grease and new grease added, old grease does go hard from heat over years of use even if new grease has been pumped in.
Most do there maintenance like oil changes regularly but sometimes over look the small things that also need to be cleaned and relubed, same as sealed wheel bearing or any sealed bearing for that matter will last a life time if you pull the seals and give them a good clean and repacked with fresh grease, its all about general maintenance, look after your parts and they will last and if you ride in a wet place then its even more important to do regular maintenance sooner than later.

Ashley
Click to expand...
Ashley,
I don't believe you. You have a remarkable Norton .
all your parts must have come from the moon. Cryogenic treated..
We didn't get this on the third planet circling the Sun. Maybe you can expand?
I say your full of shit.
 
CanukNortonNut said:
Ashley,
I don't believe you. You have a remarkable Norton .
all your parts must have come from the moon. Cryogenic treated..
We didn't get this on the third planet circling the Sun. Maybe you can expand?
I say your full of shit.
Click to expand...

You’re way out of line here sir.

Just because a man takes the time to explain his maintenance routine he is ‘full of shit‘ !?!
 
Swoosh,
I am using Torco engine assembly lube in my speedo drive now from a Comstock suggestion. I thought is was a great alternative to standard grease.Just my 2 cents
Mike
 
EstuaryBoy said:
You bought the wrong one, Malcolm :)



Thanks to Viz as always
Click to expand...

Thats all very fine as an engineering success, but designed in, low mean time to failure, is marketing/profitability brilliance. Where is Samsun today?
 
My lucas drive that came on bike did the Black Star of Death spew on the rear hub cover. I had it off bike and carefully re-straightened the dished housing and put in new top hat spacer. Seemed to stop spewage but didn't like the non smooth movement of the drive unit, there was some kind of click/tick when turing by hand. Swapped in a fresh EMGO drive, which also has the click/tick when turning. My speedo needle has a +/-5-10 mph flutter until I reach 50-ish mph where it settles in.
Might put lucas back on to test if needle settles differently.

Point is you can't count on a new drive being made as well as original. The electronic inductive pickup or gps units might be a better option.
 
Tornado said:
My lucas drive that came on bike did the Black Star of Death spew on the rear hub cover. I had it off bike and carefully re-straightened the dished housing and put in new top hat spacer. Seemed to stop spewage but didn't like the non smooth movement of the drive unit, there was some kind of click/tick when turing by hand. Swapped in a fresh EMGO drive, which also has the click/tick when turning. My speedo needle has a +/-5-10 mph flutter until I reach 50-ish mph where it settles in.
Might put lucas back on to test if needle settles differently.

Point is you can't count on a new drive being made as well as original. The electronic inductive pickup or gps units might be a better option.
Click to expand...
I am seriously considering the electronic version as an option.
 
Tornado said:
Thats all very fine as an engineering success, but designed in, low mean time to failure, is marketing/profitability brilliance. Where is Samsun today?
Click to expand...
Probably confined to the anals of history as one of industry's 'also rans'...
 
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I am sure you will find the internal parts of the speedo gearbox will be worn, especially the ring gear.
New parts are unobtanium. You can perhaps rebuild one from one or more old ones, if usable old ones are available. Most likely you will find a NOS gearbox is necessary.
Good luck finding one.
You may find a NOS gearbox with the proper ratio and direction, but not the proper ID hole for the axle (spindle). That can be remedied by fabricating a special top hat bushing. That is how I replaced my worn gearbox, ..... Timewarp from this forum graciously fabricated a special top hat to fit a NOS gearbox to my Atlas axle.
Thanks again, TW.

Slick
 
I recently bought a speedo drive for a MK2a Commando from Feked as their web site and the man at Feked said it was made in the UK.

I think, but cannot be sure (I'm old and passed it), I phoned Andover Norton and was told theirs was supplied by Emgo and made in India ?

The Feked one arrived in a box marked "L F Harris" with the strap line below 'Manufacturer and supplier for British classic motorcycles'

But neither the box nor the speedo drive are marked "Made in England" or the UK

I think I read somewhere that L F Harris acquired the stuff to make speedo drives from Smiths so they are made as per the originals in the UK.

The pictures of the speedo drives on the A-N and Feked websites look identical.

Except the A-N picture shows their ones to be scratched, so I bought an un-scratched one from Feked.

I give no warranty on any of the above information.

The information above might be (and probably is) as crap as the muckite that Speedo drives are made of (and always have been)
 
Mine decided to give up the ghost and wrap itself around the axle when it seized 40 or so years back when I knew nothing about speedo gearbox and cable maintenance. Snapped at the instrument and whumped itself around at speed near Silver Lake ,
Ottawa.
Didn't even phase me , such a nice day , just peeled off the wreckage and went fishing.
 
CanukNortonNut said:
Ashley,
I don't believe you. You have a remarkable Norton .
all your parts must have come from the moon. Cryogenic treated..
We didn't get this on the third planet circling the Sun. Maybe you can expand?
I say your full of shit.
Click to expand...
You can say what ever you want, I brought my Norton new, I do regular maintenance on everything, I have no reason to bull shit, I have always said in all the years I have been on this great forum that I may have got a freak bike from new, I don't pussy foot my Norton nor any of my motorcycles, I ride them hard and my Norton was my everyday ride for 40 years except for 2 full rebuild and one was to replace the original crank cases, I still run the original valves and cam but it has been built up to Combat specs, the Norton is semi retired now 7 years but I still ride it, it has well over 160k miles as I averaged 10k miles every year, yes it has had its time off the road for convertion to the Featherbed frame back in 1980 and rebuild, licence suspensions and 3x for knee injury (4 months each time) and a broken arm when it threw me over the handle bars, but my friends who know me will back me even the mate who got me into Norton's and sold me the Featherbed frame back in 1979 (also says I have a freak Norton), all engine and GB bolts and nuts are all original except for the allen head screws around the timing and GB case, so say what you want to think, I have a freak of a Norton that is well maintained but is showing its age in looks, but I like it like that as its been well ridden most of its 46 years of ownership. I can take pics of my speedo drive and old crimped cable but really I no need to prove anything as I am a honest person and no need to be full of shit and the most important thing I do is pat my Norton on the tank after every ride and thank it for a great day out and getting safely home, I do that with all my bikes, maybe that's the secret to a happy motorcycle (freak) and maybe you should do the same, but with that attitude maybe not.

Ashley
Speedo cable wrapped around axle
 
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