Commando speedo drive

Previously ian_lisseter wrote:

I have just ordered one for the fourth time now (albeit many years apart) because the worm drive fails.I have checked that the unit sits properly on the internal spacer against the wheel bearing but have no other ideas.Has anyone any experience that might set me right on why these are failing so easily?

Thanks, Ian Lisseter

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Ian

Make sure the cable is oiled and free to rotate without restriction, without tight bends or cable ties. If the cable is hard to turn it will put more load on the speedo drive.

But not to much oil/ grease at the speedo end or that will get into the speedo and knacker that.

My Commando ate speedo drives for a while to the extent that I considerd them a consumable item

I believe that they are all sealed units these days, but I have read somewhere that they have to be assembled correctly for the direction of drive, there is thrust washer actually in the drive assembly that needs to be in correct position. Apparently it is possible to assemble it in the wrong order and it will still work but not for long.

A good quality item will last far longer. I bought cheap a far East item and one of the two locating tags broke off right away. A genuine replacement seems to have done the trick. As said, go easy on oiling the cable, it will end up in the instrument if too much, first casualty will be oil on the light bulb if you are lucky.

If the oil/ grease gets up as far as the rotating magnet you get a speedo reading of well over a 100 mph while doing about 30

As far as that locating spacer is concerned there is a drive out there that does not need it. I noticed mine was missing years ago and went and bought one.........it would not fit in the hole! It turns out that it is not necessary with all drives. I found the original bill from the previous owner (1998). The drive came from RGM FWIW and has a small register machined inside that replicates the spacer. Works fine.