[ba] Re: Wanted: speedo shop recommendation in the Bay Area

[Dave Haupt]

Michael Heth wrote

>> The worm gear that drives the odo digits is
plastic,
>> and over a number of heating/cooling cycles
(seasons),
>> cracks, and the shaft spins inside it.  This is
purely
>> an issue of number of seasons, and getting another
>> instrument cluster from a yard guarantees to have
one
>> at the same age.


>And you wouldn't superglue it to the shaft because. .
. ??

BTDT.  Have achieved functionality for 2-6 months with
that approach - tried in 3 cases.  I'm not inclined to
go through the agony of tearing apart the dashboard,
only to have to repeat the process in less than two
years.

>On British bikes we do this sort of thing all the
>time. The shaft/gear
>scenario was probably the only way to get gears on
>the shaft c(heaply),
>now
>that they're located where they should be, the
>solution is to make 'em
>a
>permanent joint.

I dunno.  I've had a whole bunch of cars for over 300k
miles, and this problem surfaces only on the European
cars.  I think the last time I peered into the dash of
an Asian car, I noted the worm gear was brass.
Probably the installation method was to heat the gear,
and place onto the cold shaft, then let thermal
contraction create the required friction fit.
Something tells me that it's a whole lot easier to get
to these assemblies on a bike.  I'm a major advocate
of not having to fix anything, but since that's an
impossibility for the price class of vehicle that fits
my budget, I at least try to go for "only ever have to
fix it once".

>12 years ago I was told the same exact thing (it'll
>only break again etc.)
>and was told not to bother fixing it. Last year,
>after mucking around under
>the dash I noticed I had gained a very small
>increment in my 19 year old
>57,000+ odometer reading. Further investigation found
>that it wasn't my little gear at all but a busted
>top half of the speedo cable. So I did
>without a speedo for 12 years because my top rated
>shop was too lazy to ferret out the real problem.

You need a new shop ;)  If the speedo isn't working,
then it's not the gear.  The gear is internal to the
odo, and has nothing to do with the speedo.  So, when
the gear fails, you still have a functioning speedo,
but you no longer count miles.  My speedo works just
fine, but the car no longer ages, it just breaks while
sitting still ;)

I followed up on the earlier posting recommending Palo
Alto Speedo.  $165.  I also found the reference to the
shop I once used in Denver and called them.  Their
prices have doubled, and they're now $100.  Both shops
are a trip to UPS for me, so I'll send it to Colorado.

Thanks, all!

Dave
Santa Rosa

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