Tach trouble

[officerbill]

Last weekend on the way to work I noticed my tach not reading any RPM. Got to work and check the cable it was loose at the engine. I noticed the end of the cable sticking out of the cable housing. I work at a hospital on the weekends and it just wasn't the time or place to do much to fix this. I thought I got it sort of back into the right place. I rode it home that evening. The next day I went to reconnect the cable but the cord inside the housing was missing. I also noticed the tach drive shaft end was loose and it pulled out of its case. I don't know how long this has been broken. Would it still work if the shaft wasn't in one piece? And how easy would it be for the cable inside the housing to "fall out".
Thanks,
Bill

[DanTheMan]

Hey OB, it's real easy for it to fall out of the bottom. Buy a new cable and housing (they come as a unit) from your local "stealership" (around $15-20), and use blue loctite on the threads next time. I lost several cables in the manner you describe. I also had the little slotted end come loose on the cable way too often and fray the cable, so I finally made my own cable, drilled out a piece of copper rod, put a slot in the end and epoxied it to the cable. haven't had a problem since and I've put a couple of years and about 25k mi on the cable.