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Help! Loose Screw Making Planecrazy Plain Crazy!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Planecrazy
  • Start date Start date
P

Planecrazy

Guest
Hi All,

Here's one that's probably driven a few of you bonkers ... I know it's irritating the hell out of me...

I recently replaced a defective speedometer on my '83 1100G with one off an '82. Simple, straightforward, works fine...

BUT

One of the two small screws that holds the dial faceplate in place vibrated out and is bouncing and vibrating around as I ride. Has this happened to anyone else and is there an easy way to get the lens off and put the screw back?

If not, my plan is to drill a small access hole in the lens (over the screw hole) and then fish the screw out with a magnet and then screw it back in place. I'll then seal the hole with a dab of silicone and maybe use a small flat black disk to cover the intrusion and clean up the "look." If I do that, I'll put an identical disk over the center of the tachometer as well for the sake of consistency.

If anyone has a better idea I welcome it.

Thanks in advance,
Steve 8)
 
Both my dials on my KZ are like that right now as we speak. You just take them off the bike and take them apart and then put the screws back in with some light loc-tight. Problem solved. I just don't see it happening until winter though :)
 
...and how, pray tell, do you do that? When I put the new speedo on, I looked for an easy way to get it apart so I could investigate changing the odometer to reflect the mileage the old one showed ... I couldn't see any easy way to even get it out of the housing.

Your wisdom in this matter would be both enlightening and appreciated!

Steve 8)
 
Planecrazy said:
...and how, pray tell, do you do that? When I put the new speedo on, I looked for an easy way to get it apart so I could investigate changing the odometer to reflect the mileage the old one showed ... I couldn't see any easy way to even get it out of the housing.

Your wisdom in this matter would be both enlightening and appreciated!

Steve 8)
Click to expand...


hmmm, Steve, I hate to tell you buddy but I have never done it. I am mechanically inclined and am one of these people that say if it was put together it can come apart too. I would have to take it off and look at it and figure it out from there. It is also very possible that my KZ clocks are different than that of a GS. MY GS1000 dials come apart from the two screws in the back of each dial and you go from there. I am sure you'll be able to do it. Wish I could offer more help.
 
There's simply no way to take the GS gauges apart without some "destruction" occuring ... the 2 screws on the bottom will not allow the lense cover to come free or the housing to be removed from the bezel. I've seen folks try to pry the bezel off and fix what evers wrong - but I have yet to see one go back on that looked acceptable. Might be easier to find another one on Ebay. 8O 8)
 
shaftzuki said:
There's simply no way to take the GS gauges apart without some "destruction" occuring ... the 2 screws on the bottom will not allow the lense cover to come free or the housing to be removed from the bezel. I've seen folks try to pry the bezel off and fix what evers wrong - but I have yet to see one go back on that looked acceptable. Might be easier to find another one on Ebay. 8O 8)
Click to expand...

That was my conclusion too, when I first looked for an obvious way in, but I'm very confident I can do a clean job of drilling the lens and then covering the center so that it looks like it was always that way ... heck, even using epoxy to fill the hole, sanding it flush, and painting a black circle around the center ought to come out looking decent.

I appreciate the advice, nevertheless.

Steve 8)
 
i don't want to hear it, i have a dead spider living just below my odometer under the glass, i guess i will alway have a riding buddy.

-ryan
 
When I've successfully conquered this problem, we'll lay your spider to rest, Ryan!

Steve 8)
 
the only way I know is to cut the plastic housing Then glue it back together
 
Planecrazy said:
shaftzuki said:
There's simply no way to take the GS gauges apart without some "destruction" occuring ... the 2 screws on the bottom will not allow the lense cover to come free or the housing to be removed from the bezel. I've seen folks try to pry the bezel off and fix what evers wrong - but I have yet to see one go back on that looked acceptable. Might be easier to find another one on Ebay. 8O 8)
Click to expand...

That was my conclusion too, when I first looked for an obvious way in, but I'm very confident I can do a clean job of drilling the lens and then covering the center so that it looks like it was always that way ... heck, even using epoxy to fill the hole, sanding it flush, and painting a black circle around the center ought to come out looking decent.

I appreciate the advice, nevertheless.

Steve 8)
Click to expand...

I think that sounds like a winner Steve. You could always get some clear plastic plugs for the holes then so you could reopen if ever needed. The bad part to that is your going to need to be Houdini to be able to get the screw back in through that hole 8O

Let us know how that pans out.
 
Gee, sure is nice to have an E model, just a few screws and the housing splits in half and all is there for the tinkering. :P
 
Hoomgar said:
I think that sounds like a winner Steve. You could always get some clear plastic plugs for the holes then so you could reopen if ever needed. The bad part to that is your going to need to be Houdini to be able to get the screw back in through that hole 8O

Let us know how that pans out.
Click to expand...

I like the clear plug idea, Mark -- thanks! Actually getting the screw back in will be easy, because I intend to drill the access hole directly over the screw hole ... then use a magnet to grab the screw and get it out. Once out, I simply use a magnetic screwdriver to position the screw back in place and viola!

If your gauges are similar to mine, you'll see that the position of the hole won't affect viewing of the gauge, and will require only a moderately sized "circle" to cover the work...

Regards,
Steve 8)
 
Jon Kramilius said:
Gee, sure is nice to have an E model, just a few screws and the housing splits in half and all is there for the tinkering. :P
Click to expand...

yeah, but you still have to mess those darn chains ... 8)
 
shaftzuki said:
Jon Kramilius said:
Gee, sure is nice to have an E model, just a few screws and the housing splits in half and all is there for the tinkering. :P
Click to expand...

yeah, but you still have to mess those darn chains ... 8)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess
 
OK ... unhappy update:

I wisely decided to practice/experiment on the broken speedo sitting in the garage. Mounted it on a vise, lined up the drill bit, and started to drill -- high speed/low pressure. Things started slowly ... lot of smoke but not too much progress. That got me suspecting that something was different than expected. Continued drilling, and when it seemed I was close to going through my s u s p i c i o n s were borne out...

The lens is not poly ... it's GLASS! :x :x

Needless to say, I'm glad I cracked the junk lens and not the one on my bike! I'm going to have to rethink my approach. I think I'll still try to drill through, but this time using the proper kind of bit, better preparation on the lens, and lot's of patience...

I'm also going to temporarily solve my problem by sticking a magnet on the bottom of the lens so that the loose screw doesn't bounce around during the Galena trip. No chance I'm going to try drilling again before winter...

I guess I'm glad Suzuki used non-yellowing glass on our dials, but I have to admit I was surprised -- thought for sure it was plastic.

Regards,
Steve 8)
 
hey steve, try taking the metal band off the busted speedo. get tricky and try to take the busted speedo apart and put it back together, take notes see what works.

-ryan
 
I once saw a forum post from someone faced with a similar problem. His solution was to cut around the housing with a fine-tooth saw just under the chrome ring. After his repair, he epoxied it back together. He said it worked out well for him.

FWIW,
 
Planecrazy, Here's how you drill through glass..... You don't really drill through it. You abrade through it. Though you don't want to get crud into the guage cluster... this could be a problem. You need gravity to keep the grinding slurry near the cutting point, and you need gravity to keep the stuff from going INTO the guage.

Though if you can come up with a way of not acutally going all the way through the glass, or maybe we can bet on it not dumping all the cutting fluid through, here's how you do it.

Get a brass rod. nick the end. Make a little pond around wher eyour'e going to cut the hole, and fill it with polishing compound. You can thin it out. Put the guage under the drill press, be sure to set the dept guage so you don't go right through the back of the guage, and just through the lens.. barely. And then put a very very light weight on the lever that move the quill in the drill press. Start up the drill press on a low speed, and walk away. the weight will keep the tip of the "drill" working. The pond will keep it supplied with fresh cutting compound. And the glass will give way to abrasion.

In the end you get a very very very smooth cut. But it takes time.

Methinks it's time for a new guage cluster ;-)
 
udco said:
I once saw a forum post from someone faced with a similar problem. His solution was to cut around the housing with a fine-tooth saw just under the chrome ring. After his repair, he epoxied it back together. He said it worked out well for him.

FWIW,
Click to expand...
I've heard this is the way to do it too. It will work and you can't see where you worked on it either.
 
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