Alright, so I've seen people do some pretty great things to their bikes here, but this isn't one of them.... After all the things I've gotten from the site, I figured I'd at least post this, as it's the only thing I've done to my bike recently that I don't think I've seen covered. The black rubber rings between my speedo/tach and the gauge faceplate were pretty shot considering they're 18 years old, and one had been semi crushed from a crash by the PO. I didn't take any "before" pictures, but there wasn't much to see.
The first step is taking off the gauges and the bucket they hang out in. Unscrew the lock nut on the speedo and tachometer cables and pull those out. Make sure you remember which one goes to which, or you'll be trying to adjust your idle later wondering why it says your bike is idling at 14mph like me. After that there are 3 screws to remove the faceplate from the bucket, all three are on the back, one is in the center up top, two are on the sides down by the bottom. Then you loosen up the 4 nuts that hold the gauges to the bucket. Now the right gauge will come most of the way out, but you till need to remove the light bulb from the back before it'll come all the way out. Same step with the left side but because of the trip odometer knob, you're not going to be able to get this gauge all the way out of the faceplate, although at this point you can just pull the gauge and faceplate off as well. This is pretty much where my pictures started.....
I chose to replace the rubber rings with some rubber insulation stripping I had from the winter that I never used. I happened to have brown. I know I've seen it in white, and I'm sure you can find it in black if you look. I bought mine at Home Depot, or Ace Hardware, I can't remember. It's just rubber, and looks like a lower case "b", or a "p".
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2649/3722576822_77d2fc9d7a.jpg)
I planned on using rubber cement, but it's not as easy to find as when I was 8, so I just got some other rubberish type of glue. I spread some around the gauge, and some on the flat side of the rubber strip and let it sit for 10 minutes....
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2471/3721764869_007c6cda9a.jpg)
Then I wrapped the strip around, with the ends on the bottom where I wouldn't be as likely to see them, and wrapped a zip tie around it to hold it tight, and keep the ends together. I would have liked to have some kind of rubber plug that would stick in the ends to hold them together better, but once the glue dried they were fine. I did the same thing to the other side, but I put the ends right at the odometer knob, and cut a little 45 degree angle off of each end to get around the knob. I let them sit at least over night. I wasn't in a rush so I think mine say for a day or two like this....
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/3721765411_ac58ec9331.jpg)
Once I pulled off the zip tie it just looked like this....
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2637/3721764643_c659fe84b7.jpg)
Finally I plugged the lights back in, bolted and screwed everything back in, and this is what it looks like....
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3722576658_9359c7df19.jpg)
Like I said, I'm sure you can find black somewhere, but the brown doesn't bother me. You could also use some thin black fuel like or something like that, but I liked having the extra little lip that sits inside the faceplate.
So I know it's not much, but if your rubber rings are looking worn out that'll give you an idea.
wow, now that is one clean/professional/impressive repair. Nice. :thumb:
Awesome! mine are shot and they have been bugging me for a while.
I think I will look for something similar but black and give it a try.
yea very niced indeed. :cheers:
Borat says: Em Very Niiiiiice!!
I wouldn't even have noticed the brown until you mentioned it. Good job!
Nice! :cheers:
Pretty cool idea. I replaced mine last year. There not that expensive. I think I walked into Barnett's(dealership) and walked out for 8 bucks.
Bloody brilliant, mate! :cheers:
Yeah, clean set up. I just got OEM for $7 yeah I'm lazy :whisper:
Mary :woohoo:
Haha, I would've replaced mine with oem if I knew people were finding them so cheap, well it would help if there was a dealership I could make it to inside the city also.
Quote from: Toogoofy317 on February 21, 2010, 10:42:34 AM
Yeah, clean set up. I just got OEM for $7 yeah I'm lazy :whisper:
Mary :woohoo:
Brilliant, haha