My speedometer has always read high - about 10 or 11%. In real terms that means if your speedometer says you are going 50 MPH, you are really only going 45 MPH. I think that's pretty significant especially if you are in a 55 MPH zone and think you are going 55 but you are really only going 50 and other drivers are going to get pissed off and tail gate you or worse just run you right off the road. Heck, that happens to other car drivers so you know us motorcyclists get even less respect from other drivers so it can really be a danger to your person. But besides that, the inaccurate high reading is just a plain nuisance IMO.

I called the dealer up many months ago and they told me it is what it is and there's no way to adjust it. Well, they are wrong.

Basically, all you have to do is take the instrument cluster apart, remove the speedometer, and move the needle on its pivot to pre-tension the spring just a little bit more. Put it back together and see how close you are. I admit that there's a bit of trial and error to this. It took me two tries but I think I've got my stock speedo ready very accurately now.

Here's the photo description:

Remove the plastic faceplate:



Remove the two screws holding the instrument cluster on the front support, one screw on either side, just in front of where the turn signals are:



Disconnect the speedometer cable:



Diconnect the electrical connection:



That should free the instrument cluster so, if it's cold in your garage like it is in mine, you can move into your warmer workbench in your house:



Next, there is a tiny philips screw holding the trip odometer **** in place, remove that, and that **** then pulls straight off:







Remove the three nuts holding on the shock isolation mount:



Next remove the three screws, left, right, and center which hold the black cover onto the instrument housing:





Carefully remove the two screws shown which hold the speedometer in the housing. The speedometer will fall free when they are removed so support it carefully - you don't want to bugger up the needle or numbers on the opposite side.



With the speedometer now free, note that the needle rests on a small post at the zero MPH position:



Flex the end of the need over that post and note its resting position, it should be close to the needle but there is probably some seperation:



Now for the adjustment. Note the silver bulb on the back of the meter. When you move the bulb moves, the needle rotates.



You need to hold the bulb still and at the same time carefully rotate the counter-clockwise. Hold the base of the needle while you do this. It is just plastic that is pressed onto a metal pin, but it is pretty tight. Just don't damage your needle. Rotate it so that the tip of the needle is farther down the MPH scale. Here's where I put mine on my 2nd try:



On the first try I went too far and my speedo now read about 10% under the actual MPH. So this time I tried to split the difference between the original position and my first trial attempt so hopefully this time it will be right on.

Next, just flex the tip of the needle so it now sits on the correct side of that "Zero" post:



And as the Kawasaki Service Manual is so fond of saying, "Assembly is the reverse of removal.".

Enjoy!




P.S. - there is one other way that I think will work, but I think this way is a lot more risky. Look at the photo below:



Note the small coiled spring. This spring provides the resistance that controls the needle position vs tire speed. See how the end of the spring is clamped in place by that folded over metal thing? If you used needle nose pliers and CAREFULLY pulled that spring upward, that would also pretension the spring and have a similar effect on the needle position. But directly moving the needle itself is simpler and achieves the same result. I only mention this second method for completeness. I think it would be a lot easier to mess up your speedo using this 2nd method, but I think if one were care it could work as well.

 

Brian,

This is an excellent idea and writeup, as usual. I will be doing this very soon.

Thanks,
Chris

 

Thanks man. I can probably use this to see if I can get my speedometer to even work right. After the accident it was definitely way off. If I mantained a normal speed it would constantly fluctuate by 10 miles an hou [:'(]. The Black part with the clear plastic that covers the speedometer is shattered. What do you think might have happened to the speedo? What do you think the impact might have damaged if the speedo still kinda works but is not consistant?
Thanks for the right p.

 

Hmmm, not sure without seeing it. If you can take it apart and take some photos maybe we can spot the problem. Because the speedometer is so simple, my guess is that it can only be two or maybe three things. The "bulb" is my photos is a steel cup and on the inside of that is a magnet that rotates on the end of the speedometer cable. The rotating magnet wants to rotate the bulb - they are "magnetically coupled". But that small coiled spring resists the rotation which keeps the bulb from spinning freely. And the the other side, the needle is connected to the bulb by a metal post / pin.

So the problem is either the cable itself, the magnet / bulb interface - bent perhaps and it's not spinning freely, or maybe the spring is binding or something. Maybe even since your instrument cover shattered it could be that a little rock or dirt got in there and is fouling up the mechanism.

I'd say take it apart and take a peek. It might be something simple like dirt and you might be able to clean it out. The odometer portion is just gear driven so there's not much that can go wrong with that either other than dirt or taking a hard hit and something getting misaligned. But the meter itself seems to be very solidly built so I'm doubting anything got bent unless it hit just right on a pointy rock or something.

 

I think it did hit the right point of the rock, lol. Thanks for your in depth detailed explanation, I know nothing about speedometers and how they work, great stuff.

 

Again, another nice write up Nobrakes.

 

Nice job as usual Brian, I'll stick with my Vapor[8D]

 

Very useful write up Nobrakes, thanks for sharing.[sm=smiley20.gif]

 

Another great tech write-up [sm=happy046.gif]

 

mine is off by 7 mph [&:] thanks for the write up