Speedo drive won't hook accept speedo cable

[ejdirin]

I'm working on a chopper project. I believe my front end is actually from a 79 XS750. The rest of the bike (including the speedo cable) is pure XS650. I'm having an issue hooking the speedo cable to the speedo drive. The connector on the drive that came with the front end isn't threaded. Its just a brass tube. I bought a used drive that has the threaded connector that'll hook up to my speedo cable. The only problem is that the one with the threaded connecter comes off of the drive at such an angle that its hit my fork boot, so it won't seat properly.

I'm wondering if anybody has any experience with these drives. Is there an alternative speedo cable i can buy? The other issue is that the front end is extended and I'm using two 10" speedo cable extensions from mikesxs, so I'd have to find a way to extend the cable. Or is there a way I can hook up a 650 speedo cable to that drive.

I've included some pictures. The drive on the left is the one that fits the front end, but won't accept the speedo cable. The drive on the right will accept the cable, but that obtuse angle hits the fork boot.

Its always these minor details that hold up progress!

 

[jayel]

can you pull these screws and switch the worm gears?

 

[ejdirin]

Thats a really good thought. I just took a look and there does appear to be some sort of very very small pin or screw there. My smallest hex key (1.27mm) wouldn't even fit in there and I'm not positive it even is a hex. But, if anybody knows what that is and how to remove it, it looks like it might be possible to swap the connectors out....

 

[jayel]

they may be just pressed in

 

[ejdirin]

Yeah. It looks like they're roll pins. And they're so small, the only thing I'd be able to do is drill them out. I can try that on the drive with the threaded end because it won't fit on the bike anyways, so I have nothing to lose but the $10 I spent on eBay.

 

[ejdirin]

Ok. I think I have it figured out. The way I did it was probably ill-advised, but I basically took my grinder to the drive with the threaded end. Once I got that threaded bit off, I drilled the inside so it'd be tight enough to press onto the other sleeve....I think I used an 11/32" bit. Then I used my vice to press them together. Its on there nice and snug. Should be ok for the purposes of a speedo cable....

Here's a picture of the final product....

 

[ejdirin]

Now I'll just wait for the person to come along with the easy answer that would have spared me all that.....

 

[ejdirin]

So I thought I had it all figured out, but I must have bent something when I was pressing the end on because now the worm gear is very tight. Normally you can move it with your fingers, now I need a pair of needle nose....

So I'm back to the drawing board. Any new suggestions? I basically need a threaded end to accept the speedo cable, but one that doesn't angle out and interfere with my fork boots.

 

[ejdirin]

So I finally figured it out. Apparently the XS750 speedo cables wouldn't thread into the drive, rather they had a bracket on the end of the cable that would bolt to the drive and hold the cable in place. I picked another drive with the cable up on eBay pretty cheap. So all in all, I ended up destroying 2 drives, but at least it was a somewhat inexpensive lesson.