Rebuilding my early H1 gauges...

[ballvo]

...and ran into a problem with getting the speedo apart. On early H1 speedos the trip reset knob comes out the side of the gauge.



Once the internals are loose the puzzle becomes how to remove them from the case when there is the reset shaft out the side and the threaded speedo cable attachment out the bottom and very little wiggle room.

The detente for the tripmeter shaft can be removed from the outside using a Philips screwdriver through the hole for the reset knob, but this doesn't gain me much other than a clearer view inside.



I had already disassembled a speedo that I thought had a broken reset knob shaft but when I got it apart I found instead a short threaded shaft (LH thread).



Obviously, the shaft that the knob fits onto is an extension that is threaded on to the shorter reverse-threaded shaft. It's also obvious that the threaded end of the shaft goes into a sleeve/bushing roughly the same diameter as the longer shaft.





So there's nothing I can find to grab onto to hold the threaded shaft to remove the extension. Removing this extension looks to be the only way to get the innards out of the housing.

Hopefully someone who has dealt with early H1 gauges can offer some advice here.

I'm wanting to get this apart so I can get the housings powder coated and reset the odometer. Also have some very nice custom gauge faces from Repro Decals to finish them off.

[zambia]

Neil...just thinking out loud here, but could you "jam" the gears on the left side with a wad of paper?

[tripletriplenut]

does the white plastic detent move towards the spring? if it does then you should be able to move it and hold the shaft with a set of needle nose pliers while you turn the outer shaft.

[ballvo]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Had to wait till I got home today to see if either suggestion might work. Unfortunately, neither did.

The gears on the other end are drive gears I guess as they don't rotate with turning the reset shaft.

I am able to get the tip of the fine needlenose pliers, seen in the first pic, between the white nylon ring and the spring but but can't hold it tight enough to prevent turning when the outer shaft is turned.

I can't be the first guy to yank one of these early gauges apart...I was hoping someone who's done one of these would have a secret method they'd be willing to reveal. May try and take it to the KTW board and see if anyone there has any ideas.

Neil

[North]

Sorry Neil as I won't be using mine I haven't even looked it yet

[ballvo]

Sorry, guys. The answer was where I should have looked in the first place I guess - Dale's resource site, of course.

Last time I looked at meter rebuilding there it was pretty sparse if I recall. Basically, how to remove the chrome ring. The disassembly instructions are quite a bit more involved now. And it points out "Early H1/A/C trip reset shaft stems are a more difficult item to deal with. The shaft must be loosened at screws indicated with needlenose pliers for assembly removal." With the following photo:



In fact, the four screws that hold the tripmeter bracket to the main speedo assy must be fully removed and the innards come out in two pieces.



Once I had the housings empty it was short work to get them stripped and ready for powder coating.







So, thanks again for the suggestions and I'll post here again when I have the finished product to show off.

Cheers,
Neil

[zambia]

Neil, those are great pictures, thanks for posting. What will you do about the chrome ring, since there's no rubber visor to hide the carnage?

[ballvo]

Thanks, Ian. I've got a pair of the rubber rings that will be going on.

[North]

Ready for pickup

[Deleted]

I see you have some already Balvo, for anyone else tho, a pair of rubbers from a Kawi Bighorn 350 will fit early H1 meters. Lots of nice work
and talent from the West, thanks for sharing !!

[ballvo]

Alright North! You da man...

Likely give you a call and maybe drop over this weekend, if that's OK.

Cheers,
Neil

[North]

Absolutely... just give me a call later

[ballvo]

Next installment on the gauges - Ari knocked of the powder coating of my housings so quick I thought I'd better keep the momentum going...

Not having installed a decal since my model building days as a kid and after reading ReproDecals disclaimer that this is a job best left to a pro, I figured "How hard could it be?"

I started with these (which I kinda regretted losing because they were in still pretty nice shape):



Tried a spot with my favorite paint remover and then went for it on both faces:





After a clean up and light sanding:



I then primed and painted with several light coats of white, with light sanding between coats and was finally ready to go:



The end result - a few little blemishes that I'm aware of but I think they turned out pretty nice for an amateur:



Kudos to Ari on this for talking me through the whole thing a couple of times before I started. Much appreciated, dude.

Now, reset the odometer to zero and reassemble.

[North]

They look brilliant Neil! ;D ;D ;D

No one will see shit while you're blowing by them at 80 mile an hour

Glad I could help... awesome job again

[ballvo]

Final installment on the gauges...

I finally got these finished but it took a fair bit of dicking around. Getting the tripmeter secured back onto the odometer frame with 4 screws while both pieces are inside the housing was a bit of a trick. Detailed photos for resetting the odometer to zero (or the number of your choice...) Also, came up with a procedure where the chrome ring goes back on pretty cleanly. I documented the whole process with photos so may write something up and see if Dale wants to put it on his resource page.

Anyhow, here's the finished product, with the newly painted needles compared to the stockers:



And here they are back on my bike:



This project has been such a long drawn out process and I never started a build thread way back when I began. I have/had good intentions of doing one but now the task seems huge. In any case, Ari has prompted me to put up some photos of my bike (even though I still don't have the tins back yet), so here's a few I shot last night:







This thing will be on the street come spring...

Cheers,
Neil