Tach repair? Ive got a screw loose..

[otter1]

Found a post from 2008 in search saying that the older speedo and tach come apart but that the new ones are "sealed" but there was not  much details or pics re: year models.

I looked and dont think this one comes apart but figured I would inquire -- I have a screw loose rattling around inside my tach that I would like to fix.

Thx for the info!

[Bill in OKC]

That looks similar to an old Porsche Speedometer that I repaired.  It is not pretty but you can *carefully* pry the aluminum bezel around the back edge it is a fairly soft metal -slowly working around it with a small flat blade screwdriver you can spread it out enough to get the ring off and then it all comes apart.  It is possible to reuse the ring if you are careful and from the front it will look OK.  From the side or back you will be able to see where it has been tweaked.  There are Porsche instrument repair shops that have new rings that they crimp on and it looks perfect.  I don't have a clue if a Porsche ring would fit on a Ducati instrument though.

[otter1]

Thx for the suggestion Bill in OK.

The pic is not that good but there is a plastic black "ring" that seals the front to the white plastic body. There is no aluminum ring on the leading edge in this area.

Prying the black plastic ring off the white body would crack both. I think the body could be cut in half to open it and then resealed using a good glue.

Guess I will leave it (adds to the character of the bike just like the tank dent) 

[zarn02]

Prying the black plastic ring off the white body would crack both. I think the body could be cut in half to open it and then resealed using a good glue.

I've heard of people using a Dremel to cut the gauge open, and then carefully gluing it back together.

[bond0087]

I've messed around with taking apart a speedometer with the same construction. It came with a gauge cluster that I bought, and since I wasn't planning on using it, I figured what the hell, let's see what goes on in there.

I can confirm that just prying the plastic around the edge will crack the black plastic ring.  It didn't crack the white plastic housing, though.

I discovered (too late), that the actual way to do it if you want to try to take the black ring off is to use a heat gun.  If you use a heat gun, you can pry the black plastic ring up without cracking it.  Then, when heat is applied again, it pretty much goes back into shape around the lip of the white housing (for re-assembly).  By the time I tried this, I had hopelessly screwed up the bezel with prying on it at room temperature, though, so I can offer no guarantee (or even evidence to support the idea) that you won't screw up the bezel if you try a heat gun and prying.  If I were you, I'd probably not go this route, but I just thought I'd throw the idea out there.

However, some others have done this with the dremel route, and it seemed to worked nicely.  One person who did it posted a nice write-up that I read a while back.  You may or may not have already seen this, but here's a link: http://www.ducatigirl.com/inventory/tach.html

[otter1]

I like the link, even tougher with it not unplugged and moved over to a work bench!

Will do it soon - and report back.

Thx!!

[pitbull]

I had the exact same thing happen a few years back.

Instead of cutting of the face with a dremel and gluing back on, I:


drilled a tiny hole through the clear plastic glass, right over top of the screw hole.  I then used a small, magnetic screw drive to get a hold of the screw and screw back in, which was really easy. Lastly I used a single hole, paper punch to cut a tiny circle out of a scrap piece of clear plastic. ( from some sort of packaging) I then carefully crazy glued it over the hole.

It has remained water tight for several years and is barely noticeable.

[Speeddog]

Awesome! 

[hiero]

It will come apart, it just takes a lot of patience:





You can see the small tabs where the bezel actually is bonded to to the housing in the pics.

[otter1]

My bike is at the mechanics getting some electrical issues diagnosed so I have not fixed the tach yet.

Hiero - Did you use a heat gun to get the bevel off? Please describe your experience. Thx!

[hiero]

yes to the heat gun, just gentle heating and prying at the same time.  Very slow going, but eventually everything came apart without breaking the bezel.  The crack in my bezel (and subsequent crack in plexi) was from a crash several years ago

[otter1]

Finally decided to fix it. Tried the heat gun - plastic started to warp so I just went ahead and cut it in half and reglued it. Overall it was an easy job. Now both screws are lock tighted with blue  (red would have been better I am sure but I did not have any).

[Speeddog]

Thanks for the pics!

Nice hacksaw, well equipped with a Lenox blade.