1999 monster 750. Tach needle bounces around a lot in certain gears. Why?

[drewbabich]

1999 monster 750.  Tach needle bounces around a lot in certain gears, like in the lower gears especially. I mean its bouncing a couple thousand rpm up and down.  Its so bad I'm not really sure what rpm I'm truely at.  Why?  Then sometimes in the higher gears the tach calms down and works as it should.

Is there a fix for this thats worth doing?

[zooom]

which Tach do you have? I don't recall a 99 750 coming with a dual round analog guages....

[Slide Panda]

Does the engine run badly?
Does it really bother you enough to open your wallet?

If either are 'no' then don't worry. The needle on my 900 bounces a fair bit from vibrations and such too. But since I don't stare at it while riding, it doesn't really matter.

You could check the connection for it and ensure it's clean and firm - and that can be done for no cost. But really the needle will bounce some when the bike is moving.. it's just so

[MongoReturns]

Mine did that a couple years ago.  Take gauge cluster apart, tighten little brass screws on back of tach housing, put tach back together.  Assuming it's a dp tach, have fun with the vibration-dampening screws that hold the gauge cluster together.  A couple of mine came apart before the housing did.

[drewbabich]

'Mine did that a couple years ago.  Take gauge cluster apart, tighten little brass screws on back of tach housing, put tach back together.  Assuming it's a dp tach, have fun with the vibration-dampening screws that hold the gauge cluster together.  A couple of mine came apart before the housing did.'

Thanks thats good advice. 

What exactly is a DP tach? Mine is an oem Ducati tach I think.  It has white face gauges and a carbon surround plate, both of which are super ugly.  Combine it with the fact that the needle bounces around like crazy and it just kind of takes away from the riding experience.

So do I have to take the gauges off the bike then disassemble them or can remove the back of them while they are still connected. 

If I fix this I'll be so stoked.

Thanks,
Drew 

[MongoReturns]

Dp tach is a Ducati Performance tach - I've got a pic of mine in one of the below threads.  I don't think the '99's came with a tach, just idiot lights.

Yeah, you have to take the cluster off to get at the tach - it's not hard.  Undo the two bolts holding the thing to the triple, and disconnect the harness in the back.  Assuming your is like mine.

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=39411.0

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=40658.0

[zooom]

What exactly is a DP tach? Mine is an oem Ducati tach I think.  It has white face gauges and a carbon surround plate,

PICS would greatly clarify which cluster you have for how to advise...

[drewbabich]

Good idea guys.  Thanks for the info mongo.  My gauges are different then yours.  Yours look sweet.  Mine are the white face ugly rectangle with two equal size circles for speedo and tach with the led indicators in the  middle.

Here is a bad pic of bike with the same gauges.  I will keep looking for a better one.  I will try and get a video of the problem in action, but it'll be tough to do. 

Can't figure out how ti attach a picture.  Here is the link

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cyclechaos.com/images/thumb/b/bc/1999-Ducati-Monster-750-Black-5255-3.jpg/640px-1999-Ducati-Monster-750-Black-5255-3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cyclechaos.com/images/thumb/b/bc/1999-Ducati-Monster-750-Black-5255-3.jpg/&usg=__tYBggNmqmUePdw6ByNhpYHnegDY=&h=454&w=640&sz=75&hl=en&start=68&sig2=hSiQknhhCd2sIYjyd2gdAA&zoom=1&tbnid=OUe-tvX24G-TaM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=137&ei=Vw6fTvqhNeXdiAKI5OVK&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmonster%2B750%2B1999%26start%3D63%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1260%26bih%3D838%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

[drewbabich]

Better picture of these type of gauges.  Two white circles with indicators in the middle.  Everything is surrounded by carbon fiber.   Looks kind of dated, clumsy and too big, just imo.

http://pinwallcycle.com/ebay/bike2697/9002.jpg

[MongoReturns]

I think they look cool, but I'm also a huge fan of the big round headlight.  Your tach is prob the same manufacturer as the dp tach, just doesn't have the fancy "Ducati Performance" around it.  As I recall they were like $700 back in the day.

Take it apart!  Oh forgot to mention you need to disconnect the speedo cable from it too, but no biggie there.

[drewbabich]

I took the backing plate off the back of the gauges.  It had 5 or six little nuts on it.  They seemed tight.  When I removed the backing plate i saw the wires that go into the tach.  It had a little white plastic clip that goes into it.  It was slightly angled from the pull of the wires.  I tried to pinch the tab, but it was not coming out of the tach.  It seemed firm.  I didn't want to mucle it to much and break anything plus the angle was diffcult because the top the gauges were still mounted to the bike and the speedo and warning lights were still hooked up.

I'm going to live with it for now.  I'll also check the main ground off the battery.  I've read that that can also lead to bouncing tach needles.  I don't really understand this one though as I figure if the ground was poor I'd have flickering headlights or other electrical problems.