it's happened again !!

you'd think a cable that size would drive a little cup inside the tacho without any problem, but then I guess pulling the gauges off and doing a check wouldn't hurt, I checked the "spare parts" bike and that cable was also broken, age I guess, well I have a while before the new cable arrives, a job for next weekend ... wonder if I can claim it as a warranty job from Kawasaki

Hmmm question for someone smarter than me, heck that's everybody on the forum .... ok suppose I wanted to fit an electronic tacho, most car ones work with pulses from the coil, and as the bike is a six cylinder you'd need a car one I guess ??, but we have 3 coils so do you get a tacho to suit a 2 cylinder or some sort of adapter that takes into account the multiple coils like a coil pack in a car ???, ohh i'm getting a headache thinking, my old brain cells are trying to fire up and I think I need an aspirin and a nap

There should be no mystery to routing the tach cable. The one I have is #2 for 80,000K. Routing must be simple with the least amount of bends and twists. Compound bending will break it sooner. Straight up from the drive, one bend forward along the OUTSIDE of the frame to the inside of the right headlight bracket and then the final bend up to the tach. think of this as a large Flat "S" Do not use grease! A quality lite machine oil lubes well enough with little resistance. Grease will dry out and cause resistance. Oiling the tach (and Speedometer cable) should be at the very least an annual maintenance item. Oiling liberally several times a season is as easy as disconnecting the cable from the tach and oiling from this end by dripping the oil into the bell-end of the outer cover. Any resistance in the driven end of the tach will create premature breakage. There should be virtually no resistance when turning the Tach drive by hand using a small screwdriver to turn it. If there is resistance in turning the tach drive by hand, then the assembly needs a thorough cleaning and lubing.

I have a couple of auxiliary wire taped to my cable in case you're wondering about the odd shape.

www.kz1300.com/index.php/forum/welcome-mat/825-tacho-issue#5304

Yep routing same way as mine was, used a little bit of sewing machine oil when I first put it in, still snapped like a carrot just above the section into the head, oh well maybe it was a cheap and nasty one, got a NOS one coming so i'll do the same again and see how long it lasts this time. Wonder if it's because I steer a lot because of the sidecar ??, maybe it puts a bit of unusual strain on it hmmm , something to ponder over, cheers

P.S. gee your bike is nice and shiney, makes my old thing look positively ratty

Hi all,

besides the routing, which shouln't be a mistery, what front-fork do you have ?

I noticed the aftermarket seels some tach-drives which are simply too short. A lot of course depends on your front fork, according to what I know they are not all of the same length, I can not however compare.

regards

Holger

Hi Holger, everything is stock standard, i'll check on the length of the old drive with the new one when it arrives, it seemed to be long enough as there was plenty of an "S" bend when it was working, cheers