TOPIC:

Hi,

The lightbulbs on my speedo/tach are burnt out, which makes night time driving speeds anyone's guess.

I've been able to access the back of the lightbulb socket/boot but there is a problem. The rubber light bulb boots are extremely tight fitting into the backs of the gauges and their rubber is cracking and appears very delicate. I've tried loosening them by gently turning them back and forth, but with no success (too tight). I am afraid the rubber boots will crack, no longer fit into the receptacle, and become useless. How do I get these boots out to replace the bulbs without breaking the rubber?


Santa Fe, NM
1979 KZ1000ST
12,000 original miles

Post edited by: onanysunday, at: 2007/10/01 15:20

I have a 79 shaft as well and all my bulbs were burnt when I got it. I ended up disassembling the speedometer; that is taking the two halves apart and cleaning the glass on the inside and touching up the speedometer needle with paint. I changed the bulbs from the inside as I could not figure out how to remove the bulb holders... by the way, I guess I tried to remove them for awhile before I gave up and went in all the way. I did a write up awhile back that is floating somewhere in the archives... it is on "gauge refurbishing"... it shows how to separate the gauges. It wasn't intended to calibrate of fix the darn things as I always end up breaking them; just to clean them up and make them look better. You could probably do a search and find this tech article somewhere.

Thanks wiredgeorge. I will search out your previous write-up on the procedure. I'm glad you are here to help others!

Post edited by: onanysunday, at: 2007/10/01 17:34

I've replaced my bulbs from the back side, and yes, the rubber grommets were hard as rocks. I think they came out in two or three pieces. but it's the only we to get the bulbs from the back.
I changed the bulbs, wrapped electrical tape around the wire where the grommets used to be, and pushed the bulbs back thru the hole. Not very elegant, but after digging out those brittle grommets, I was ready for an easy fix.

Thanks LTD!

I experienced the same problem a couple years ago; the rubber grommets in the tach broke into pieces. I used black silicone to form new grommets on the harness until I could find a NOS harness (actually called a "socket,meter") on eBay. Before installing the new harness (which I bought for an unbelievably low $12) I used Krytox on the grommets, so I am hopeful that the problem will not happen again any time soon. Have you tried finding a new harness? Ed

Thanks Ed. I have not found a new harness..I am going to disassemble both gauges, clean the inside glass of the gauges while I repaint the speedo/tach needles with flourescent orange glow-in-the-dark paint. While everything is disassembled, I should be able to get at the front of the bulbs, that way I won't have to break the rubber grommets from behind.

Thanks for all your help. Keep up the good work!