Shorten Stewart Warner Speedo Cable ?

[zephyrblau]

** originally posted on the 'General' page. the only response was to involve my local speedo repair shop... and I will give that a shot... but thought I'd have a second try at input here**

OK... so I think a fork mounted speedo might be cool. I have the head & see that repop brackets are availble, but not short cables. is it possible to trim a standard length cable and if so how would one go about doing this ? is there someone here who provides this service ? inquiring minds want to know.
TIA

 

[bairdco]

I've had broken cables I've tried to cut shorter. Never worked.

First I tried soldering the cut end, but I couldn't make the solder stick. And I'm pretty good at soldering. Thought I had it, then when I tried to grind it square, it flew off.

Tried welding the end with my mig, but it wouldn't flow and just burnt up the end. There's too much grease embedded in the cable. After heating and cleaning the end, the mig would just melt the end shorter and shorter.

Again, thought I had it, grinded it square, then it just snapped off. Too much heat made it brittle.

Not much help, I know, but figured I'd let you know the methods that didn't work for me.

I do have an awesome analog VDO fork mounted speedo on my motorized bike. Has a 1' cable. So they are out there.

 

[zephyrblau]

first off thanks for chiming in. your input is actually quite helpful.
I probably shouldn't be asking questions as I don't have a cable handy, but let me see if I've got this part right;
you were attempting to address the end that inserts into the speedo ? (ie; not the drive / lower end)
thanks again
jerry

 

[bairdco]

Both ends of the drive cable are squared off about a half inch to fit in the drive gear on the wheel and into the speedo.

Mine had broken off at the drive gear, and began unraveling. The inner cable is like a really tightly wound spring, so I was attemping to weld the end, then grind it square to fit back in the drive.

My plan was to get the inner cable to work, then cut a section in the middle out of the outer cable housing, so I wouldn't have to mess with the crimped ends that hold the threaded couplers.

 

[Gordon]

Years ago I shortened a speedometer cable for my Datsun truck. I just put the cable end in a vice and squeezed it until it was slightly flattened and then turned it 90 degrees and squeezed it again. The result was a squared end that fit and worked just fine for years.

 

[bairdco]

I tried that with a bike speedo. The wire is too thin and just squished it into a mess.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

If it's just the cable that needs to be shorter, get a "Universal speedometer cable", cut it to length and crimp on the square end supplied with the cable. Super simple and I have done it probably a dozen times. Shortening the housing is simple if one end just fits into a cup, a little more involved if both ends are crimped on.

 

[John]

I had a couple shortened by Mark (markivpedalpusher) and they looked factory made.

 

[zephyrblau]

I've wondered if the squared off ends were simply "mashed" @ the manufacturer. it's been so long since I worked on one of these I couldn't remember if they were square on the bottom as well.
Andrew;
was not aware. it does sound simple enough. I think I can handle the outer casing, but if not...
John;
once upon a time someone made up a battery wire cable for me. it may have been Mark. looked perfect!
again, thanks all!