1997 RoadKing Speedo Quit

[toodawgs]

Was ridin' my '97 RK the other day and all of a sudden the speedo quit registering mph. The odometer and trip numbers show up but do not change miles. I was told to pull the speedo sensor out and clean off all the little shavings, did that, didn't help a bit. Anything else to check besides changing out the sensor or God Forbid, changing out the speedo itself? My dealer tells me the speedos for '97 models are getting pretty rare, but he does have one (1) in stock for $250 bucks. The sensor runs $55 bucks. I already bought the sensor, haven't attempted the instal yet, but maybe I should go ahead and buy the speedo also, just to have in case they become oboslete. Any suggestions out there.
Any help will be much appreciated.

peace,
toodawgs

 

[JBC2565]

Welcome to the forum.
Looks like some great info on this link.

Harley Davidson Community

Also in self-help section (under electrical) it has 2 different posts of shops that work on speedos. Might be cheaper to fix than buy new.

 

[karlsbike]

Welcome to the forum
I wouldn't be too worried about the speedo becoming obsolete as newer speedos will also fit - up to pre-2004 (when they started using serial data). The only diffeence is in the wiring, and if you at some point need to get a new speedo, you could either get a wiring conversion kit or just buy the right Deutsch 12-pin connector and rewire it yourself. I just installed a 2003 electronic speedo in place of my original cable driven one. The rewiring was a bit more involved than it would be on yours where it would be easy...

As to your problem if your speed is registering (i.e. the needle moving) but the mileage is not (i.e the trip-, and odometer) it sounds like the speedo itself is faulty; the pick-up only produce a sinle pulse, which is translated by the speedo into speed and distance...

 

[toodawgs]

Welcome to the forum
I wouldn't be too worried about the speedo becoming obsolete as newer speedos will also fit - up to pre-2004 (when they started using serial data). The only diffeence is in the wiring, and if you at some point need to get a new speedo, you could either get a wiring conversion kit or just buy the right Deutsch 12-pin connector and rewire it yourself. I just installed a 2003 electronic speedo in place of my original cable driven one. The rewiring was a bit more involved than it would be on yours where it would be easy...

As to your problem if your speed is registering (i.e. the needle moving) but the mileage is not (i.e the trip-, and odometer) it sounds like the speedo itself is faulty; the pick-up only produce a sinle pulse, which is translated by the speedo into speed and distance...

The speedo is NOT registering movement at all, neither are the odometer or the trip.

 

[Hoople]

I already bought the sensor, haven't attempted the instal yet,

You can easily check the speedo transducer with a voltmeter, but since you already purchased a new one you may as well replace it and see if the speedo comes back to life.