Removing dial needles

Nero · Post by **Nero** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:15 pm

Anybody done this? I'm replacing the dials, all exposed but it seems that there is no easy way of levering these off without them feeling as if they're going to snap.

Nero

chrisp · Post by **chrisp** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:42 pm

i did this once on a subaru impreza, with a hair dryer and a couple of tea-spoons!
cant vouch for the effectiveness on bmw dials tho!

madman · Post by **madman** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 5:56 pm

Just change the dials on both our S's for white ones in Kmh. The needles just pull off both the speedo and the tacho. They were rather tight and I use two screwdrivers, one under each side of the needle centre boss jsut to get them going. Both needles on both bikes pushed back on.
Remember though that you will never get them back on in the same position! I ended up using the GPS to calibrate them afterwards, this involved removal and refitting a number of times to get them accurate.

sandbar · Post by **sandbar** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:01 pm

madman wrote:Remember though that you will never get them back on in the same position!

The needle on most speedos seems to be held with some kind of spring action against the stop at or around 0 mph. Before you remove the needle, gently lever the end of it over the stop and see where it rests without any restraint. When you replace it, just try and put it back in the same place and when you are happy that it is fixed there, then just gently lever it back over the 0 mph stop.

No more accurate than it was before, but saves a lot of messing around.

sandbar

theseadog · Post by **theseadog** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:27 pm

sandbar wrote:
madman wrote:Remember though that you will never get them back on in the same position!
The needle on most speedos seems to be held with some kind of spring action against the stop at or around 0 mph. Before you remove the needle, gently lever the end of it over the stop and see where it rests without any restraint. When you replace it, just try and put it back in the same place and when you are happy that it is fixed there, then just gently lever it back over the 0 mph stop.

No more accurate than it was before, but saves a lot of messing around.

sandbar

Yep what Nige said and you WILL think you're going to break them before they come off ! ! !

Toodle Pip

Nero · Post by **Nero** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:46 am

madman wrote:Just change the dials on both our S's for white ones in Kmh.

Madman - Where did you get the white dials from, I've searched the net for white dials & drawn a blank on ones for the 'S'. I'm now just about to get some made up. Also what colour markings do you have? I'm assuming this was a sticker kit, which I'm also assuming stops the backlight filtering through & lighting the originally orange markings?

theseadog wrote:
sandbar wrote:
madman wrote:Remember though that you will never get them back on in the same position!
The needle on most speedos seems to be held with some kind of spring action against the stop at or around 0 mph. Before you remove the needle, gently lever the end of it over the stop and see where it rests without any restraint. When you replace it, just try and put it back in the same place and when you are happy that it is fixed there, then just gently lever it back over the 0 mph stop.

No more accurate than it was before, but saves a lot of messing around.

sandbar
Yep what Nige said and you WILL think you're going to break them before they come off ! ! !

Toodle Pip

Nige / Seadog - You weren't wrong!! Me levering & other half gently holding needle (to stop it flying across the garage & never to be found again) they're surprisingly bendy...

After a nervous couple of minutes levering they eventually came free.

Cheers for the advice guys.

Nero

madman · Post by **madman** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:25 pm

I bought the white dials from ebay.de. I think he only does them in kmh. They are not stick ons but plastic replacements. They also came with a complete set of blue LEDs to replace the instrument lighting with but I have not got around to fitting these yet.
They look quite effective and I needed them as I now live in france. If you send me a PM with your email address in it, I'll send you a photo or two.

madman · Post by **madman** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:02 pm

You have PM and email.
Bob

Neil178 · Post by **Neil178** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:24 pm

ah go on, stick the photo up here so we can all see!

theseadog · Post by **theseadog** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:44 am

yeah daylight and dark, go on .................

Nero · Post by **Nero** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:43 pm

Neil178 wrote:ah go on, stick the photo up here so we can all see!

Here you go...

Running with no dials in currently, makes running through speed camera's a bit of a hazard though! White dials should be with me by the end of the week, will post pics when I get round to dismantling & putting them in!

Nero

boxerpan · Post by **boxerpan** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:26 pm

Surreal

gus · Post by **gus** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:31 pm

A quick question.
Why didnt you wait until you had the new dial faces?

gus

boxerpan · Post by **boxerpan** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:04 pm

gus wrote:A quick question.
Why didnt you wait until you had the new dial faces?
gus

Stop bieng so nosey

Nero · Post by **Nero** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:05 pm

gus wrote:A quick question.
Why didnt you wait until you had the new dial faces?
gus

Guy doing them wanted the originals as a template, which to be honest was a bit of a pain, but at no cost. All depends what they're like when I get them back as to whether it was worth it

Nero