Sticky tach and speedo.

[Iiwabucks]

Been working on a friend's 80 XS400 Special. Sat for 5+ years. Carb was totally froze up. Got it soaked and rebuilt and runs great now.

It's got less than 5000 miles on it, so most everything else is in good shape. Rode it up and down the street a few times and the tach and speedo don't work correctly yet. Odometer is working and pointers go up a little but then kinda get stuck there. Once it's shut off they go back down.

Could it just be that it needs rode a little to get these guages working properly, or is there anything I can do to help it?

 

[avemachina]

I had a similar problem with my speedo. First things first, make sure the cable is lubricated and can spin freely at both ends. An easy way to check if the speedo works is to disconnect it from the wheel side, put the pokey-outey part in a power drill, and see if anything moves (most drills only do 2000-3000RPM max). If the needle moves when you've got it spinning in the drill (set to spin clockwise), you probably have the same issue I had:

The culprit of my issue was that the little "wings" on the front wheel that mate to the speedometer gear assembly in the hub were bent far enough away that they didn't engage, so I could spin the front wheel all day long and the needle wouldn't budge. Pulling them outward got it back in working order.