944 Odometer Gears
Appreciate it Tom, I picked up a printer to see if I can print my own. The resolution may be tough to match with a less expensive printer but we'll see.
Hello,
I didn't read every word of the replacement instructions, so I apologize if this was mentioned.
I did the gear replacement job, but soon after the odometer went wonky again. Specifically, the last digit on the left skipped ahead suddenly... on my first test drive! Further research found too much end-play in the set of mileage display gears.
Another 944 owner actually alerted me to this (wish I could credit but I've lost the post). The fix was easy but bothersome. I had to remove the cluster and basically go through most the steps again.
This time I was ready with several small random washers in varying thicknesses to use as "shims". I reinstalled the set of mileage "tumblers" with maybe... 0.020" end play, give or take. Problem seems to be solved but I haven't put too many miles since. Time will tell.
If I recall, the "driven" gear's rotary motion on the far right was allowed to skip to the end gear (due to the gears not fully meshing and therefore free to disengage with each other). Basically too much end-play in the old tumblers caused this. Adding a shim washer at one end removed the play.
Sorry for this long post but it might help someone.
I know the original post about this problem is still out there somewhere and very well explained and photographed. If I find it I'll forward a link.
I didn't read every word of the replacement instructions, so I apologize if this was mentioned.
I did the gear replacement job, but soon after the odometer went wonky again. Specifically, the last digit on the left skipped ahead suddenly... on my first test drive! Further research found too much end-play in the set of mileage display gears.
Another 944 owner actually alerted me to this (wish I could credit but I've lost the post). The fix was easy but bothersome. I had to remove the cluster and basically go through most the steps again.
This time I was ready with several small random washers in varying thicknesses to use as "shims". I reinstalled the set of mileage "tumblers" with maybe... 0.020" end play, give or take. Problem seems to be solved but I haven't put too many miles since. Time will tell.
If I recall, the "driven" gear's rotary motion on the far right was allowed to skip to the end gear (due to the gears not fully meshing and therefore free to disengage with each other). Basically too much end-play in the old tumblers caused this. Adding a shim washer at one end removed the play.
Sorry for this long post but it might help someone.
I know the original post about this problem is still out there somewhere and very well explained and photographed. If I find it I'll forward a link.
Couldn't find that original post but here's a picture of my odometer. As you can see, there was so much end play the gears slipped. Solved it with a tiny brass washer I placed here. Just something for you to watch for.
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Tom
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You're welcome.
Until now, I've recommended only resin printers for this, but I'm now tempted to try it on my new Bambu printer, maybe with soluble support material. Stay tuned. I ran the resin one for tens of thousands of miles on my bench cluster and it still looked new (printed in Rigid 10K resin from Formlabs).4mangoes,
The real issue isn’t the brightness of the cluster bulbs (although you can replace them with bright LEDs and add enough lumens to improve the situation). What’s happened is that the reflective surface of the light guides (“tunnels”) has degraded and lost its reflectivity.
A quick search of YouTube will show the details. Remove the old mirroring with a solvent and then either recoat the outside of the clear channel with reflective paint or use foil tape instead. (If you use tape, make sure it’s reflective on the sticky side!)
This was enough to brighten up my dash considerably, but I decided to replace with LEDs to make things even brighter.
Note: I need to swap out the LEDs for the turn signal and bright headlight indicators with the original incandescent bulb. They look great in daylight, but at night they’re blinding!
The real issue isn’t the brightness of the cluster bulbs (although you can replace them with bright LEDs and add enough lumens to improve the situation). What’s happened is that the reflective surface of the light guides (“tunnels”) has degraded and lost its reflectivity.
A quick search of YouTube will show the details. Remove the old mirroring with a solvent and then either recoat the outside of the clear channel with reflective paint or use foil tape instead. (If you use tape, make sure it’s reflective on the sticky side!)
This was enough to brighten up my dash considerably, but I decided to replace with LEDs to make things even brighter.
Note: I need to swap out the LEDs for the turn signal and bright headlight indicators with the original incandescent bulb. They look great in daylight, but at night they’re blinding!
-
Tom
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8922
- Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:04 pm
- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
- Has thanked: 932 times
- Been thanked: 3990 times
- Contact:
Score another point for the Bambu Lab printer. This is printed in ABS, .08mm layer height, .4mm nozzle, AquaTek X1 soluble support. The resin printer version is a tad cleaner, but I have no doubt this would work just fine for a long time. To the extent I previously said you need a resin printer, I have to take that back after seeing this.
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