Modern Vespa

My wife's LX 150 speedometer cable broke today, only 1600 miles. It appears that the inner cable broke just below the nut that secures the cable to the instrument in the head set. The cable was loose, off completely, separated just below that nut. The square nylon peg was still in place secured by the nut.

Do I need the inner and outer, or just the inner?

How does the sender end disconnect from the wheel? I took the little bolt out of the retainer plate and gave a tug on the outer. It slid up the inner a little way but nothing came loose. How do I disassemble the sender end?

I looked at the wiki and the shop and parts manual but no joy.

You'll just need the inner cable. If you have removed the small bolt that holds the retainer on the front hub, the cable assy should come right out. Lube the new one really well and reassemble.

When I experiencd speedometer failure on my GT 200, the inner cable was not available and I had to buy the entire assembly including the housing which I discarded.
Perhaps you can use a pair of needle nosed pliers to pull the old cable out of the housing so you don't have to replace the whole thing.

Thanks for that. If I pull on the inner at the hub should it just slide out? Right now it seems to be hung in there, but I haven't pulled too hard. I have broken too many things by applying too much force when I thought I was doing the right thing, but wasn't.

Hi, I have broken speedo cables on EVERY Vespa I have owned! We have a long flat section leading to a long downhill section on the M2 motor/freeway!! to Belfast and you can get any Vespa well over the max speed on clock and then SNAP !! but I only do it the once with every new scooter . Scares the KEEKE ( shit/shite ) out of you to

When mine broke, I removed the cable by pulling it out from the top end. It came out with out any force.

When you order a speedometer cable from Piaggio it is really pretty inexpensive (about $20) and comes as an entire unit, not just the inner cable. On a GT 200, and I assume most models, there is just one bolt at the wheel the holds that end of the cable in place and then it just pulls straight out. I think you will need to lubricate the inner cable before installing. Be careful when reattaching the cable at the wheel that it goes straight in and is not bent very much as that can cause the cable to bind and give you a "jumpy" needle.

Could this also cause the odometer to stop working as well? Is there a diagram anywhere of how to replace this?

Thanks a bunch!

If I understand your question, the answer is that the cable runs both the odometer and the speed indicator part of the speedometer. When I got my new cable it was both the cable itself and the cable housing. I guess I could have probably removed the new cable from the new housing and inserted into the old housing however I was leaking lubricant from the old housing at the wheel hub end of the cable. I figured the outer casing was bad since it had slipped down from the top of the cable slightly and the inner cable was visible. I have never seen any instructions on changing the entire cable but it isn't very difficult. I had to loosen the leg shield to get to it and then just sort of wrestle with it. A second pair of hands is handy when you are trying to feed the new cable and housing through the fender but I didn't have that luxury. I sprayed some silicon on the housing and that helped considerably. There were no "tie downs" on the GT200, the cable just had to be fed through a couple of metal loops that have other cables in them as I remember. I also taped an electrical "wire nut" to the speeometer end of the cable to protect it from damage when threading it up to the speedometer if that is any help.

[quote="MichaelR"]If I understand your question, the answer is that the cable runs both the odometer and the speed indicator part of the speedometer. When I got my new cable it was both the cable itself and the cable housing. I guess I could have probably removed the new cable from the new housing and inserted into the old housing however I was leaking lubricant from the old housing at the wheel hub end of the cable. I figured the outer casing was bad since it had slipped down from the top of the cable slightly and the inner cable was visible. I have never seen any instructions on changing the entire cable but it isn't very difficult. I had to loosen the leg shield to get to it and then just sort of wrestle with it. A second pair of hands is handy when you are trying to feed the new cable and housing through the fender but I didn't have that luxury. I sprayed some silicon on the housing and that helped considerably. There were no "tie downs" on the GT200, the cable just had to be fed through a couple of metal loops that have other cables in them as I remember. I also taped an electrical "wire nut" to the speeometer end of the cable to protect it from damage when threading it up to the speedometer if that is any help.[/quote]

Would you happen to know if on an LX125, which part of the cable might be the problem if the odometer is ok, but the speedometer isn't working? Looking at the cables, it all looks ok with no breaks anywhere.

I would assume that if the odometer is working but the speedometer is not then the problem is in the actual speedometer and not the cable. The cable only does one thing and that is to spin the square end of the cable at the actual speedometer to accomplish both functions. I guess it could be that different parts of the square end of the cable turn different gears inside speedometer to run the odometer and the speedometer separately but I am guessing at that. If that is the case, theoretically part of the square end of the cable could be broken off inside the speedometer and that may be why only the odometer works. I would disconnect the speedometer cable at the speedometer and look at the end and see if it looks broken. You might also use a strong magnet to try and fish the possibly broken end out of the speedometer connection. Also measure the exact length of the square part of the end of the cable at the speedometer end. Someone must know how long the square end on an intact cable should be. That would be another way to tell if the end is broken off.

I just looked up an old post and the square end measurements on a new speedometer cable for a GT200 are 1/2 inch at the speedometer end and 5/8 inch at the wheel hub end. I would be really surprised if the LX150 did not use the same cable. I hope this helps you and keep us posted.

Dredging up an old thread here, but I wondered what people are using to lube the speedo cable when they replace it.

TIA!

I have tried various lubes including lube specially for speedo cables and found nothing worked better than the 5w 40 synthetic engine oil I use in the crankcase!

When you order the cable it comes with the sleeve and pre-lubed.

You will not find just the cable from Piaggio.