Legally fitting a new speedometer

[old man emu]

The hair spring that dampens the movement of the needle of my motorbike's speedometer broke, so the needle was doing its own thing. Then the odometer gave up the ghost. I was able to get an new, reproduction speedometer to replace the old one which was beyond economic repair.

 

When you get an annual roadworthiness inspection, they record the odometer reading. I was wondering how I could reconcile the reading on the new speedometer with the old one. I wasn't about to sit down with a drill and wind on seventeen thousand miles. I contacted the NSW vehicle registration department and they told me that for registration purposes, they didn't bother with odometer readings. They told me to contact Fair Trading. 

 

Before I got on to Fair Trading, I ask Mr Google for help and found out that it is an offence under the NSW Motor Vehicle Traders and Repairers Act to 

(1) Offence A person must not--

(a) alter the reading on the odometer of a motor vehicle, or

(b) remove or replace the odometer of a motor vehicle, or

(c) render the odometer of a motor vehicle inoperative or inaccurate by any means.

 

That left me with a bit of a worry, but I figured that there had to be some way that speedometer/odometers could be repaired. Then I read through the Section of the Act and found this 

(5) Despite any other provision of this section, any person may repair or replace an odometer if the repair or replacement--

(a) is approved by the Secretary or a person prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section, and

(b) is in accordance with the approval.

 

So I had to go back to Fair Trading to get a form to apply for approval. https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/367846/Odometer_Application_Form.pdf

 

Now all I have to do is wait for Fair Trading to give approval.

[onetrack]

It's funny how you can go to jail for tampering with an odometer of a road-registered motor vehicle - but plant and equipment has no regulation whatsoever, as regards hour meters or odometers (a lot of plant such as road graders have odometers).

 

Most plant and equipment simply has an electric Hobbs hourmeter or equivalent that is easily disconnected, by unplugging a wire.

 

It's SOP to pretty much ignore hourmeters or odometers on plant and equipment, because they're rarely correct. The new electronic hourmeters in plant and equipment that are integral with all the instruments in a dash panel are better, but still can't be relied on.

 

I often wonder how many aircraft have inaccurate hour meter readings. Logbooks, being compulsory, are of great benefit there, but there's always the cowboys who want to "beat the system".

 

I recall one Robbie chopper crash in the NW of W.A. whereby the rotor failed catastrophically and the pilot was killed. I seem to recall the instructions from Robinson was that rotors had to be completely replaced at some figure like 1300 hrs.

 

But the Robbie that crashed had a rotor that was supposedly still within its life hours - according to the hour meter in the chopper, and the pilots logbook records.

 

But the ATSB and Robinson suspected the pilot had run the rotor beyond its engineered and specified hour life limit - and they suspected his logbook and hourmeter indication was falsified.

 

So they got clever and went through all that pilots fuel purchase records, and tallied those litre numbers with the known fuel burn rate of the Robbie. The end result was the figure came out at several hundred hours more than the specified life span of the rotor blades.

 

What an idiot! Ended up killing himself, all because he wanted to save a few thousand dollars on rotor replacement.

[Old Koreelah]

On 19 August 2020 at 8:50 AM, old man emu said:

The hair spring that dampens the movement of the needle of my motorbike's speedometer broke, so the needle was doing its own thing. Then the odometer gave up the ghost. I was able to get an new, reproduction speedometer to replace the old one which was beyond economic repair...

Now all I have to do is wait for Fair Trading to give approval.

Crickey, OME! Most of us wouldn't have bothered. I replaced the crappy one on my Guzzi with a simple digital bicycle speedo and it worked a treat. No odometer, but who needs one- I've no intention of ever selling it.

[old man emu]

Yes, but my bike is a Made-in-the-USA classic.

 

I use the trip meter as my fuel gauge. I don't want to be stuck at the back of Terrabaginarf out of fuel.