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Speedometer drive gears

17K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  kick_fix  
#1 ·
Does anyone have a chart showing which speedo drive gears to use with which size tires? I have a USA 1997 X - 90 (Sidekick), 16 valve, O/D Auto, 2 WD. Put Dunlop 215 75 15 tires on stock rims.

Speedo is off 10% low. Shows 90 miles in 100. Suzuki dealer says they show one, stock, gear for it. The tranny guy, who just rebuilt my daughter's 95 Tracker tranny, says he can get different speedo drive gears for that transmission.

Somebody probably has a chart showing tire size X trans X whatever variable = which gear. I think the gears are color coded. Anyone have the math formula to figure it out? Which way to go on how many teeth more or less.

Thanks

Hickory Doc
 
#3 ·
Below is an attempt to answer the unaswerable from a different vantage point... :D

Mom always said "if you don't have anything nice to say, SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE!"

I occasionally disregard that sage advice. Like right now.

It's cool to be able to calculate one's gear ratio with a gear calculator.

A calculator that can tell you the actual MPH based on tire size, differential ratio, transfer case ratio, transmision gear ratio and engine RPM is even COOLER:

Ack's Generic Gear Ratio/Speed Calulator

Also, if you want real-time, correct speedometer/odometer readings once you have established your gearing/tire-size parameters, take your truck to a speedometer shop. They take all the guess-work out of the process and get the job done right - which is to say nobody knows what colored gear does what like the guy at the speedometer shop.

BTW, I get this way after viewing more than two Zero Punctuation video game reviews in one sitting at theescapist.com.

Either that or mr. Kick-Fix is rubbing off on me - after all we are both old farts that tend to be long-winded in our posts... :)

Never taking myself too seriously, I remain,
 
#4 ·
Thanks. But that just confirms what I already knew. I'm 10% low.

I need to know which speedo drive gear, goes in the transmission, to get the speedo to read correctly. I need one with more or fewer teeth.

Not sure I agree with their final drive ratio calculations. Taller tires should yield a "taller" gear ratio, numerically lower.

Doc
 
#5 ·
Yeah a Speedo shop could help. We might have one around here. But it is real simple to calibrate most cars. In my Chevy hot rod days we did it regularly. I think I'll just pull the one I have and count teeth. I bet the local tranny guy has some old gears to fit that truck. I'll try one with fewer teeth and see what happens.

Doc
 
#7 ·
see my speedo page its there

and how could we do that for all tires. do you know how many tires there are.
my gosh.

unsafe-at-any-speed?

see bottom of page for all , sender gear permutations . 6 possible


he sort of lied to you.?

your car, as opted he meant , your car comes with only 1 AT tranny so, that is all there is for your exact car. x90
but
asking the correct question forces them to noy lie.( he knew what you ment but is lazy)
that is
what speed gear sets are available from mY transmission used on all Suzukis' THANKS FOR FULL SPEC ON CAR!!

your 2wd transfer case uses same pn as 4wd x90
and
is 19 tooth
and a 96 suzuki sidekick (regular) with same xfr case 2wd or4wd offers 3 gears.
with same pn for 19 as yours.
so ask him for the gears on a NON X90
then the truth will set u free.

part ID 35-1,2,3,

3 gears inside and 3 outside(removable with speedo cable)

22 is the only gear you have , it will turns slower. 7 tooth on main shaft. on AT normal kicks(not yours)
so 22 will turn slower and lower speedo reading.
so no simple solution.

ahhh, but x90 uses a very diff drive gear 60A01 ,not used on reg.kicks.

as you see the gear sets for for TRANNY TYPE, SUZ, does NOT support tire changes.
unless they accidently land on a good set of stock ratio speed gears.

see?

my table is only for narrow range of kicks
there is a 6tooth speedo gear
and a 23 main.

but 7 main and 19 is the fastest set.

too bad we dont have your main shaft tooth count ,it is missing on the x90 docs.

dealers dont want deal with it, LOL
 
#9 ·
Thanks a bunch Man. I'll have to look at that site in detail, but I think it is what I'm looking for. See what I mean about the color coded gears.

Now I have to confirm exactly which transmission the over complicated Suzuki one shares parts with. I think it is the TH 180/200 series. The local tranny guy told me and we can look in his books to confirm. He may have used gears in the shop and can certainly get them.

Thanks again

Doc
 
#10 ·
Thanks Kick Fix Too.

Great thing about forums like this, someone has dealt with the same problem before and may have taken notes they will share. Or have an idea that gets you in the right direction. And I didn't get any forum rat silly replies.

Won't be messing with the X 90 for a week or so. We got a foot of snow in Western NC the last 24 hours. The X drove great in it, fresh powder to packed slick. Two wheel drive, good tires (Dunlop SP 60) and talent and you can get around just fine. Proved that when I had to wait a minute for a Jeep Cherokee 4WD (didn't see him lock hubs, may have bald tires) to get up a slight incline with speed bump half way up. I needed to get out and clear snow from the headlights anyway. I drove up it about like normal.

Driving the X in the snow it felt like it has a limited slip differential. Pulled easily up snowy slick roads with little spinning or sliding. Do you know if they came with something like a Posi Unit. If not that will be on my list for mods. My Samurai will spin a right rear tire getting out of the parking spot and onto the paved road. It needs a rear locker.

Doc
 
#11 ·
the speed gear fits into the 4wd xfr case or in 2wd the xfr special case with the x90
it dont go into the tranny cuz the speed would be off in 2H to 4H, the gear must reside
in to the rear prop shaft. so that is a very special suz part , (the 2wd keeps 4wd form factor)
Im no expert in pn's but have learned the xxxxx prefix is the part class , and the suffix
is :
60Axx ,the 60s is the generation and end is pn.
there are many 60a gears, i found 2 more today. i will keep looking.
sure you can go to a speedo shop and have them trim the magnetic coupling.
or swap mag gear ratios in the head, ( watch them say,, suzuki what ......?????)

but is hard and expensive to do , in your case increased magnetic coupling.
and all suz speedos are stamped (look with bezzle removed) the ratio.
clicks per mph.

Its your decision which end to work.
yes it was long winded but i was logging what i learned and just found out as i found it
and then the bus arrived, oo

ps im at the airport now....
so here i go , and I must say , gee, i wonder how many folk here live near a Speedo shop. my god man, dived the square miles of earth minus water buy speedo shop count. I offer advice (hope) that is possible, off the shelf and or 15min hack saw time.

and we have folks with $500 cars. or as one said , $20

my tire friend , says shave the tires.
lol

break a leg.
 
#14 ·
sure you can go to a speedo shop and have them trim the magnetic coupling.
or swap mag gear ratios in the head, ( watch them say,, suzuki what ......?????)

but is hard and expensive to do , in your case increased magnetic coupling.
and all suz speedos are stamped (look with bezzle removed) the ratio.
clicks per mph.
That may not be that hard to do, the Samurai has an adjuster on the back of the speedo for calibration. The X90 may well have something similar.
 
#12 · (Edited)
If you read 10% low, then you need a driven gear with 10% less teeth.
(This is the one on the cable.)







.
 
#13 ·
If you read 10% low, then you need a driven gear with 10% less teeth.
(This is the one on the cable.)
.
Possibly but 10% less teeth of the same pitch would be a smaller diameter so you would also need the mating gear too.

I think that you'll struggle to get 10% lower. Looking at it it from the other end the lowest speedo gears would be fitted to an auto Track/Kick with a 4.4 diff. The X90, IIRC, has a 4.6 diff so you could only go down 0.2 in 4.6 which is around 4%. Is that really worth tearing down the tcase when the gears may not even fit?
 
#16 ·
if forgot to say, sorry, hacking the speedo actual will be complex if you want
the needle to match the odometer
this will require , regearing the speedo head.,
the needle is mag coupling and the odometer is gear.
so one could hack the needle but the odometer would be real hard with out grears real suzuki parts. it is proprietary design. "Mitsubishi ,did i see label in side?" i for get.

thanks for the warning on matching pitch. but this can be told by PN lookup.
see if there is cross matching, i think they are... IIRC.
cheers.