Tacho cable removal - really simple question (KZ750)

Hey, I was just hoping to confirm something really quickly. I need to pull and replace my tachometer cable. As far as I know, it should just unscrew from the engine by the knurled thumbscrew at the cable end. Mine is proving incredibly difficult to remove, so I was hoping to just quickly confirm there's nothing else present that could be blocking its removal, that I'm going to destroy when I inevitably have to cut flats onto the thumbscrew to get a wrench on it. Silly question I know, but this thing is on mighty strong and I don't want to go breaking stuff.

Really hoping nobody put something stupid on the threads to try to stop a leak (which ended up being a split cable jacket)...

(KZ750G)

Yes, the knurled nut is supposed to just unscrew, finger tight.
The real oil seal is inside the fitting on the head. The seal is inside and the shaft turns inside of it. That fitting can be removed. Usually it's held in by a clip that is secured with a screw. Then the fitting pulls straight out with the shaft and gear included. The gear/shaft then just pull out of the fitting. The fitting also has an oring around its body to seal against the head.

Maybe post a photo so we can confirm everything you have is normal, and someone didn't try to modify it.

The threads of the knurled nut don't provide a seal. Theoretically the shaft is rotating in an oil seal, so motor oil should not leak out even if you run it without the cable installed. But invariably, they do leak a bit.

Thanks, that all matches my understanding.

I have no idea what was going through the PO's head, but it looks like all that was leaking was the oil lubricating the cable itself. At this point, I don't think the seals around the tach gear are leaking. When I removed the cable (already just cut it off so it wasn't in the way) it had a colossal amount of cable lube in it. Almost like they were repeatedly refilling it as it leaked out the broken jacket or something... :huh:

I just realized this is a twin. The tach drive might not be in the head like on the fours, so I can't say for sure it's exactly how I described.

On the fours, the fitting will spin inside the head if the holding clip is missing and you try to rotate it with a wrench etc..

Ugh yes someone definitely gunked up the threads with something, can't tell what they used but that thing was in there good. Ended up cutting off the sides of the nut to slip a wrench on, and it still needed significant persuasion. Came out alright in the end with no damage on the head side. Thanks for the help, it's always scary when something needs that much force that close to the head...