UMA “Mechanical” Tachometer - A nice alternative

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I understand this likely won’t be an issue for most of you continental guys being that you can easily replace your tach drive seal, however I thought I would report on my experience with the UMA Tachometer.

The seal on my O290D was leaking down the cable and into the tach. It flooded two tachs and slowly made them inoperable. Replacing the seal on the lycoming requires pulling the rear accessory case off, and in a 120 that’s impossible without pulling the motor from the airframe.

There are plenty of digital tach options but I’m not a fan of reading digital tachs and wanted to maintain a more “original” look. Enter the UMA Tach. It’s an analog gauge but has an electrical input from a sender mounted on the tach drive or the mags. From the sender a single cable routes through the firewall, it hooks up to power, ground and the back of the tach. Needle movement is slightly lagging compared to a full analog system, but it’s easy to get used to and rock solid.

I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking to modernize without compromising the “original” feel.