Modern Vespa

I have seen this posted a couple of times before. But I just did it and it worked great, so I thought I'd post a reminder and a couple of photos

On my LX (and probably other models), there is not enough room between the muffler and the oil drain plug to fit the 24mm socket and standard ratchet handle.

One option, which I had used until now, is to use a 24mm wrench instead. But without clearance for a ratchet / torque wrench, you are stuck "guessing" on the tightening torque.

Another option, which I just did now, is to take a standard 24mm socket and grind about ~10mm from the top. This provides the clearance needed to get a ratchet in there.

I just completed my overdue oil change and found this worked great!

Did you try a shallow socket first?

Had to hunt up a shorty in order to get clearance behind ex. pipe on my 2018 Piaggio Liberty. Could have used a wrench, I guess.
O.S.

Pretty good idea. I only have one socket that size and it also fits my rear wheel nut so I won't be grinding it down. When I use a wrench to tighten my oil plug, I put my hand over the box end of the wrench and oil plug like it's a door knob and tighten as hard as I possibly can. Seems to be an adequate amount of torque and not overly tight to break loose next oil change.

Bill

I had a hard time finding one in 24mm with a 3/8" drive. Nothing local. And all the ones I found online were something like $25 for the single socket. In the end, I found it easy to modify this $4 socket I had on hand.

Grinding down the cheap socket is a nice solution. I use the hand tighten solution, holding the wrench as close as I can to the bolt and snugging things up. The torque setting is what it is so the bolt doesn't get over-tightened. It needs to be tight enough not to loosen, but most mechanics seem to want to really tighten it up way too much.

under $10 if you don't have a grinder. 1.2" tall.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041DODDC/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stppvp_2?pf_rd_p=d45777d6-4c64-4117-8332-1659db52e64f&pd_rd_wg=uj3uf&pf_rd_r=R6G4EFJ6YTM93MMN1BWG&pd_rd_i=B0041DODDC&pd_rd_w=yrYoh&pd_rd_r=e2c79bd4-1a99-413f-bc10-b9727dc8dcdb&ie=UTF8&qid=1547316626&sr=2

Thanks! Just ordered one.

Let us know if it works! At 1" tall (25mm), it's a bit taller than my ground socket at 0.8" (20mm). It'll be a little tighter, but would probably still go.

From what I recall, I took 9mm off my original socket (so 29mm was too thick, given my torque wrench).

Another thing you can consider is a swivel extension or just remove the exhaust.

Thx for that!!

That looks like a result.

Maybe for the lest industrious

I got the Amazon short 24 mm socket today and it works perfectly. I had no problem turning the socket in those tight quarters with my 3/8" ratchet.

Good stuff! Thanks for the update.

Yeah, that's how I did it for years. Works fine. But it always left me a little uncomfortable that I couldn't get a torque wrench on the drain plug. The socket just gets me a little more peace of mind.