Modern Vespa

Hey everyone! Well the sun popped back out and its time to get my 2001 ET4 ripping here in California.
This bike lived in NYC for the first 10+ years of its life and it shows! Rust all over the place! I just replaced the seat/seat hinge as it rusted all the way through(anyone want the old seat?).
Next project was to replace the blown front shock. I purchase the shock and hardware last year from scooter west, but couldn't get the front wheel off for the life of me. I was finally able to get the front wheel off after a recommendation from jimc to use a three-way puller kit from harbor freight. Had to heat it up with a propane torch and spray some penetrating oil in as well. That rust bonded the wheel body to the hub. -Hope this helps someone down the line!

Now finally getting to the front shock, I was able to get it out. Issue was that the bolt was rusted on to the shaft of the shock and i couldn't access the mounting hardware I needed. After a battle of heating it up, penetrating oil and big hammers/vice grips/limbs, I gave up and just had to cut the shaft of the blown shock off to access the hardware I need(waited a few days in-between). Sorry any purists. Link to video of struggle, turn down audio.-https://www.dropbox.com/s/o005nera1xgj2zn/57395563797__45FBFCBF-B5B0-4CD8-AC0C-D664C7C34D6D.MOV?dl=0

So now I got the mounting hardware and the new washers from Scooter West. Next issue is that I cant get the bolt to thread all the way on to the shaft! See photo below. I cant figure out what else to do! I have used a flat head screwdriver in the shaft and my biggest wrench and cant get it any tighter without stripping the shaft slot!!

Looking for any advice on how to get this bolt on? Anyone had this experience?

PS Propane torch and penetrating oil are going to be my new go-to's on this rebuild as everything on the underside is a rust bucket![/img][/url]

If you want a hotter flame, try MAPP gas.

Oh, and how much farther do you think the nut should go on? It looks to me that all the threads are engaged, so it could be quite perfect the way it is?

i do like hot gas!
If you get in close you can see one full turn of threads are not in there. I will run it if no one else has any great ideas, but wanted to see if this was something others had run into.