Modern Vespa

Thinking ahead to my 6000 mile service and dropping the motor: I've been looking under the bike and see two rubber pads that look like where the jack should go, but there are a couple of screws sticking through right between them. Should the jack be placed just in front of those screws? How critical is jack placement? My jack has a wooden top, so I could center it on those rubber pads and cut out the edge to accommodate the screws.

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Are you doing this to gain access for a valve adjustment?

Hoping you can provide some notes and tips along the way - you're just a few thousand miles ahead of me for that 6K service. I intended to use my HF bike jack on mine but haven't crawled around yet to envision how..I'll be revisiting Robot's video on the subject as well. Best Wishes!

Yes, this will be for the valve check/adjustment. I'm a long way off...only 1000 miles on the scooter right now. I'm just loving learning about maintenance and planning ahead. I'm gonna build a wooden table in the garage that will fold up against the wall when not in use. I'll make a wooden chock what will clamp the front wheel and hold everything straight while jacking it up.

Retro Scoot, you will probably get to it before I do, so fill us in on any surprises/problems. I plan to have Robot's video up on my laptop and follow along bolt by bolt. The hardest part seems to be remembering where every washer and screw goes, but he spells it out in great detail so I'm optimistic. Just be careful not to cross thread anything! I'm in the process of accumulating tools...I might even make a couple of the factory tools he uses. I've got a complete wood shop and machine shop.

I just bought one of those huge hydraulic "Harley" lifts, it has a set of wide padded rests that cover most of the bottom of a vespa and lift the entire bike with no effort.

$150 bucks at your local discount auto parts place.

Thanks for the tip Fritz. If you jack up the entire scooter with that lift, then when you disconnect the rear shocks, won't the engine drop too much putting stress on all the hoses? I want to jack it up only a few inches to access the valves.

You don't need a jack. Hike your center stand up on a couple of 2x10 or 12 scraps. Undo the rear shocks at the top. Use another scrap 2x under your rear wheel to leverage things up and down. Be sure to uclip the coil wire, or anything else that will be uncomfortably stretched.

That is smart thinking Abner. Since I will have it up on a bench it might be tricky putting it on and off the center stand and I will want the stand up for draining the oil. I'm still going to use the jack.

For doing the valves I undo the rear shocks and then only lift the bike enough to get the engine rotation that I need. The hoses seem to take it well enough

For other other jobs its nice because I can strap the bike to the jack's deck for added security and lift the entire bike well clear of the floor.

Do you find that 16 inches is a comfortable height for working on the bike?

I re-watched Robot's 6000 mile service video. His jack is about 6" wide with a flat top. He has it placed way further back than those two rubber pads that I mentioned before. There is a solid steel part of the framework that sticks down below the sheet metal body. It looks like the jack is exerting all the force there and not touching the body at all.

Good pictures. I'll have to rethink the use of my HF jack. It may be too wide - it was perfect for heavy frame cruisers.