Modern Vespa

Anyone have tricks for fixing a vent steering stop without messing up the horncast? Without dropping the fork? Any secret tools?

Was thinking maybe needle nose vice grips would work.

depending on how it's bent you *might* be able to get in there with a long rod or punch and give it a good whack to reposition it.

you already know this, but dropping the fork is the best way to tackle it.

Greasy offers good advice. Large punch or something your can smack with a big ole hammer. Tough to do that with the angle of the horncast / steering stops...

Another option is the Voodoo technique. Voodoo is your man here! He has a good technique, that I believe others have used with good success. Let me see if I remember, and I'm sure others and hopefully the man himself Voodoo:

Drop that fork
Get a very large socket, or equivelant heavy duty thick wall pipe
Cut a groove into it with a grinder. make the groove just thick enough to slip over the metal on the steering stop area.
Get yourself a big breaker bar, or something strong to fit into the socket/pipe.
Use that bar as a handle in the socket/pipe, to bendy the steering stop back into place. Feel free to smack it with a hammer.
The idea is to make small adjustments to 'massage' the thick steel back into place. Some heat from a small torch is probably your friend. Mind the paint.

I'm sure I did a beyond sub-par job of explaining this process... but hopefully this will start you on the path.

There is a guy here who uses Voodoo successfully to cure this ailment.

I just read the above, so he now has two recommendations.

GeekLion described the technique. Fork has to come out.

Here's some pics:

Alright guess I'm dropping the fork! Sometimes you have to do things the right way.. Now I gotta go cut up a socket -thanks for the replies and the photos y'all.

You can accomplish the same with a crescent wrench

I couldn't. It's a tight space. Hard to get enough leverage with a wrench.

i've done it two ways:

heat it up with oxy-acytelene and bend it back into place.

TIG weld it up.

I'd be tempted to try and make something like this. Right and left half, so you could fit it through hole, then figure out a way to attach back together.