Modern Vespa

Hi everyone.,

I am new here. Alex, 47, Schleswig, Germany.

I attempted to change the front shock of my ET4 125 from 1999. It's tight but I got the old one off. Now the new one gives me a headache.
The two screws for the top fixation are NOT fixed. As you present the shock to them they get pushed back in their recess unless you are 100% aligned (see picture attached) . But if you are, there is not enough room to present the bolt to the screw because of the shock spring

Questions:

1) should the top fixation not be made of two fixed screws? Am I looking at the DIY result of a previous owner...

2) if the screws are indeed meant to float in and out of their hole, then what is the trick to fix the new shock?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
ALEX

Alex,

To answer your first question as to whether or not the top bolts should be fixed
I'd reply Damn Right they should be! BUT they aren't.

Secondly, it's a terrible miserable job on the hands, but you can work at it and eventually get the bolts lined up, through their respective holes, and then very carefully get the nuts to bite on the threads (hopefully not cross threaded). You might wedge something between the top of the bolts and the fender to hold them in place and allow you to tighten the nuts.

I wonder if a bit of epoxy (JB Weld) under the head of the bolts would work to hold them in place. This might be a bad idea.

Good luck

Remember, with persistence you can piss a hole in a rock!!

I dreamt of electrician's tape...you know the one you insulate wires with? Will try and update spoke in my sleep, my wife wants to know who Vespa is

I just did this on my ET4. Tried to mount a Bitubo and found it was too wide to attach the fasteners. Went back to the OEM which barely fits. I used a dab of grease to hold the washers and brake hose bracket in place and I used a tool that grips the nut to get it strated from below.

The Scooterwest/Robot videos suggest this is an easy job, but its not on these early moderns.

I installed a Bitubo on my ET4 many years ago (best upgrade for an ET4). As I recall I had to use 2 universal joints with extensions to work around the spring to install the 2 nuts.