Modern Vespa

My glovebox door hinges had been getting slowly but progressively looser ever since I bought my GTS 11 months ago. They had gotten so bad that the door usually did not open when I pressed the release - I had to pull it open with my fingers. Sometimes, it took multiple tries just to get it to pop out far enough to get a grip on. And, the paint on the legshield cover at the lower edge of the glovebox door is blemished on my otherwise pristine GTS!

Well today, I had the entire rear legshield cover removed for an altogether different reason. I happened to cast a glance at the glovebox hinges - and was appalled to noticed that the screws that secure the hinge brackets to the legshield cover were backed out by about 1/4 inch!! The brackets were so loose that the hinge pins molded onto the arms of the glovebox door had come completely free. No wonder the hinges weren't working worth a damn!

The screws were very loose - easily turned by fingers. If they had backed out much further, they would have fallen out - and I'd have had screws swimming around loose back in there! It was an easy matter to put the hinge pins back where they go and tighten the screws. The glovebox door works like new again.

SO - if you are experiencing the same difficulty, I'd recommend pulling your legshield cover per Jess' procedure and tightening those screws - BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!

Thanks for the tip. This is a simple preventive procedure that could save a big PITB later.

Thanks! Whenever I have a screw or bolt come loose on a bike I always add a little Loctite to keep it from happening again. Your glove box door hinge screws may have not been tightened properly at the factory or they may have come loose from vibration.

Mine are getting like that but I'm too lazy to pull the glovebox out to fix it......yet.

About the Loctite.

Don't use Loctite on anything plastic.

Loctite will dissolve some plastics, not straight away, it takes about 12 hours, and there is only one way to find out which ones

I have seen catastrophic career threatening results with my own eye's (luckily, not my career)

A drop of Crazy Glue should do the trick.

Good point on Loctite marc. You have to use the right type for the situation, there are many different formulas available. They have water based versions that can be used on plastic to plastic and metal to plastic. I havn't tried Crazy Glue in the application we are discussing. Crazy Glue, like all cyanoacrylic adhesives, can be pretty dangerous stuff. Always good to have some acetone around in case you need to separate two items that get unintentionally glued together.

I have a buddy at work who was working back a little and knocked over a 6 ounce bottle of cyanoacrylate (crazy glue) without noticing.

Sure enough he stuck his hand in it and glued his entire palm to the benchtop.

He says it 'got real hot'

He was out of reach of everything and the bench was bolted to the floor.

He had to wait for the night shift custodians to come around at like 11pm

When he heard them in the building it took forever to get their attention back in the shop where he was, yelling out and stuff.

Finally one came through the door all wide eyed and stuff with a big chunk of broken concrete held above his head as a weapon

clear nail polish.

better than loc-tite for low tension holding, cheaper than crazy-glue.

i used to keep funny colored nail polish in my toolbox when i worked for a shop because it would freak out the other mechanics. pretty much works the same as the clear. just don't let your old lady catch ya using it...

best,
-greasy

Clear nail polish is the best..
Used to use it on custom pinstriping jobs to seal the cuts and hold down the ends..
I used some of my wife's black to cover the bolts on my midscreen

Sure enough, they'd started backing out again after only 7 weeks. My niece ( a Goth) didn't have any clear nail polish, but she did have black.

Ive spoken to three other owners of GTS's here in cincinnati. All of us have had issues with the glove box door keepers. Mine did not come completely unscrewed. In fact when I tightened the screw's up it seemed like it was the first time the screw was tightened. Me thinks the fellow at the factory forgot to tighten them in the first place

Maybe the bikes out of Cincinnati are from the same batch and Giovanni wasn't having a very good day at the factory?

Perhaps their Scooter club meeting was the evening before Too much Vino

I've been having the same problem with my bike. On one of the hinges, I found that one of the metal covers wasn't sitting all the way against the glove box, above the pins on the door hinge. I bent it slightly with pliers to get it to sit all the way against the glove box and hold the door hinge pins in place. That worked pretty well for a while, but now that hinge is coming loose again, so I'll try the clear nail polish trick, since I need to pull the glovebox off anyway. Thanks for the tip!

Another thing: the solvent in nail polish is acetone. That stuff is very aggressive with most plastics. I put the nail polish only under the screw heads, where they are backed up by the metal hinge keepers. Not on the screw threads which engage plastic.

Just took my bike in for its initial service yesterday. When I pulled into the driveway, after the 70 mile return trip, I opened the glove box to access my garage door opener. Wouldn't you know it!!! The glove box hinges are loose!

If I had only known about it before the service, or at the dealership. Now, I have to pull the thing apart to secure the hinges. (Have to get in there anyway to run some cables from the battery up to the headset.)

Any thought on using a simple lock washer to secure the screw? Is that too simple of a solution?

That's what I was thinking! Maybe a star washer so you don't have to crank down on the screw too much to get the washer to bite.

Mine is at the dealer right now for its first service and they are going to fix the hinges for me, they said that just about every GTS they sell has this same problem. if mine loosen up again I'll throw some washers on there and see if that helps.

I have different problem:when i want to close glove box,I have to press key(usual procedure for opening),otherwise,I can not close it,but anyway I dont use this locker often!!

Noticed the same thing with mine on a tear down this weekend. Both sides were really lose after 8000 miles.



and

Damn feb31st, couldn't ya get any titer with the photo ???

It would appear that a little threadlocker applied only between between the screw and the metal plate would prevent the screw from loosening. I would avoid getting or letting any seep on the threads.

Just solved the same problem on my '09 300.

I was cleaning the scoot, opened the glovebox but could not close it again !

The wiki showed and solved the problem.

I put some Loctite on the screws.

I have different problem:when i want to close glove box,I have to press key(usual procedure for opening),otherwise,I can not close it,but anyway I dont use this locker often!![/quote]

Try rubbing some graphite (a dry lubricant for key locks) on the locking pin on the door where it engages the lock.

Best
Miguel

Oldies but goodies: this one is right on the money and helped us big time fixing getting-stuck hinges on Salima's GTS. Two twists with a screw driver, and it opens again like new.

Thank you for the excellent advice.