Modern Vespa

I'm replacing my rear tire for the first time, but I just can't get the swingarm off. I've taken out the two allen bolts, the 24 mm nut, and the shock, but it just won't come off. According to the instructional video I watched, it should come off "with a little wiggle":

Mine certainly didn't.

The wheel turns, and I can see the clear circle around the axle turn with it, but it just seems stuck to the center of the wheel. Am I missing something idiotic? Here's a pic:



Does anyone have an idea or two? Preferably pretty soon.

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and the little wiggle bit is at around 2:10 in the video.

Looks like you've got everything stripped down properly and the arm is just a bit stuck.

At this point, I'd take my trusty rubber mallet and give things a whack here and there to break the swingarm loose. Nothing's fragile back here in the rubber-to-the-road department.

Good luck!

Really easy to change a rear tire on a brand new scooter!
But... useless.

Now I got a rubber mallet and gave it a good whacking around, but still nothing.

Getting a tad frustrated here...

Hit the axle with the rubber mallet. It is stuck where the axle meets the inside of that bearing.

Yup, I figured that out. I have been banging it like [insert favourite banging joke here].

Now I sprayed some CRC 5-56 on it. Hopefully it will loosen up and come off.

Yes, they get stuck sometimes.

See if you can get your hands on a puller--like a gear puller, or steering wheel puller that can grab the arm and push against the axle.

Harbor freight has some cheap ones--all you need is enough movement to break the hold the axle has on the arm.

Scooterwest has a nice tool, made specially for this--I have one and it works a treat. It is a luxury, not really needed, but nice.

P.

[Edited to reflect OP location] I see you're in Finland, then forget the Harbor Freight references, but still, a 2- or 3-jaw puller that fits over your arm will definitely do the trick.

P.

I had read threads where other people had sticking swing arms right after I bought our first Vespa so I bought a tool like the one that Paul posted about in anticipation of the swing arm sticking. The first time I was going to remove it, I was fully prepared and of course, since I had the tool ready to go, the swing arm just about fell off after I loosened the bolts. I've had the swing arms off on several scooters now and none of them have stuck. I guess that if I sold the tool, then they would stick.

That's exactly what I did while you wrote this. I guess Harbor freight is the equivalent of Clas Ohlson, as that is where I went.

It wasn't even a question of it snapping off - it was pretty tight all the way out, which was a bit weird. But now I have it off, and in a couple of hours, I'll be riding along with a new City Grip under my arse. Goodbye, crappy Sava.

Thanks everyone for the advice and support. It's nice to know that there are supportive people out there.

jani

Good to hear that you were able to get it off.
Now that you own the tool, it will probably never stick again.

Hehee, probably not.

But on the other hand, if I keep riding Vespas at the rate of 2-3 rear wheels per summer, that is 20 euro well spent.

Put some grease on the inside of the bearing or the axle to prevent it from seizing up next time.

I just put it on, and I did put some grease in there, but it felt really tight putting it on as well, so I guess I'll have more use for the extractor thingy.

I just had the exact same issue over the weekend on my sportcity (same setup - just bigger wheel ).

I ended up whacking the wheel itself with a rubber mallet and a piece of wood - it ended up pushing it and the swingarm off together. (don't whack the brake disc!). Also a mallet at piece of wood (if there is space in the vespa) from the back side of the swing arm works

To elaborate a bit on what Doug said: whenever I've had the swingarm plate stick to the axle, I hold onto the back of the plate with my fingers and tap the end of the axle with a mallet. You don't need to hit it with a lot of force, just repeatedly tap on the end of it. With each tap (while pulling the plate) the plate will move a tiny bit until it breaks free.

Just try not to mash the threads on the end of the axle. Gentle tapping. Works every time.

Wish I had known that before this weekend. It was a royal pain in ass. Oh and by the way, the the Aprilia shop manual - that part of the swing arm is called the "muffler bracket". I thought it was kind funny to basically call 1/2 of the swing arm a muffler holder... What is is called in Vespa-speak?

We generally call it the swingarm plate. I generally think of the swingarm as the portion on the left-hand side, with the transmission and clutch and final drive. To me, the plate isn't part of the swingarm proper. Sounds like the Aprilia shop manual makes the same distinction.

Is is a muffler support bracket, not the swing arm on which the engine pivots. Why the term "swing arm" has been co-opted for this part is a mystery to me, but nearly everyone uses that name to describe it, and nearly everyone knows exactly what part is referenced.

I had this problem also, Used a Harbor Freight puller and it still was a pain. The shaft had rusted under the inner race of the bearing. When you get it off make sure you clean the bearing surface of the shaft with some fine emery cloth and don't get carried away, just polish until the rust is gone. Then lube the area with some good grease.

Let me ask then - is it there really just to support the exhaust, and the bearing is there just to keep the whole thing pivoting in sync with the other side of the swing-arm. Hypthetically, if the exhaust were in another location (other side) - would we effectively have a single sided swing arm? Or is the muffler bracket carrying some of the load from the axle?

I am curious becuase after having to remove the rear wheel twice in the last 45 days due do flats, I really can start to see the advantage of a true single sided swing arm. At least when it comes to road side repairs

Why dont you just plug the tire while its still on the bike

It may be the muffler support but the bearing in the bracket and in the belt cover is a support bearing to keep from bending the shafts.

I can't imagine it would be a good idea to remove it, if that's where you're going with this.

On the GTS, at least, the right-hand shock absorber is also mounted to the swingarm plate. Not sure what the configuration of the Sports City looks like.

And yes - DUH! the right rear shock mounts to the muffler bracket on the Sportcity too. Other than the wheel size - stuff is almost identical around the engine/tranny. I was not planning on running it like that but just thinking about it from an engineering point of view. Most motorcycles have a single sided swing-arm and was wondering about scooters...

We have a custom tool that bolts to two of the muffler fastener holes on the swing arm half and will extract it off the shaft. Clean the shaft up with a scotchbrite pad, and apply grease or anti seize to prevent this. I have had many of them stuck on the shaft, and were in So. California where almost no one rides in the rain. I could not imagine how "stuck" they are in areas where these scooter are ridden in bad weather.

FWIW from my own experience...

While you have the swingarm plate off, stick a finger through the bearing and make sure it runs perfectly smooth. Any lumpiness means the bearing is on its way out and should be replaced.

The bearing on my (<3 years old) GTV was a standard size and so available off the shelf from my local (non-Vespa) shop who supplied and fitted it in 2 minutes for only £10.

When we pulled the old one apart the bearings were sitting in a congealed rusty red goo, rather than lovely thick clean grease!

Best,

Mark

+1

When you change belts and rollers check the outboard support bearing in the belt cover too. Its a standard bearing also.

sorry to revive an old thread but I'm currently in the process of pulling my rear wheel off for the first time. Previous owner doesn't seem to have ever taken the shock absorber/exhaust support off (the swingarm you are referring too) and while everything else has come off with no major effort I've spent 20 minutes prying, hammering and everything else I can think off to get that bearing to come loose from the axle but it will not budge. put wd-40 all over it trying to see if that would help but nothing. Anyone got an idea what I should do? I really want to get it off so I can just take the wheel off and take it to my local shop to have them mount a new tire instead of taking the whole scooter over. But it looks like I might have to if this thing won't come off but I'd rather save the money of having them do it. So ideas?

pickle fork works wonders on this problem!
i used it (along with a plastic bottle to protect the paint on my wheels) the first time i had to take off my rear wheel.

If the gentle tapping on the end of the axle with a mallet (see earlier in the thread) doesn't work, then you might have to resort to getting this swingarm puller from Motorsport Scooters:

Mine was seized on the first time I tried to take my rear wheel off. The tools on hand I used were a 12" Channel Lock (long handled pliers with soft grips) I inserted the handle end between the wheel and the bracket, and tapped the axle gently with a brass hammer, prying around in a circular fashion. It eventually came loose. Cleaned and greased, and it has not seized since, with dozens of rear tire removals.

Your tool works very well! I've used mine twice, easy peasy, another great product from Scooterwest.