With the steering column and front assembly now removed from the main chassis of the bike (see previous post), I was able to set to work in stripping this part of the vespa down, and going through the usual methods of cleaning and taking apart.

My first priority was to remove the front wheel guard, which now loose was just being a pain flapping around everywhere.  Thanks to some helpful peeps on the forums and comments left here I was able to use the technique of applying a little heat to the lower bearing race on the column and carefully drifting it up the column until it was loose and removable.  Unfortunately in the process the small piece of tin which surrounds the bottom race got a little dented, however I don’t think it is critical to the operation of the handlebars, but more of a “weather guard” to stop crap getting up there – either way – it will be replaced.

Once this race was removed, the guard came off a treat and was cast aside with all the other collecting body panels.

Now for the front hub and suspension.  
Unfortunately I set about this the wrong way and got myself into a little bit of a mess, I shall explain.  I begain by removing the nut holding the lower part of the dampener on, and then proceeded to remove the upper suspension pin, without realising how much load this was under from the spring, it forced the pin to sit at a funny angle making it very difficult to remove.  Dispite my efforts to try and drift it out with a screwdriver it wasnt going anywhere, plus trying to hold the body, the screwdriver and the hammer was a fruitless excercise.

This had me stumped for a while, and dispite trying to undo the top of the spring (and failing) it still would allow me to get the pin out.  I wasnt aware that the bolt which was holding the dampener on could also be removed, and with a few taps of the hammer it was out.  The moment this popped out and dropped the dampener the whole assembly fell apart in my hands, including the dropping of the spring – result!

I guess its all part of the learning curve for me, but it is frustrating when something is staring you right in the face.

With the lower part of the hub now separated away from the steering column I could work on this area and putting aside the colum made life a bit easier, least to mention because of the space it was taking up.  So by undoing the wheel nuts, I could gently tab the hub off the brake shoes revealing the guts inside.

Removal of the front brakes involved drifiting the “top” pin out from where the brake shoes were hanging off, this allowed them to separate at the top and simply fall off the bottom.  If you are doing this, try not to do what I did and promptly lose the little retaining clip from the top pin for the brakes!! – one for the shopping list

The main axle was held on by a number of nuts and the main inner bearings.  The large cap nut on the opposite side of the hub was a little tricky to remove due to it being a “pretend” nut and not having very sharp edges, I wanted to be careful not to round this off as not being able to remove this would be a disaster as it is the only way to get inside the axle.

Once removed, I was able to undo the inner nut which was holding the axle in place (as well as the aforementioned bearings) and drift out the axle from the bearings.  This popped out with ease which left me a handy hole to slide a drift inside to hammer out the bearings.
The bearing races appearing to be in tip top condition and still packed with plenty of grease, dependant on cost I will decide whether or not to replace these at a later date.

the brake shoes

With all pins, washers, bearings, nuts and bolts I got out the trusty wire brush and gave it all a good cleaning as well as a dab of the magic cleaner (petrol) to wash away the oily sludge.  I will be polishing up the main body of the front suspension / hub as this will be on show when the bike is finished.  And finally, I have made a list of all the parts I need to buy and will be ordering them soon, then maybe, just maybe I can concentrate on one thing at a time and get one of these “mini projects” finished and packed away for future use!