With the rear wheel and hub out of the way, it is much easier to access the clutch. Since I would have to wait for parts to put the rear wheel back on anyway, it seemed like a good time to tear into the clutch. I pulled off the motor dust cover by removing two of the three bolts on the clutch cover. Then I removed the rear motor bolt, and dropped the motor down at the rear. After removing the final clutch cover nut, and the clutch cable off the clutch arm, I could then try to pull off the clutch cover.
Normally the covers come right off, but this one felt stuck. After a little struggling, it finally came off. With it off, it was easy to tell why it was stuck - someone had put some sort of silicone gasket sealer on it. This area doesn't get a lot of oil seepage, and the cover has a metal lip on it. Gasket sealer isn't necessary. I'll scrape it off, and install a new rubber o-ring on the clutch cover.
With the cover off, I had access to the clutch. I used an air-powered impact wrench with a wobble extender to get the clutch nut off. It makes quick work of it, that's for sure. Next, I used the special clutch removal tool to get the clutch off. There are not many special tools that you need in Vespa repair work, but the handful of clutch and flywheel pullers are an absolute must-have.
On the left, you see the clutch in place on the motor with the pressure plate in the center. I removed that plate to get access to the retaining nut. The Super Sport clutch is fairly similar to those found on later other largeframe Vespas.
It is a fairly simple operation to get the pressure plate off the clutch. I simply used a flat blade screw driver to push the retaining clip towards the center of the plate, and pulled the plate off the clutch.
Next, I installed the special clutch puller onto the clutch. I used my impact wrench on the puller and the clutch popped right off the crankshaft. I made sure to put a shop rag into the motor just below the clutch as I pulled it off the motor. The clutch is located on the crank by a small woodruff key. If that key fall off the clutch and into the motor, it is time to crack open the cases... something to be avoided.
With the clutch off, I could use another special tool, the Vespa clutch compressor. Once I had the clutch springs fully compressed, I could remove the retaining clip on the clutch, and pull out all of the clutch bits. On the later type clutches, the symptom of clutch snatch or grab is often caused by worn out brass bits in the clutch. The SS uses a different type of mechanism, with the clutch parts riding on bearings rather than brass parts. I just inspected the whole clutch for anything that look obviously amiss. I didn't see anything that looked too bad.
(All of the clutch parts"exploded")
The one thing that looked like it was suspect was an area of wear on the clutch backing plate where one of the springs locks into its keeper. Perhaps one of the clutch springs wasn't properly seated.
(Here you see the bottom of the clutch backing plate, and the spring keepers)
I put the clutch back together, making double sure to seat all of the springs. I then re-installed it onto the clutch, and torqued down the clutch nut. Then, the pressure plate, and then the clutch cover were installed.
I guess the only way to check the clutch action will be to start up the motor. That will have to wait until I get the rear wheel back on the scooter.