As you may have guessed, I have several scooters that I could ride at any given time... however, the one I ride the most is my "beater". It is a Vespa P125 with a crappy flat black paint job. I ride it to the train every day, and run errands on it frequently. It looks bad enough, and it worth so little money, that I just don't mind if something happens to it. Although it looks bad, I make sure that mechanically, it is in perfect condition. I've done a lot of work to it over the years, but when you ride one of these things daily, dilligent maintenence is required.
Recently, my front shock gave it up, after 30 years of rough service. For me, shocks, tires, and brakes are all very important safety issues to keep in perfect working order. As soon as the shock seemed to get soft, I ordered a new unit to replace it. A shock in good condition should rebound quickly, and have no bounce. Mine was getting spongy and bouncy! Time to dump it...
So first thing to do is to remove the old shock. It is held on by four bolts, two on the bottom, and two at the top. I pulled off the front wheel to get better access to the shock. Then I removed the two nuts and bolts at the bottom.
Then, I removed the two nuts at the top. They attach the shock to the fork through a plate which is itself bolted to the shock assembly. With the nuts off, the shock can come down. I left the bolts hanging from the fork.
Once the nuts are off the top, the entire shock assembly can come out. The front hub axle assembly can swing down.
Here you see the old shock on the left, and the new one on the right. The new shocks do not come with the fork attachment plate, so you have to remove it from the old shock and install it on the new shock. Getting the plate off can be tricky because it can spin freely on the shock top. The easiest way I have found to remove the plate is to clamp it in a vise. I then hit the nut that holds the plate down with an air powered impact wrench. If you don't have an impact wrench, just get a long wrench or ratchet and put some oomph into it.
With the plate off, you can inspect the rubber buffers which are located on both sides of the plate. If they are old and blown out, now is the time to replace them.
With the mounting plate installed on the new shock, it is time to put the new shock on the scooter. First, install the bottom bolts and loosely tighten the nuts. Then, manuver the top of the shock so that the mounting plate lines up with the bolts that you left hanging from the fork. It helps to have a friend steady the front hub for this operation... you can do it alone, but an extra pair of hands is nice to have. Once you get the mounting plate in the right location, and the bolts through the plate holes, time to get the nuts on. You'll find that just trying to get the nuts started on these bolts is very difficult because they are not locked into place at the top, and the front fender blocks access to them. I get around this by simply twisting the mounting plate slightly, so it puts pressure on the bolts, and "locks" them into place. Just a little sidways pressure will allow you to get the nuts started on the bolts. Then keep the pressure up while you get your socket on there and tighten them up. Get the top two nuts good and tight, and then do the final tighen on the two bottom nuts that you left slightly slack.
With that, your new shock is installed. Next, put your front wheel back on, and crack open that cold one you've been too busy wrenching to drink!