technical section
Complete Vespa smallframe engine strip down and rebuild.
8. Removing the gearshift assembly and rear axle.
After you have removed the gears you will see this. Note that although I have undone the bolt on the top a little to make removal easier, in practice it actually makes little or no difference so you might as well leave it fastened.
To remove this from the engine case you need to move the gear selector so it is in fourth gear - or at least where fourth gear would be if you hadn't removed it! This will make the next step easier which is to tap out the whole assembly from the other side. Place a block of wood on the end of the axle and tap the axle through by hammering on this bit of wood.
When the axle is out it should look like this:
We'll rebuild it in the next step.