Removing the front fork

Getting the frame ready for a cleaning started by taking off the front fork and hub.  I disconnected the headset, with handlebars and headlight and moved that on to a shelf for later work.  Unscrewed the top nuts and spacers on the fork and began to try and pull it down through the horncast.

The locking mechanism is maybe a bit tweaked as it was catching on the locking and stop tabs on the fork.  It took a good amount of jiggling and pulling but the fork finally let loose and came out clean.

Here is a picture of those top threads, nice and clean with the rings and spacers all in tact.  All of the wires and cable will stay in place for the moment to allow for easier threading when that time arrives in the future.

Took a few pictures of the front hub as well now that it is off the bike.  Check out the original hub nuts with the extensions that pass through the lock washer and into the hub itself.

And here is a view up in to the front fender where the original primer resides.  It is very clean in here.

I will leave getting the hub off for a later date when I am ready to work on the suspension and brakes etc.

One interesting note is that the front fork had no bearings.  Below is a picture of the dust guard which is still in very good shape but no bearings top or bottom?  So why would you take a front fork off and remove the bearings and then replace the front fork reattaching all the wiring and cabling to the headlight and handlebars but forget the bearings?  I can not figure that one out.

Edit on 08/10/2015:  So I have the answer to the bearings question.  It is obvious to anyone reading this blog with experience on these old scoots but it was not obvious to me right away because this is my first older scooter.  I was working under the assumption that the bearings were a fixed unit which had to be removed by sliding them up the fork.  This however is not the case for this scooter.  The bearings are loose balls placed individually in the races.  So what happened here is that someone started to take the fork off this bike and all the loose bearings fell out or were taken out.  Over time they were lost and the hope of rebuilding the bike may have been lost with them..  I have new loose bearings on order from SIP and once they arrive I will be able to return this fork to operating condition.