Service my old fork or buy a new one?

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Service my old fork or buy a new one?
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flag ejopdahl
Posted: Sep 11, 2014 at 8:33 Quote
Hey guys, I have a 2002 Marzocchi Super T on my giant faith I bought in January. It's probably been well over a year since it was serviced, and I'm really nervous it's gonna crap out on me. I have been neglecting it to save for a used boxxer or 888 in the 350-400$ range, but other expenses are arising lately.

How much would it cost to service my Super T? What kind of things get replaced/ worked on when a fork is serviced?
How long will the fork survive after being serviced?
Should I just continue to beat on my fork until I can get something new?

Thanks for the help. I'm a noob when it comes to suspension technology.
flag drillposten
Posted: Sep 11, 2014 at 11:21 Quote
You will probably notice that your fork will perform much worse if you skip service. It will probably not fall apart for you nor cause any bigger risks of injury.

How long it would last depends a lot of the mechanical condition of your forks, a service usually includes new oil, seals and a good cleaning of your fork. It will prolong the lifespan of the internals, but not the external parts, as the biggest wear and tear on those parts are beatings from rocks and other hard stuff on the trails.
A service is usually around 50-100$
A fork service is not that hard to do yourself, and the super t is quite simple to service. There are a lot of guides on the internet, some good and some less good. If it's not leaking it could just do a big difference in the feeling with new oil in it.

For around 350-400$ you can get a quite good used fork looking at 888, boxxer and even older fox 40's could be found in that price range. As long as the fork does not have to big damages to the stanchions, lowers and got fully functioning internals it should be a good alternative.

I would have tried to find a good service guide and change the oil myself, while saving up for a "new" (used) fork.
flag ejopdahl
Posted: Sep 11, 2014 at 11:35 Quote
drillposten wrote:
You will probably notice that your fork will perform much worse if you skip service. It will probably not fall apart for you nor cause any bigger risks of injury.

How long it would last depends a lot of the mechanical condition of your forks, a service usually includes new oil, seals and a good cleaning of your fork. It will prolong the lifespan of the internals, but not the external parts, as the biggest wear and tear on those parts are beatings from rocks and other hard stuff on the trails.
A service is usually around 50-100$
A fork service is not that hard to do yourself, and the super t is quite simple to service. There are a lot of guides on the internet, some good and some less good. If it's not leaking it could just do a big difference in the feeling with new oil in it.

For around 350-400$ you can get a quite good used fork looking at 888, boxxer and even older fox 40's could be found in that price range. As long as the fork does not have to big damages to the stanchions, lowers and got fully functioning internals it should be a good alternative.

I would have tried to find a good service guide and change the oil myself, while saving up for a "new" (used) fork.

Thanks man! That was really helpful. How much does the oil cost to do it yourself? Any special tools needed?
flag drillposten
Posted: Sep 11, 2014 at 13:30 Quote
The oil costs around 5-10$, and usually no more special tools than a measuring cup or ruler depending on the guide for oil change. I have never serviced a Super T, so i don't know exactly what tools needed. The work won't take mor than one hour for a beginner to do i think. But don't be in a hurry when servicing, make sure that you have enough time, and read the guides before so you know what you are going to do.

Good equipped bike shops usually carry suspension oil, otherwise most suppliers of spare parts for motorbikes will have suspension oil. The quality/viscosity/weight of the oil is specified in the owners manual

Owners manual: http://www.marzocchi.com/system2/18301/MTB_02stndrd_900721.pdf
flag lukedaniel
Posted: Sep 14, 2014 at 8:23 Quote
Pop off the top caps and drain the oil and just replace with fresh and they'll run good as new unless you have leaky seals dead easy don't pay anyone to do it you can get the oil level of the mariachi website
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