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How to rebuild a 2004 Marzocchi drop off triple fork

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How to rebuild a 2004 Marzocchi drop off triple fork

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flag Roman87
Posted: Nov 21, 2007 at 10:56 Quote
Hello everyone.

I have a 2004 Kona Stinky. I purchased it used about 2 months ago and love this bike, but I think it needs some serous tuning. I picked up the bike for 500, which I didn't at the time think was too bad. After about a week of riding, i started going over the bike since it started making weird noises and the forks seemed way to plush, and i bottomed them out once. At that point, I realized i should have looked over the bike mechanically. I dont think this bike has ever been serviced in its life. The pressure in the fork was 0 psi on both sanctions, lots of bolts were looser than a whore, and the bike is in need a of good tuneup.

So now with the fork. I am very mechanically inclined (changed out the camshafts in a buddies 328) and I want to rebuild my fork. I tried looking online for any tutorials or anything, but i couldn't find a damn thing, just the service manual from the Marzocchi website, which only gave me torque specs...but nothing about how to do the service or where to get new seals.

If anyone has ever rebuilt one of these guys, can you give the the instruction or where to get the parts or how to tune the fork. Also, are they any upgrades I should do right away?

To give you an idea of how the forks is being used ill give you my riding style
-175 pound rider
-I have a habit of doing flat landings (no more than 10-15 stairs). And yes, I know its bad for the bike, but realistically I don't do them often due to a bad knee
-I plan on hitting up Blue mountain this summer to use the bike for its intended use of DownHilling
-This bike will see more DJ'ing than Dh'ing

I would basically like to get this fork in new condition, and tune it to my riding style.

Thanks
Roman
flag ajaxpowder
Posted: Nov 21, 2007 at 11:01 Quote
just cough up the 80 doller have the shop do it the first time so you know what to do..
flag odin333
Posted: Nov 21, 2007 at 11:12 Quote
ya i don't know how to fix it or anything but just look around the pinkbike buy sell and theirs tons of drop off tripples, some are even knew and are selling for like $300, or since its winter in ontario and theirs pretty much no were that isn't a swamp to ride or covered in snow right now save up over the winter and get some really good shocks like 888's or boxxers.
flag aniyn
Posted: Nov 21, 2007 at 11:26 Quote
Seems to me that this is another one of those "if you have to ask, you shouldn't be doing it." Just cough up the cash and get someone who knows how to do it, because you really don't want it to fail when you're bombing down a hill somewhere.
flag toooldschool
Posted: Nov 21, 2007 at 11:42 Quote
For starters just torque the bolts to spec and change the oil (go to the max height) stick with 7 wt unless your rebound is still too fast then try 10 wt in the one leg. Any lbs should be able to get you seals all 32mm Zokes use the same. There is very little to gain by completely taking apart the fork unless it is filthy. Really though fork service is pretty cheap Lots of good home mechs still take suspension to the pros a rebuild should cost you about 60 bucks seals and oil another 40.
flag i-t-o
Posted: Nov 22, 2007 at 2:58 Quote
Go back and look at the Zocchi PDF document. It'll give a blow up of the fork's internals and steps to take apart and service the fork. It isn't hard if you have mechanical experience and the right tools.

All parts needed can be bought from a bike shop, ask them to order the seals and such for you.

Oil weight and height are personal preference. By some 7.5 oil from a moto shop (cheaper typically than from an LBS) and see what level you like. Heavier weight oil=more dampening typically and less rebound. You can fine tune it with the air adjustment.

Keep in mind that your fork is close to bottom of the line for that style and won't ever feel as good as the 888 or a Fox 40, but you can tune them up pretty nice with the right tools and a little loving care.
flag mtbman1980
O+ FL
Posted: Nov 23, 2007 at 11:06 Quote
for the drop off you should be using at least 10wt oil. i used 15wt but im 220lbs. using the heavier oil helps the rebound and compression damping as there are no adjusters for it. If you find that there is still a harsh top-out switch to 15wt oil.
flag
Posted: Nov 23, 2007 at 12:35 Quote
Marzocchi may not have put up exploded PDF diagrams of the drop-offs.
The drop offs were pretty terrible forks OEM, but with a little TLC they are a decent platform. The damping systems aren't too sophisticated and the overall construction is easy as pie, so if you've swaped an import camshaft (we're motor heads here too!), then a drop-off rebuild is a no brainer.
You do need one special tool, however. The bolts on the lowers require a thin wall 12mm deep socket wrench which is hard to come by outside marzocchi. Take off the top caps and each leg into a different cup so you can measure the original oil levels (assuming there weren't any leaks).
Take off the 12mm lower bolts (one is just a nut around the rebound knob)and pull the lowers. Pull the dust seals out and then the oil seal below it which may or may not be retained by a metal circlip. Replace (google enduro fork seals, they're fantastic).

Give the seals, pushrods, and uppers a light greasing with palin petroleum jelly (it's just for assembly, the fork is lubed by oil) and reassemble the lowers.

Pour in fresh oil +10cc through the top of the fork legs. Our suggestion is to go at least 15wt at the first go; the compression damping ciruit isn't sensitive at all. Put the air assist caps back on, pump both up to 5psi (yes, just 5) and go ride.

Tune the fork by using the left air assist knob to set sag and ride height (there's more air volume in this leg). Put air in the right leg to counteract bottoming out completely and try to stay below 15psi or so. there is less air volume in this leg so the air spring rate will ramp up faster than the other side and make the fork overly harsh if there is too much pressure.

Hope this helped.
flag mtbman1980
O+ FL
Posted: Nov 23, 2007 at 12:47 Quote
for the 12mm thinwall socket grind down a standard socket to fit and enduro seals are definetly better than stock
flag jackstack
Posted: Aug 18, 2014 at 15:47 Quote
Roman87 wrote:
Hello everyone.

I have a 2004 Kona Stinky. I purchased it used about 2 months ago and love this bike, but I think it needs some serous tuning. I picked up the bike for 500, which I didn't at the time think was too bad. After about a week of riding, i started going over the bike since it started making weird noises and the forks seemed way to plush, and i bottomed them out once. At that point, I realized i should have looked over the bike mechanically. I dont think this bike has ever been serviced in its life. The pressure in the fork was 0 psi on both sanctions, lots of bolts were looser than a whore, and the bike is in need a of good tuneup.

So now with the fork. I am very mechanically inclined (changed out the camshafts in a buddies 328) and I want to rebuild my fork. I tried looking online for any tutorials or anything, but i couldn't find a damn thing, just the service manual from the Marzocchi website, which only gave me torque specs...but nothing about how to do the service or where to get new seals.

If anyone has ever rebuilt one of these guys, can you give the the instruction or where to get the parts or how to tune the fork. Also, are they any upgrades I should do right away?




So would you drop a kerb or go over a bump and they would travel half way or more?

To give you an idea of how the forks is being used ill give you my riding style
-175 pound rider
-I have a habit of doing flat landings (no more than 10-15 stairs). And yes, I know its bad for the bike, but realistically I don't do them often due to a bad knee
-I plan on hitting up Blue mountain this summer to use the bike for its intended use of DownHilling
-This bike will see more DJ'ing than Dh'ing

I would basically like to get this fork in new condition, and tune it to my riding style.

Thanks
Roman
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