Marzocchi Z1 wizards?

Matt D · Jan 10, 2004

"I don't get the idea that the prior owner ever changed the oil, and it arrived without brake pivots. I'm aware that those retain the sliders, so I ordered up some 532979QF button-head bolts. "

What are brake pivots? Do you mean brake bosses? If so, the fork should be leaking oil all over the place.

"The non-lockout side slider is loose enough so I can conveniently remove it - the top end has a knife edge that I figure mates with some sort of seal up in the arch; the lockout side slider's pretty firmly in place. "

What does conveniently mean? I don't know what the heck your talking about, your nomenclature is all wrong; or you're doing something wrong.

Here is the abbreviated way to take your fork apart.

1) take the top caps off (easy)
2) pour the oil out and take the springs out (easy)
3) Loosen the bolt on the bottom of each leg (you can rig a spark plug socket together to make a tool that will reach the MCR side) (somewhat tough)
4) Pull the legs apart from the stanchions (easy)
5) Inspect the seals and bushings for wear (easy)
6) Reassemble

RITFreeRider · Jan 10, 2004

So you're saying they lower legs can be removed from the arch easy if I understand right. Not sure if there is a seal in there but you could take the otherside out and see if there is. Otherwise just put in the brake bosses and rebuild it.

Matt D · Jan 11, 2004

Originally posted by johnbryanpeters
The "bolt" on the bottom of the legs/sliders is actually a 15 mm acorn nut, and can be removed with a socket wrench, a short extension and a ratchet.

The two legs seem to be a slight interference fit to the arch. They are normally secured by the brake bosses. One of them can be easily removed from the arch by twisting and pulling. The other seems to be pretty secure.

Is that more clearly stated?

J

i get it now. As RIT said, I think you should just lube the brake boss bolts and tighten them back up (pretty tight by the way but I don't know the spec off hand).

How have you gotten the acorn bolt off the MCR side without an extender that has a hollow shaft? That's the main thing. If I could find a hollow extender I'd use a 15mm like is supposed to be used, but I can't so I improvised with the spark plug socket.

MojoJojo · Jan 11, 2004

Everything you need to know is right here.....

http://www.marzocchi.com

36 pages in PDF format

Later

Repack · Jan 12, 2004

Originally posted by johnbryanpeters

The two legs seem to be a slight interference fit to the arch. They are normally secured by the brake bosses. One of them can be easily removed from the arch by twisting and pulling. The other seems to be pretty secure.

Is that more clearly stated?

J

If you can remove the legs from the arch, than the fork is broken and should not be ridden. The legs are a press cryofit. Marzocchi can repair then if nothing else is broken. One ride without the bosses is enough to break them. I am a mechanic who deals a lot with Marzocchi. The brake bosses are there to keep the legs from twisting loose from the arch (as well as holding the brakes). Marzocchi does sell bolts to take the place of the bosses if you are running discs.

sub6 · Jan 12, 2004

The arch is bonded to the lowers with glue, and held in place with the brake bosses. Obviously, you need new ones.

If you can just pull it off, it will probably spew oil when you ride it. If I were in your shoes, I'd get my money back from the seller - he obviously screwed up the fork pretty bad.

Other option is to send the fork back to Marz. to have the lowers re-bonded. That will cost you some $$$ though.

sub6 · Jan 12, 2004

I don't know what it would cost, but it would probably also involve having new seals put in (which should run you around $40 alone).

rideLIKEjehu had that happen to him (took out the brake bosses, within 5 min of riding it, the arch separated completely). He sent it back to Marzo and rather than spend all the money it would take to put it back together, he opted to just buy a new DJ - I'm sure they gave him a crash-replace deal or something like that on it but the point is, it's gonna be expensive. Since you're not the original owner you might not even get that much of a deal from them............

btw I don't think it would be too iffy to demand your money back - the dude did EXACTLY what the sticker right on the fork says to NOT do, and he ruined the fork by doing it. Unless you bought it with the knowledge that the bosses had been removed, you have every right to expect that he didn't **** it up for you.

Phatswalla · Jan 12, 2004

btw I don't think it would be too iffy to demand your money back - the dude did EXACTLY what the sticker right on the fork says to NOT do, and he ruined the fork by doing it. Unless you bought it with the knowledge that the bosses had been removed, you have every right to expect that he didn't **** it up for you. [/B]

Exactly, just return it. It's gonna end up costing a large percent of the cost of the fork, depending on how cheap you got it. You should get the guy to pay for shipping back too. This guy's a real ass if he didn't state that in the auction.

sub6 · Feb 4, 2004

Originally posted by johnbryanpeters
I finally ripped the whole fork down to its individual pieces, cleaned it up, and thunk about it some.

The top of the slider is sealed by an o-ring fitted into the crown.

I gave crown and slider a solvent wash, replaced the o-ring, then put a film of LOCTITE 660 QUICK METAL retaining compound, which is a gap-filling gelled cyanacrylate, assembled it and bolted it up. It takes about two hours to set up, which it's doing now.

Tomorrow I need to go find some 7.5W oil and reassemble it, and we'll see how the adventure turns out. Actually, that jury won't be in until quite a few riding hours have rolled by.

J

That actually sounds like it will do the trick. Marz's glue isn't the strongest stuff in the world, from what you describe, it should be essentially as good as Marz could do it.

Good luck! :thumb:

sub6 · Feb 5, 2004

Originally posted by johnbryanpeters
Rarrgh. Got the bushings, washers, new oil seals, circlips in, then found that the dust seals that came with the 850671 kit don't want to go in - the lip runs into the arch.

Back to LBS3 to confer with people who have done this before...

You need the M-arch seals kit, those are the ones that fit in all (including pre-M-arch models) the forks.

If you got one with the lip on it, that was some pretty old stock they gave you, Marz. has been shipping the M-arch style for years now.

You can use the old dust seals in a pinch though; re-using them is not as bad as reusing an oil seal (which is impossible)...

Repack · Feb 6, 2004

Originally posted by sub6
You need the M-arch seals kit, those are the ones that fit in all (including pre-M-arch models) the forks.

If you got one with the lip on it, that was some pretty old stock they gave you, Marz. has been shipping the M-arch style for years now.

You can use the old dust seals in a pinch though; re-using them is not as bad as reusing an oil seal (which is impossible)...

Wow. Agreed. I haven't seem the non-M seals since the M arch forks came out. What, 3 years ago now?

sub6 · Feb 6, 2004

Yah, you got it!

oh forgot to mention; if you bottom the fork excessively, add 5mm of oil to each side, that'll fix 'er up...

Marzocchi Z1 wizards?

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