Has anyone done a basic oil change and clean out of theirs? If so, did you find any instructions to follow?

3 year no service warranty or not, I’d be surprised if they don’t benefit from some regular basic maintenance.

I understand from a previous thread that Windwave will service them for £65 (although I didn’t see anything to that effect on their website, nor a phone number) and that might be the way to go but my normal approach would be DIY. It’s easy enough on my other forks and they benefit from it being done more regularly than £65 a pop would make sense for.

I have so far failed to find a service manual or similar on the web and I note also that TF and Loco don’t work on 55s.

I’ll pop the caps off for an oil change if I don’t find a service manual in the next few days. But I’d like to clean the seals and lowers and I’ve always been more comfortable dropping the lowers off rather than poking around near stantions with screwdrivers.

Any experience, folks?

Luke

I’ve done an oil change on mine – piece of cake. I’ll see if i can dig up some instructions.

Basically you remove the top caps, take the spring out, turn them upside down and pump the oil out.

did my 44rc3tis last night

theres a vid of 66s on youtube that are quite similar
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CVkh7omsDk[/video]
just find an exploded diagramm of the right year for correct reassmbly

but basically,
wind compression to full open, rebound to full soft (i think)
let the air out

remove adjusters from bottom, loosen footnuts, one is a 12mm socket one is an allen key (on my44s)
(its easier too loosen these when they are under pressure from the spring

removce adjusters from top
remove the top caps (with a cassete lockring tool)

pour the oil out
remove spring
remove rc3 cartridge

pull off sliders

spring side stanchions have a rod and spring in you need circlip pliers to remove it

clean, pump oil from cartridge

reassemble (again footnuts spring in will help and for rc3 side pull up on the cart whilst tightening)

oil tables volumes here…
http://www.marzocchi.com/Template/contenuto.asp?idC=1561&IdFolder=777

As above – its nice and easy and they do feel much better for it… especially if the foam o-rings have dried out.

Beware the state of the plastic/heat-shrink-stuff on the spring… even if its damaged do not be tempted to remove it as they make a hell of a racket if you do (from a friend of mine). Can be replaced if need be with battery heat shrink supposedly – I’ll need to do mine soon as it looked a bit tatty when last removed.

ooops removed my shrink wrap last night as it was mostly shredded
whats a battery heat shrink, how and where do i do it?

I removed the foam O-rings as they dry out too easily and get sticky and im too lazy to relube em!

A little googling I did a few weeks ago about replacing the wrap pointed at this stuff being a good option… Linky

Not sure which size is needed so I’ll have to remove the spring and measure… its on my list of jobs to do at some point.

Looking at it again only the 37.5mm stuff makes any sense sizewise and at £2 I may as well buy one meter rather than 20cm for £1.69.

EDIT – I’ve ordered some.

I asked windwave and was told its pretty similar for all their forks: http://marzocchiworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/

cheers messiah so do i just slip some over the coil and pop it in the oven?

Heat-gun like used for stripping paint would be the best bet… not sure if a hairdryer will get hot enough. Oven might do it but possibly overkill.

Cheers for all the replies. Will have a go at it and see how I get on.

Interesting that they use a spring wrap that doesn’t last and I’d guess heat shrink tube would be quite brittle too. How old were your forks with shredded spring wrap? Mine is 18 months of not particularly hard use old – I’ll start with the assumption I’ll leave that as it is.

Might be worth watching this video: –

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Change-the-Seals-and-Fluid-of-Your-Marzocchi-44-For.html

Not precisely the same model, but I would imagine the process is similar.

I’m looking at servicing my 2012 55 Micro Ti’s shortly so would be interested to hear how you get on.

mine are 2 years old but theyve had a tough life, beacuse they are so plush and fun to ride i tend to throw them off silly things , beyod what the 44s were intended for

if the 55s were 650b id be getting some for my next bike!

That 37.5mm stuff I linked to is too small.

The 64.5mm Battery Heat Shrink (Linky) worked a treat. It looked just like the original stuff after a wee blast with a heat gun and slid into the fork no bother.

I’ll have a look inside the fork in few weeks and post back what it looks like, but for now the fork is virtually silent again as the rattling noise it was making has gone away… chuffed 8)

Well… my fork went notchy recently and when I took the spring out I found the heat shrink was badly damaged and was causing friction with the spring against the stanchion wall. Since I installed the spring I raced the Trans-Savoie which is probably a years worth of riding in a week 😯

I guess the shrink wrap I’m using is a little thicker and may be causing the problem. I prefer the fork quiet so I’ve re-heat shrinked it and installed it with more slick grease this time.

I’ll be keeping an eye on it again for that notchy feeling.

My 55 Ti’s have now done two seasons without a service, still feel mint but not sure whether I should think about changing the oil yet… any thoughts? They don’t get a massive abount of abuse but are moderately well used I’d say.

oil change as per the pinkbike vid is easy and will make ’em feel even better.

How about a length of road inner tube to sleeve the spring?

I’ll have to pluck up some courage and have go this winter once the bikes are packed away and the snowboards have come out 🙂

Its piss easy to change the oil 8)

Innertube won’t work as there is not much clearance between the spring and the stanshion – heatshrink is the only option.

and make sure its thin heatshrink too..

i used some 1mm stuff to start with when i serviced my 44’s and it was way too thick.. there really isn’t a lot of clearance between the spring and stanchion

used some of the stuff messiah recommended and it worked a treat.. 😀

Chaps – extremely useful thread – thanks for this.

All good for me except replacing the shrink-wrap – how did you guys wrap the spring? Had lots of problems with it crinkling up too much and unwrapping for me – will try again once I get some more and will try a lower, steadier application of heat.

I’ve recently serviced my 44RC3ti again.
This time I removed all the shrinkwrap as it was in tatters (3 year old fork, ridden hard)
I haven’t had any problem with knocking. They’re still just as quiet as they were with the wrap on. So I’d say try it without and worry about fitting some replacement wrap only if yours has suddenly turned noisy.
It’s only a 2 minute job to remove the spring cap and pull the spring out if it turns out you do need the wrap.

Good call. Was thinking that myself as I’ll have to order some more shrink-wrap stuff and that’s take a few days. Will probably try without. Ta!

some good tips here. Thanks a bunch