1997 Marzocchi Z2 Refurb / Service / Fettle

albash82

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Hi,
I bought these a while back and was disappointed to receive them with an internal part blatantly rattling around inside. This must have been obvious to the seller and wasn't mentioned.
I've never worked on an old fork, but have done basic servicing when working as a bike mechanic and recently changed an air shaft when I stepped my lyrik down.
So without reading up, or finding exploded diagrams / service manuals, or anything, I decided to try and strip these down tonight.
I got this far:
IMG_20220504_214731.jpg
It was the left leg that was rattling and the one you can see on the left side of that pic is the left side, (carelessly arranged next to the right side of the lowers -OCD destroyed 🤦🏼 ).
It's that lower part that extends down from the stanchion tube that's rattling around. You can see it's at a fair angle compared to the stanchion.
The same part on the right internal, has a small hole at the bottom, and all the black oil came out of there. So I assume only the right leg has damping. That was slightly rattly when I'd got the leg out, but not very.
This reminded me that when servicing more modern forks, I put a lot more oil in one side than the other... So obviously the same principles are still used 25 years on. What a great design!
For someone who's worked in the bike industry for 13 years, I've really never got into how suspension, mainly damping, works, so this is really interesting for me.
One of the sides was missing a circlip from the very top of the stanchion.
I don't have any c-clip spanners, so I'll be heading to Halfords first thing to get some. As I can't remove the rest of the internals to see what's going on with the rattly side, until the c-clips on the underside of the stanchions are removed.

I'm wondering if the spring has sheared...
I shall report back when I know more.

If anybody cares to offer any experience, please feel free!
 
There should be the same amount of oil in both legs, but only rebound adjustment in the right one. The cartridge in the right leg has the hole in the bottom, the left cartridge is a dummy in the Z2.

You take the internals apart from the top of the stanchion, not the bottom. It’s something like a 30mm socket, but I use a big adjustable.

It’ll probably rattle because it’s dry, or the spring preload is too slack. They’re open bath so the oil will drain out when you remove the nuts from the bottom of the slider, apart from the residual oil in the cartridge.

They’re easy to work on. I’d never serviced any forks before tackling some Z1s and then Z2s in the last couple of years.
 

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Yep so I didn't have a 26mm socket or spanner. Got big adjustable out and turns out they were barely past finger tight anyway!
Nothing appears broken, so you're probably right about the rattle being due to that left leg being bone dry.

Seals are toast. I'm on a really tight budget, and can get enduro seals through work. I'll inspect the bushings... See if they need a replace.

Toying with the idea of respraying the lowers, but.... 🤷🏼 The frame I've always had in mind for these isn't exactly mint either and I didn't want to respray that.
IMG_20220505_091604.jpg
 
Glad you got them opened and all looks ok.

Yeah, they don’t need much torque, which is lucky as they’d be impossible to grip!

The stanchions look in good condition, fingers crossed the bushings are fine.

The legs look in pretty good condition from that photo. Are they tattier on the sides?
 
Yeah I was thinking I'd have to borrow a strap wrench from work but they popped straight open!

Stanchions are great tbh. Lucky in that respect.

Legs are quite tatty. Some pretty deep patina.
 
It’s a shame about the legs but at least they’re only cosmetic, much more important that the stanchions are good.
 
The word "stanchion" looks wrong. Even though it's not. I have issue with it.
-Stantion
-Stankchun
Seen both of these over the years
 

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