I just recently bought an '04 Junior T brand new from pricepoint.com for my new stab primo frame. I installed it on the frame, out of the box, and it was just way to soft! First off, the sag was nearly one inch up the stanchions. This is strange since im only 145 pounds and nothing really changed when I cranked the preload adjusters to the max preload. So I talked with some mechanics and local riders, some told me stiffer springs, some told me heavier weight oil, some said add oil, and somebody told me to swap one of the top caps with an air valve cap and to pump it up a bit. I called marzocchi tech and they told me to change to 10 wt oil and fill to 95mm from the top of the stanchion ( the max amount). I decided just to open up the fork and see how much oil was in it at the time anyway. I took off the caps, took out the spacers and springs, and measured the oil, and it was about 70 mm from the top, when the fork was fully compressed. I didnt really understand this considering it was the stock oil. I put it all back together and then tried installing an air valve cap on the left leg from my dj1, and pumped it to about 15 psi....and voila!!! the fork is now the stiffness that I want it. I took it for a test ride and something on or in the fork was making a loud clacking/raddling noise everytime my front wheel landed on the ground and it became very very annoying. i switched the caps back to normal to see if it would still make the noise and sure enough clack! clack! clack! Now the fork was super soft to where I can bottom it out on a 3 foot drop, and was making a lot of noise. I know that it is not my hub, spokes, rim, tire, or cables/hoses making that noise, so it has to be something inside the fork. Does anyone know how to solve this problem? Im very fed up with the issues im having with this 2 week old fork. Please help!
Marzocchi Fork Problems...
- Thread starter hardtailer88
- Start date
I'm not a specialist when it comes to the JrT but it sounds awfully strange that it runs so much into it's sag when you weight only 145 lbs. I doubt any oil weight change could fix that problem. It would seem to me that there is an internal dilema.
K
konadhrider
Guest
I would recomend putting in the heaviest springs. I use jr.ts with the heavy springs on my stab primo, and it works great. My fork started making that clacking noise after the springs were installed by my local bike shop and they felt soft for heavy springs. But I opened them up, and found the spacers were put in the fork wrong. After I fixed them, they were much stiffer and didn't make that noise.
It doesn't sound like you added any oil - I was getting real inconsistent behavior from my DJI (well, before it snapped, that is..) it would feel okay sometimes, and would bottom out on curbs other times - really. Someone recommended that I add oil, which I was hesitant to do since the level was inside of the limits outlined in the manual - but after I decided I could do no harm and actually put some more oil in the fork - it worked great, well, it worked great until it snapped at 10 months of age and I was told by Marz that it would not be covered by warranty - but that's another thread, and had nothing to do with the oil level.
well it turns out that an extremely ignorant kid doesnt mind the loud clacking and constant bottoming out and wants to buy it from me. I think I will upgrade to a sherman slider pluss!!!!!!!
I wouldn't sell it, kids like that aren't easy to deal with. Anyway, My 160lb bud was sagging hard into is jr.t, then he added air, and voila! But the damping is still untuned, 6 inch mode.