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Sticky Fork - conflicting info from Marzocchi manuals/techs

dknittel

Chimp
Dec 15, 2007
6
0
Sarasota
Its a '05 Marzocchi Z1 FR3
Bought it used from Marc610 on ebay (reported as one season of use)

Problem:
Super sticky travel. i.e. when you press down the front end, the stanchions don't move, then skip about 1/4 inch, stops, jump. In other words, its not smooth travel.

Solutions I tried so far:
I opened it up - oil height is actually a little lower than the Marzocchi specified 49 mm height. (I called Marzocchi)
Oil looks good - I mean - it's clear.
Springs in both sides are blue - don't know what that means. I have another '05 Z1 FR3 with ETA that does not have this problem. It has grey springs.
I stuck grey spring in it from the othe Z1 - same problem.
I lubed the stanchions per Marzocchi recommendation - same problem.
Maybe New bushings are to blame? Hmmm - I've had plenty of brand new Marzocchi forks - 66, 888 and none felt like this.
By the way - While open I decided to move move the lowers up and down with the springs out (kinda like playing a trombone) with no resistance from the springs or oil - it still felt a little less than smooth. that is, I could easily slide the lowers up and down without skipping but there was a small amount of resistance. I don't have anything to compare it to as I've never done this with my other marzocchi's.

Confusing: Owners Manual says that if you have a sticky fork - then the seals are contaminated. When I asked the tech guy at Marzocchi to confirm this, he said "the seals shouldn't have anything to do with it".
Huh? Now I'm confused. Anyone have the final word on this?
Hopefully its not a crooked-cast lower.
 

kev211

Monkey
Jan 22, 2008
320
0
San Diago
id say its either the seals, or the spring (most likely seals though) the different colors of the springs are their weigths. id check the marz website, because they change from year to year (i.e. 2000 blue spring = xfirm 2008 spring = soft) and they also vary from company to company. good luck!
 

zebrahum

Monkey
Jun 22, 2005
401
0
SL,UT
I'd reset your air pressures. Don't forget the negative and positives under the caps. I don't know that fork exactly, but it might help to reset all the pressures.