Marzocchi fork separation

Damn dude dont get another marchzz.. get fox or rockshox!

 

The incident was so sudden and unexpected, that I had no time to react. I couldn't tuck, nor protect my face. I pretty much hit the dirt in the position I was riding, at the mercy of whatever obstacles lay there. Lucky for me, there was just dirt, so I have minor abrasions and bruises to my arms, knees, and face. But I know it could have been much more serious. What if I had big air, or hit my face on a rock? I could have been in the middle of nowhere, seriously injured. I don't want this to happen to anyone, so I post here and also will make another attempt to inform Marzocchi about this issue.

 

Dont be, its very rare for this to happen with any Manf fork

The 07 line is the last itallian made line, those are the ones that didnt have problems, they work really well.

It all depends on who your dealing with. They are actually pretty cool. It also depends on your attitude when you talk to them.





Ok couple things, First I have a couple questions

First for the OP......Can I have your old lowers?

Ok couple statements

Marz, along with RS, FOX and others, only offer a one year warranty against parts failure. something about the 66 internals, all you can do is drain the oil, and refill them. they are crimped, and do not come apart. They couldnt have left something out when they serviced it, all they did was pull the springs, spring seats, top caps off, take the lowers off, slide the carts out to drain, replace seals, possibly the bushings and reassemble. It only takes about 30 minutes to service the 66eta. I have seen this happen oin RS forks, and fox forks, and they were all on products that were a couple years old. AND ALL THE MANF SAID THE SAME THING....too bad, its this muich to replace.


So anyways, now that thats out of the way......I am a curious one, back to the OP. How much air were you running prior to this? How fast was your rebound? Have you have any major otb crashes before this happening?

 

I dont know if it was a partial swap in 07 or not but 07 all mountains, 4x world cup is when the first severe daming issues staarted to come up

 

I would say its time for US CONSUMERS TO THINK TWICE ABOUT WEIGHT BEING THE REASON WE BUY THINGS. This is what we get. If the rods were to be made correct strengh then these things would not happen.I am amazed sometimes when I pull suspension apart to see what is actually holding things together.

 

Sorry, Marzocchi has my old fork, and hopefully will fix it.

Their attitude on this type of failure is unacceptable. It is one thing to replace due to wear and tear, but a fork should never come apart like this. Can you imagine the lawsuits if you were riding a motorcycle and the fork flew off due to a manufacturing defect?

Now I don't ride the bike very hard, but if I did, I am certain this would have occured much sooner, perhaps within the first year. If that were the case, should their attitudes be different?

I ran the recommended air pressure for my weight, 40psi I beleive. My rebound was set on the fast side. I have had many otb crashes, but none which damaged the fork.

 

Man I cant agree more with that statement, that would be the reason I got the 66 rc2 eta, the same the OP had come apart. Because its one of the stronger, heavier SC forks out there, friggin almost a nine pound fork.

Please, Please, Please....DOnt take this wrong, but thats why your fork came apart right there. Max pressure is 15psi, and thats for near 300 lbs. I weight 250, I have teh same fork that you had come apart, I run 3 PSI, and that makes for a very stiff fork. YOu have to remember its an air assist, not an air spring.

I have a feeling it wasnt 40 PSI, but something much lower, if you had 40 in that fork, it would ride like a rigid unless you are 400 plus lbs.


As far as they attitude being different if it failed in the first year...Yes it would be differnt, remember EVERY Manf out there would have told you the same thing reguardlesss of who made it with a failure like this with the fork being over a year old. You have to realize, they get JRA calls all day long on failures, they dont know you, they dont know what your idea of riding lite is, My idea of lite riding is alot harder than most would think.

Bottom line, you cant get too upset about them charging you for the repair, any and all of the Suspension Manf would be doing the same thing for this.

Think of it like this, at least your fork worked when you took it out of the box, unlike the new RS Boxxer Teams that were all shipped without lube, in need of a service before you could ride it.....What do you think RS's fix for that was?

Sorry about the mix up sir.....Go to your local Moto store, get XXX oil, and I will walk you through what to do. OH Im sorry, you rode it already and damaged the stantions, well thats going to cost XXXX amount to replace the stantions....Whats that? Now we dont cover the damage on Stantions when you rode the fork dry, its YOUR responsibility to check that before you ride, if you thought something was wrong then, you should have called before you rode it.......

And no thats not a joke.

 

Hmm, do we have same fork? I weigh 155 and like the fork plush, so I adjust the air to get it that way. On my new fork, I think I am closer to 25-30ps. At 15psi it would compress too easily. From the manual, the max air pressure varies a lot depending on the fork. Maybe my oil level was unusually low? Maybe your oil level is high? Not sure.

 

Do you yhink the Roadrunner had something to do with this? Hmmm.... i'm just saying...

Glad you got it worked out Wile E!


shitty

 

You "had" the 07 eta/rc2 66 correct? Then yes, I am sure we have the same unit. If 40Psi is what you needed at 155, then yes, something was very wrong right from the get go, should come stock with a ehavy, and a medium spring, the air will take the medium<0 psi> spring from Medium, to extra firm<15psi>

Most marz air forks are set up with just an air assist, alot are single sprung with the air assist on teh other side, the 07 66 had springs on both, air over spring for one side.

 

We're talking about the air valve on top, non-ETA side?

According to a Marz expert friend of mine, that is the positive air pressure. Preload is air pressure for the dual springs which don't have ETA.

So from the manual, my air pressure seems about right (positive air). But I will try and confirm this.

Another friend with the same fork ('06 66 Light, RC2 ETA) runs 50psi.

Rider’s weight ​

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kg 55-70 70-80 80-95 95-110+
lbs 120-155 155-180 180-210 210-220+​

Positive air pressure ​

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bar 2.00-2.75 2.40-3.10 2.90-3.80 3.60-4.50
psi 30-40 35-45 42-52 52-65​

Preload air pressure ​

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bar 0 - 1.00​

psi 0 - 15
​

 

Yeah, thats the one I am talking about, its just an air assist, 15 psi Max


The Lite 66 was different, is that what you have? I was under the impression you were running the regular 66 rc2 ETA
​

 

So did it appear that the rods were press-fit into the cartridges, and the press-fit failed?

 

Should I be scared?

I had an 06 66 light eta on my 02 rfx. Now I have it on my highline and have a 36 on the rfx.

 

ohhh - I was just talked out of buying that fork this week at Jenson for that very reason, and the top seal (thanks guys for the warning - ricky

Glad you're okay, just put the Fox Float on tonight - thrilled!

 

Thats not quite how theya re built, alot of people belive that, but its actually threaded inside, then crimped to keep people from taking it apart. Thats all the crimping is about

Not at all. Seriously, its an uncommon failure

What wrong with the top seal??? Have yet to see any problems with any zocci fork having problems with the top seals. I would ahve no problems using that fork....In fact..... I have the 07 rc2...been through hell and back.

Only reason I would steer away from a zokey is if its an 08 product, with the stamped bushings instead of the italian made reamed bushings..... I cant stand slop in a fork.

 

Thanks. That makes me feel better. I guess the threads stripped out for this guy.

 

Im still guessing there is more to it than just that......Still think its too much air pressure seeing how, unless it totally different than mine.

 

I believe this was just a manufacturing defect, not rider error or setup. Out of the 100's of thousands of marzocchi's made there are bound to be a few with defects, just like every other product. I'm pretty sure the end of the cartridge rod is pressed not threaded but its time to find out. I'm going to go cut an 888 cartridge apart to get an answer- be back in a minute . . .

 

Which is absolutly possible. Please dont think I am attacking the OP in anyway.....Its total Especulation without having it in front of me




Wish I had an extra Marz Cart to just cut apart.