Forkin' around

[Ouiji Veck]

I got a new set of springs comming from Guzzi Tech (thanks Todd)

 

Ok..... I'm down to the last of the disassembly...

Just wondering if I have the right idea...hold the blue nut and spin the

cap off? ...Thought I'd check before I go to the REALLY big hammer.

(arrrgh she's a tight one!)

 

 

 

Also...5wt. Suspension fluid 100mm from the top..forks compressed?

 

3rdly... trying to get the philips screws out of the altenator cover..

Wow...looks like I'll have to impact them. What a pain...especially with

that useless bracket hangin' down.

[Guest ratchethack]

Just wondering if I have the right idea...hold the blue nut and spin the

cap off? ...

Yep, that's the ticket!

Also...5wt. Suspension fluid 100mm from the top..forks compressed?

Correct. Forks blocked up as high as they'll go in compression. I had a procedure 'round here at one time for fork oil change for the Marz 40 mm USD, but don' wanna look right now....

 

Don't forget to "burp" 'em by pumping all air bubbles out until you don't get any more.

3rdly... trying to get the philips screws out of the altenator cover..

Wow...looks like I'll have to impact them. What a pain...especially with

that useless bracket hangin' down.

I got sick of mine real quick. Socket head replacements make life easier here, too.

[Ouiji Veck]

Luckily I kicked back before reaching for the bigger hammer

and investigated what I initially took for a vent...

there's a set screw in there! Thats fighting me too..

Gonna be tough hammering on that little thing.

I searched for a thread on doing this..the 43mm's anyway..

Maybe I'm creating it.

[Guest ratchethack]

YIKES!

 

Mine has no such thing!

 

You sure that's a set-screw?? There's no conceivable need for one there, since the blue anodized nut is a jam-nut for the caps.

 

I'd venture it's a passage plug that looks like a set-screw.

 

I best shut up, since I've got a different Marz fork.

[Ouiji Veck]

It's threaded all the way through and an allen snugs right in..

Just about breaking the little wrench...nuttin'

Time to kick back again...see if someone that's been there comes around ..

I appreciate your moral support RH.. thanks

[nuevototem]

Hi Ouiji Veck,

 

I have the same forks that u have. I sugest u to read the workshop manual. U have there all the info about them.

 

Best regards,

[Rusty Bucket]

Wouldn't a set screw have to be listed in the parts catalogue? The late supplement service manual I have only covers an Ohlins strip, not, sadly, the Marz 43, but the parts manual claims to cover it, and no screw is shown in that area. I haven't opened my '04 forks yet, but it is on the to-do list for tis winter, so I am watching your progress with interest Your '02 forks are apparently different in one area from the illustration in my service and parts manuals, your spacers are ABOVE the springs, mine are shown under the springs. Someone else had pointed out that the spacers were on the bottom before, I believe he was also working on an '04, though. At any rate, good luck. Since the manual doesn't cover a strip of the later forks, YOU are writing the definitive how to guide.

[Ouiji Veck]

Not only are the spacers on top...they're made of plastic!

I should have the manual ...but I don't.....just the fiche...which has the 40s

I also thought I'd find the quintisential information here.

Oh well..the next guy will have somethin'.

I've done more than a handful of fork jobs. They're usually a pain in the butt

anyway..especially the Showas on my Duc.

I'm havin' fun...my Wilburs won't be in for a month and neither will

the New England thaw.

Thanks for all the support

[Tom M]

Ouiji,

How about heating the alum before trying to break the set screws free?

 

I'm planning on respringing my front end soon too. I'm going with the Traxxion Dynamics springs because of my weight. If I run into a problem you may hear from me!

[Guest ratchethack]

I'm havin' fun...my Wilburs won't be in for a month and neither will

the New England thaw.

Thanks for all the support

Coupla thoughts that could help, Weej -- but o' course, consider the source.

 

At least I have the benefit of the Guzzi service manual to work from, which is a great help.

 

NOTE: The manual calls for turning the compression & rebound adjustment screws in the caps full counter-clockwise against their limits before disassembly. The reason for this? Y'got me by the tweeter, but that's wot it says.

 

In your photo's, both your fork caps and blue anodized jam nuts appear identical to mine (again -- 40 mm Marz USD). May we assume identical function in both 40 mm and 43 mm fork components? Not necessarily, of course, but in the world of probabilities, when the components look identical in photo's, I reckon we're within a reasonable margin of safety by expecting much the same function.

 

Again, I strongly suspect that the screws in question are NOT set screws. Since I don't have mine apart and can't remember wot those things are, I may well have the same feature, but since they were of no consequence to disassembly, and were not mentioned wotsoever in the procedure in the manual, I ignored them, and that's more'n likely why I wouldn't remember.

 

In any case, I b'lieve I'm correct in understanding that you can't back them out?

 

Easy way to know for certain if they're set screws or not without risk of damage: Go ahead and crack the fork caps off the jam nuts (as I've done many times with mine, following manual procedure). In the very remote possibility (IMHO) that wot you've got are in fact set screws locking the caps in place, they would hold fast against the cartridge rod assemblies well enough that the blue anodized jam nuts would back away from them against the springs and spacers. Unless I miss my assumption entirely, you will find that the fork caps will simply spin off the cartridge rod assemblies. At least by doing this, you'd gain this understanding, and you'd be able to proceed. I expect you'd be very relieved to know that they're NOT set screws!!

 

Again -- logically, there's no earthly need for set screws in the caps to keep them from turning on the cartridge rod assemblies. They'd be entirely redundant, since the jam nuts perform this function to a much higher degree of security than set screws could!

 

The blue anodized jam nuts on mine have a top and bottom and are easy to get upside-down. I can see in your photo's that they're the same as mine, with a tiny "shoulder" at the top.

 

The stock setting of my blue anodized jam nuts was 22 mm below the end of the threaded cartridge rod assemblies. May I suggest you note this dimension for a reference point. EDIT: As it turns out, this is critical to maintaining damping adjustability. Many have re-assembled these forks ignoring this and lost all adjustability in the process!

 

My stock plastic spacers were likewise above the springs, as they should be. They are retained at the top by slotted retainer disks, which allow removal of spacers and springs without the tedium of winding off the blue anodized jam nuts against spring pressure. Just a handy thing to know that saves some grief, since you'll be changing things around.

 

NOTE TO PROGRESSIVE SPRING INSTALLERS: FWIW, progressively wound fork springs are installed with the "tight coils" at the top for the purpose of minimizing unsprung weight of the coil-binding end of the spring itself under compression. Is it a nit to pick? No question about it, but if I don't mention it, someone else surely will.

 

That's all I got, Weej. Hope this helps and good luck.

[Guest ratchethack]

But wait! There's MORE!

 

Hercule Hatchracket here again.

 

Weej, one of the things that makes the manual helpful, somewhat offsetting the obvious challenges of a sometimes marginal Italian-English translation, is the goodly number of drawings and photo's with numbered references to the procedures.

 

On p. D-24 of my manual, there's a photo of the fork cap being cracked off the blue anodized jam nut -- everything in this shot (and all other shots of the fork components) appears to be identical in your photos. Just visible on the right-hand side in the maual photo is the hole in the fork cap that appears to be the identical size and location between the o-ring and cap threads.

 

CONCLUSION: Now YMMV, but I accept this as solid verification that the Marz 40 mm forks and 43 mm forks share this "feature" (wotever it is ) and conclude that it CANNOT be a set screw, since mine evidently has it too, and it's ignored in the dismantling procedure in the manual, and that explains why if I ever noticed it in the first place, I forgot it was there and never gave it a second thought.

 

I b'lieve this means you can have at it without fear, my friend!

[Paul Minnaert]

well, if someone needs fork parts, I have a set 2001 le mans 40mm forks, slightly bent, but good to take parts of. For shipping + 20 euro, I send them.

[Ouiji Veck]

You got it ratchet...

from Todd @ Guzzi Tech

 

"Put a wrench on the blue annodized pre-load

adjuster, and one on the outside/top of the cap. The

set screw does not need to be removed.

Be sure to measure the distance from the top of the

threaded rod (once the cap is removed) so that you can

reset the blue preloader to the existing position.

Make sense?"

 

Fine by me...just didn't want to get too frisky...and that little hole IS threaded.

 

I'd be out there with the bigger hammer right now but I was taken off my feet today

by an intestinal virus.............errrerrrrrrrrrrrr... back to bed..

Thanks all.

[profWacko]

For Rusty Bucket:

 

Here's a look at the preload adjuster inside my forks (2004 Le Mans)

 

-Jack

[Rusty Bucket]

Thanks very much! I'm relieved that SOMEBODY's forks appear to be built per my manuals specs. Was it your fork strip I was following before? Further, does this mean that there are 2 different iterations of the 43mm Marz. fork, an earlier ('02) fork retaining the adjustable compression and rebound damping, and a later ('03-04) fork with externally adjustable preload, but only rebound adjustment?