Short springs and long pre-load tube?

[stay_upright]

I finally got round to buying some standard weight springs and notice that they are longer than the existing ones in my fork, also my black preload tube looks longer than in the manual so I wonder if the previous owner made a longer one to compensate for the shorter springs?

The shorter springs are a good 1/2 - 1" shorter so I doubt it's sag/wear.

I guess all marzocchi springs are the same length?

 

[widebear]

Some heavier springs need to be made shorter to get the correct rate because the the wire gauge is thicker so less overall lenth is required. Think of it this way, which is stiffer? a three foot long piece of wire or a five foot long piece of thiner material , wind that into a coil, theres your spring. As long as the spring does not pack under full compression its all good. What is important is the correct ammount of preload on the correct rate spring.

 

[nick790]

I wondered this when I changed mine, how much standared spring compresion when fitted is correct? I think mine is aout 10mm or 3/8"?

 

[widebear]

I preload mine at 2mm to good effect. With the fork collapsed and the damper rod fully extended, now from the point the fork cap starts to make contact with the spring as your start turning the cap in, till its, the cap is bottomed out on the damper rod ,the spring should preload 2 mm. That is the spring should be 2 mm shorter in this position then from its free fully extended lenth.

 

[stay_upright]

I measured the wire diameters of the two springs - they are the same only the number of turns is different.

Can anyone comment on the length of the pre-looad tube as standard number 20 here http://www.gofasters.com/images/marzocchifork.jpg mine is 53mm and it looks at least 2x as long as the one in the picture.

I will measure the pre-load and see how I get on with that.

 

[stay_upright]

my preload is 16mm using the existing 53mm black tubes....

I may consider dropping the forks 10mm through the clamps to compensate.

A call to Marzocchi UK may help clear things up as well though maybe pre-load is a manufacturer specific thing?

Also on the Go Fasters diagram it lists the preload tube as 125/200 - so not for a 250 or 300? I'm thinking there listing is slightly wrong as my springs would be loose otherwise.

 

[widebear]

Upright. Did you ever mearure your front static sag in that configuration?That will tell you something right there.I'm not familier with Zokes but that seems to be alot of preload which I found makes for a slappy fork action, harsh deflection off of roots & rocks. Maybee you should be in contact with a competent suspension tuner for the answer , some of the Husky guys should know as well. Keep us posted

 

[gassi]

I finally got round to buying some standard weight springs and notice that they are longer than the existing ones in my fork, also my black preload tube looks longer than in the manual so I wonder if the previous owner made a longer one to compensate for the shorter springs?

The shorter springs are a good 1/2 - 1" shorter so I doubt it's sag/wear.

I guess all marzocchi springs are the same length?

You guess is wrong: There is different lenght marzocchi springs!
Go to the gas gas riders club main page and to "manuals,etc"
Open Marzocchi 45mm Shiver Fork manual file and find there table 4 and you can see that different rate spring can be different lenght.

Because of this, there is also different lenght preload tubes.

I found that 5-7mm is good preload for Marzocchi 45mm Shiver Fork spring.

 

[nick790]

You guess is wrong: There is different lenght marzocchi springs!
Go to the gas gas riders club main page and to "manuals,etc"
Open Marzocchi 45mm Shiver Fork manual file and find there table 4 and you can see that different rate spring can be different lenght.

Because of this, there is also different lenght preload tubes.

I found that 5-7mm is good preload for Marzocchi 45mm Shiver Fork spring.

This is the preload when assembled on the inner fork tube, with the top cap on?

Mine has about 10mm, is this cloase enough? it seem to work fine.

 

[stay_upright]

You guess is wrong: There is different lenght marzocchi springs!
Go to the gas gas riders club main page and to "manuals,etc"
Open Marzocchi 45mm Shiver Fork manual file and find there table 4 and you can see that different rate spring can be different lenght.

Because of this, there is also different lenght preload tubes.

I found that 5-7mm is good preload for Marzocchi 45mm Shiver Fork spring.

Probably need to get the hacksaw out then : )

 

[stay_upright]

looked up the information in the manual and now I'm more confused, the old spring was shorter but the only shorter spring in the table is a 3.8n/mm which is not it - wire diameter is wrong. The 4.5 or 4.8 should be the same length as the 4.2....

Maybe it's a KTM spring or something?

spring rate - code - free length - wire diameter
3,8 5141144 435 mm 4,5 mm -
4 5141145 470 mm 4,8 mm -
4,2 5141146 460 mm 4,8 mm -
4,5 5141147 460 mm 4,8 mm -
4,8 5141148 475 mm 5 mm -
5 5141149 470 mm 5 mm -
4 / 4,4 5141150 470 mm 4,8 mm -
4,2 / 4,6 5141151 460 mm 4,8 mm

 

[stay_upright]

OK, measured the old springs and they were 460mm long so the springs I got from Marzocchi are too long. (according to the fork PDF manual anyway)

That would mean the springs I had originally were 0.45's.

I've emailed Marzocchi to find out what's going on - my guess is the wrong springs were inside the box.