Bent fork spring retainer cup and washer

Any one have any idea how this spring retainer and its washer that sit on top of a the spring and sets the preload can get bent like this? I was doing some track play today and felt the forks start to bump and make banging sounds ...

The washer straighten out pretty good and the inner chamber tube does not feel bad but the retainer piece is not fixable at least tonight and I have a race tomorrow morning ... The current plan is to add plenty of pre-load to ensure the spring ever looses contact with the washer on the bent cup piece ...maybe this will keep the load evenly spread out across the warped piece and it will not collapse tomorrow ...

Also, who sells parts for the Marzocchi 50mm dual chamber forks?

dammer man, that looks ugly

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't see a way that piece can get bent other than just collasping onto it's self ... If I get any feedback tomorrow as I got today... I'll just park it for the day

did you bottom it out, if so is there something thatd smash it like that?

Are you sure you have the correct diameter springs in the forks?

Yes .. same ones I've had since I've owned the bike ...

And no bottoming when riding yesterday ..

very strange indeed...

I'm baffled also .. I rode the bike in a race yesterday and no problems ... I still wanna replace that sleeve though ..

Not sure if this was the issue or not, but I had forgotten to bleed the access air out of the tubes for several months ... When I did release the air, their was huge pressure built up in each fork ...

what side is the damage on the brake side or non brake side?? not that it matters i was lookin at mine today just to see if it was possible for it to go all the way down and hit the brake bolts?? other than that only thing i can guess is you got a big chunk of rock or something wedged in there and you came down on it?? no idea really but glad you still got to race it yesterday as planned

It's on the brake side ... That bent cap and washer just sit on top of the spring and hold it in place on the top side as the inner chamber \ shock absorber arm moves up and down as bumps are encountered ... I just don't see a way that piece can get enough un-even pressure on it to collapse a small place like that on one side ... Unless the spring lost contact with the washer and allowed the washer to slip off the cup and allowed the washer to get caught on its edge (instead of sliding back up ) and bent it upward ...

It was pounded Sunday without any issues ... I'll take the fork back apart and check it again before I ride this week and verify the washer is not bending ... I also used ATF in the forks this time and on the track it felt AOK ... I'll be back on the trails this week to test the ATF out there...