Marzocchi Shiver 45 damping cartridge holding tool

I'm trying to disassemble a set of Zoke Shiver 45 forks and have come unstuck while trying to undo the foot screw on the stanchion. It appears that the screw is connected to the damping assembly and the whole thing keeps turning.

Apparently I need the damping cartridge holding tool (Part No. R5081AA) to undo the foot screw from the cartridge.

Does anyone know of an alternative tool or method as I image this tool would be difficult to obtain and probably quite expensive.

I have found two Motion Pro tools however I don't think they will fit the Shiver forks as these require a pronged type attachment tool.

Has anyone had experience with this? Is there another means of holding the damping cartridge so the the foot screw can be undone and removed from the stanchion.

Hey dusta, I pulled mine apart this morning...
I had the same dilemma. All I did was ( wearing a pair of gloves ) pulled the dampening rod hard, keeping the load on it by wedging my hand against the stanchion and dampening rod, while using a 3/8 drive rachet and socket to work the foot screw loose. Worked a treat.

I tried the broomstick thing but had no luck.

My drama now is getting the axle clamp off the stanchion to send them off for re-chroming.....any ideas ?

If you don't have the cartridge holding tool, you can carefully wedge a long blade screwdriver between the top of the cartridge (hex head) and the tube then give the base bolt a quick hit with an impact (or a "rattle gun" as the aussies say). It ain't pretty, but it should work. You can also make your own tool out of a piece of standard pipe - but you will need a lathe to turn the OD to the correct diameter. Send me a PM if you need the dimensions.

Thanks for all your help!

I managed to disassemble the forks the day following my post. I inserted a long thin rod into one of the holes that the holding tool would otherwise engage and this allowed me to hold the damping assembly while I unscrewed the foot bolt. Thankfully the assembly wasn't torqued overly tight.

Croney... I'm not sure about removing the stanchion tube from the axle clamp. I've been told that it is quite difficult to do. You maybe better off taking it to a suspension specialist. I imagine it shouldn't cost too much and saves you the risk of damaging the stanchion (which would be expensive to replace).

lookin4trails.... After looking at the exploded view fork diagrams, I too was expecting a hex nut at the top of the damping cartridge. However, on further exploration I discovered that my WR250 damping unit has a perforated washer (or round plate with holes) sitting on top of the cartridge sleeve. I inserted the rod (as a holding tool) into one of those holes. This part isn't depicted in any of the exploded views that I have of the Shiver 45 forks. NOT SURE what the deal is...

Anyway it's all done now!

That's interesting. What year WR250 were the Shivers off of ?

I've always used an impact gun to just loosen the "foot screw" while the forks were still assembled with the springs still in place.The springs put just enough pressure on the "foot screw" to hold it from turning,then once it broke free I would disassemble them and clean/service the forks.

Yeah those puppies were / are tight. Tried it in a vise and also applied some heat. Got about a quarter of a turn out of one of them. Called the guys at Rad Hard Chroming and they said they would do it to re-chrome the stanchions......will see how they go.
( May end up with some chromed axle clamps hey ! )