Problems with changing the seals on the Marzocchi fork.

Hello! On my 2008 Te 450 the seals have started leaking. Today when trying to separate the upper part of the fork leg from the lower. Do I need somekind of special tool? Or has someone a mcgyver trick to get them separated.

Mate please look at the single cartridge fork video provided free on the rocky mountain atv mc site (they sell bike parts etc. on their home page is a video header-go into that -there are heaps of how too videos and look at the single cartridge two part video-problem solved).
When you pull the wiper down, there is a wrinkly circlip under the top leg lip , just pop this down the lower fork leg and and pull the upper and lower fork legs apart.

Yah. watch the video's. theres several. It's not a difficult process at all. MUST get that wrinkly circlip out though!

Yeah I knew that, but the peace thats underneath the fork do you have to remove that for taking aparth the forks? I removed the clip and tryed to get them separated but they didn't. A friend of mine said that you had to remove that part there under? But for that you need somekind of special tool.

You might want to get some on hand assistance for your first go with your forks. You may get them apart, but there are some things to take into account when you put them back together or uour going to be wasting your time. Andyman's correct though, it's not a difficult process. Getting a handle on the proper terminology will help you get assistance here as well. Not pickin on you, just suggesting. Are you refering to the base valve that's threaded into the bottom of the fork tube that holds the cartridge in place? If so, the answer is no, you don't have to, but you should if your planning to clean the forks and put fresh oil in them. Just be careful if you decide not to get any outside help. DON'T SCRATCH ANYTHING! Bushings have a teflon coating on them, and seals are REAL easy to tear putting in if not done correctly. For what it's worth.

There is a cartridge rod holding tool that some twin chamber forks need for disassembly, but THANKFULLY, the Marzocchi's do not need that tool for disassembly.

My procedure is:
Remove top cap
drain fork oil
Remove cartridge (bolt on foot of fork)
Slide dust seal down
Remove wrinkled ring retainer
clamp fork leg in vice by the foot (where the axle goes, NOT the shiny lower leg !) be sure to also use rubber on the vice jaws or wood; keeps from marring fork foot.
take upper leg with one hand and the lower with the other hand, then slide the upper leg down the lower leg and pull the upper leg away with force (like a slide hammer)... repeat that until the upper leg comes off. It takes a fair amount of force.


when re assembling, I use some painters tape around the top of the lower fork leg slathered with pro-circuit seal grease. I GENTLY, DELICATELY, and with as MUCH care as possible put on the dust seal, the wrinkle ring, and the new fork seal. Then I remove the tape and put the leg together. Use an appropriate sized seal driver to seat the seal in the upper leg. Insert wrinkle ring, pop dust cap into place, refill with oil, re-install on bike, ride.

hey.
see my post a few down.i did the following:
loosen fork cap ( loosen top triple clamp first), remove fork, completely undo fork cap and let oil drain.then, with 19mm open spanner hold the damper rod ( the blue anodised section) and screww off the fork cap.The spring is under a bit of tension.Now you can slide down the oil scraper, remove the ring and you can pull the two parts of the fork legs apart.You dont need to loosen the ?21?22mm nut at the bottom of the fork to get them apart.Dont forget the order the oil scraper/circlip/oil seal etc go in.If you dont have a fork seal pusher you can use 50mm plastic stormwater pipe ( obviously cut down either side) or I cut the old seal and used that-worked fine.
The hardest bit will be explaining why theres oil all over the garage floor.It was a messy job ( for me anyway).You could always try a bit of 35mmfilm under the seal first, and check thet theres not a huge amount of weld under the front axle puller- if there it grind it off-apparently this pushes the forks out of alignment when you tighten them up and predisposes the forks to leaking.
Good luck

Thanks! I did change seals on a cr250 fork once so I should remember the basics, no I definately know how to do it. I had a hard time thinking that you needed to remove the base valve, but my little helper said that it was necessery.

Thanks!

but its not necessary.only the top, then the damper rod stays attached at the bottom.of course, do whatever works and get the seals in !