FoX Rider

I come VERY close to bottoming out my DJ II's on a small jump I built. I think I might need a fork upgrade. I'm looking at a Marzocchi Jr.T. The cheaper of the double crowns i've looked at. I just need a stiffer fork. Before I buy i'm planning on paying off my current bike. Also i'm planning on using my shock pump to raise the pressure inside. How much should I raise it to. There Marzocchi Dirt Jumper II's. Any ideas?

I'm looking at the Jr.T because I need a stiffer fork. Not necessarily because I want more travel.

Maelstrom 

Have you check the springs? Heavier weight oil?

Your thinking is wrong. The JrT is not a stiffer fork (it is laterally but not spring load wise). If anything it is more plush and works with more negative travel. The djer with the correct spring, preload and oil is just about the stiffest fork on the market. Also the dj2 you can adjust rebound, set that a titch higher.

Sounds like you just haven't taken the time to play with your current fork OR are looking for any excuse to get a dual crown fork

moabrider47

Check out Marz' recommendations for your fork. They have online manuals with recommended pressures based on rider weight. Have you checked that yet?

-MOab

FoX Rider

Nope not yet, i probably should. The Marzocchi Owners Manual doesn't have the DJ II in it.

Maelstrom 

I promise it does. I have the exact fork and just finished reading it a few days ago. It doesn't mention the djer directly but you can get what type of components the fork uses and then at the end of the manul it has detailed pictures about how to adjust those components (internal rebound, air preload, oil etc...) You probably have medium springs, 7.5 wt oil. and the proload set to like 1 click. If you increase the springs, you won't bottom it out. But really medium springs suit 150 to 180ish (I think that is the range) If you are heavier you need to invest in a heavier spring weight.

Also is it clunking or are you really getting all the travel out of it. If you when you do a landing the forks clunks loudly and turns into a rigid for a sec, you are bottoming it. If the travel just stops, it is more likely the damping system at its worst. Too much oil trying to force through the baby hole and basically stopping dead. Be sure you are actually bottoming it out as the JrT has the exact same crappy charateristics.

I am 270 and don't bottom out a medium sprung djer, unless i nose a landing. (I own both forks) Keep in mind Marz has plush feeling forks. To compare to any other company will produce skewed results. Most people who ride rockshoxx, fox etc don't like how marz feel because of how soft they feel at the top of the travel...

FoX Rider

It does not clunk, but there is always dirt/mud (very little bits) caught on the stanchion and it gets pushed up as the fork compresses. And much like the ocean with seaweed it shows where the dirt/mud was pushed to and its about 1/2" from the top of the fork.


I'm big for my size. About 5' 4" and 180-190lbs.

Maelstrom 

Get the stiffer springs. Is your set for 4 or 5 in travel?

wonder squirrel

Currently I have the same DJ2 you guys are talking about (mines a 03' 130mm). Just got it and went for the first ride a couple days ago. Anyways, I'm also big at 280lbs, but I haven't bottomed out the fork..yet. They are the softest/plushest/squishiess fork I ever rode. Going down stairs, they tend to want to nose dive down waaaaay to much, if I so much as think of touching the brake, its all over. They pack up tight, and then stay there (not bottoming though). Anyways, I decided to find some springs for these, the only ones I found so far, were at airbomb.com, they are the "130mm X-heavy" springs (Item#FK9850). I'd like to try these out, but neither marzocchi or airbomb have gotten back to me on them. Might just go ahead and order em' tonight. I haven't played with the air, or made any adjustments yet (air pump I have won't fit inside onto the schrader valve, and any disassembly wouldn't fly inside my apartment with my girl)

Mael, are you running the stock medium spring(s), or did you upgrade to a different one?

Maelstrom 

They nose dive because there is no damping system (I know it says ssv but really it is a spring, oil and a pumping rod with a tiny hole in it). Imagine the first drop drops the suspension a quarter of an inch (just a theoretical number) the dampng is too poor to allow it to rebound quickly enough for the second bump, dropping the suspension another quarter of an inch. Over a large number of HIGH speed bumps your fork goes from 5 in to nothing. With the dj2 there is a rebound adjuster and with playing with the oil (there is another mod but that requires a drill and lots of experience) you can defeat this deficiency to some degree, but really, it will never feel as good as say a Z1 Fr ...

Those are the right springs as long as you have your fork in 130mm mode.

wonder squirrel

Are you saying the right springs are the mediums? Or the x-firms?

Maelstrom 

Depends on your weight. Xstiff are for 220+ I think.

But a dj2 comes in 2 modes. 4 in and 5 in. If your fork isn't in 5in mode those spring may not work

wonder squirrel

I do have the 5" setup (130mm), and I weigh 280 at the moment.

Maelstrom 

Sorry I did read that. Yes get the extra stiff...for sure. If you don't plan to put them in yourself I would recommend getting a shop to order them for you.

wonder squirrel

I'm sure I could put them in, but I don't have a space for it, so I may give the shop down the road a call for a price quote. How about the oil weight by the way? You think a lighter oil would work better for the rebound stickyness? I don't want to change to much at one time.

Maelstrom 

Definately don't change to much. They should be able to leave the oil in there (maybe top it up. 7.5 is standard for marz I believe.

wonder squirrel

You have any idea of what kind of time it takes to pull this fork apart?(off the bike already). I'd guess 10minutes tops to have it dissassembled. I need to read thru the Marz manual (can't right now, at work) and see what it takes. If I could leave the oil inside and pull it apart fairly quickly and easily, maybe I'll just do it myself. hmmm

pnj

I did mine in my living room......

but it was vinyl flooring, not carpet.

it's not hard to do, if your just swaping out the top springs you just open the top of the fork blade using a socket (19mm?) and then there is a flat washer w/ a hole in the center of it, pull that out and then grab the spring.

if your just doing that, slowly pull the spring out so you don't get oil all over the place. then replace w/ the other spring. maybe add a tad more oil to replace what you lost and put the washer back and screw the top thing back on.

when I did mine I reduced the travel from 5 to 4 so I had to completely take them apart. much more of a mess....

mine are DJ II's (I think that's what y'all are talking about..)

wonder squirrel

Yeah I have the DJ2 also. The spring kit seems to have top and bottom springs in it. I would probably need to replace both sets on both sides. I have hardwood floors in my place, but somehow I don't think my girl is going to like where I'm going with this. What kind/weight of oil did you refill with after the full teardown? And what springs are you running?

pnj

I have the green springs. I don't know if they are the strongest ones or not, I TRIED to get the strongest ones and this is what I got.

I got oil from the motocycle shop, don't remember what brand but it's 10 weight.

I didn't even take the forks out of my bike, so that made it a bit more of a pain in the butt as I couldn't drain them very well without getting oil everywhere. if you've taken them off your bike, I would just drain the oil into a big bowl in the kitchen or someplace. then tear them apart on an old newspaper.

pnj

oh yea, I only weight 145 and I can pretty much bottom these things out, it seems.

wonder squirrel

I weigh almost double your weight and I'm not bottoming yet?
What tools did you use to disassemble them? someone said a 19mm socket, other then that, just regular tools? No special tools?

pnj

no special tools.

I may be wrong about 19mm but I know it was pretty big.

other then that, I know I don't own anything special so it was only normal sockets. maybe a deep walled socket(for the lowers) but that's it. a screwdriver and plyers probably. I did mine over a year ago.....

I had NO IDEA what the insides where like and had no problems once I opened them up. very user friendly.

a2psyklnut

I think the top caps are like a 22mm. I know I had to go buy a socket for it. Changing out the spings is EASY. Just remove the top caps, pull the old springs out, let the oil drain off them, then put the new ones in. 15 mins. start to finish.

And Yes, the Green are the Xtra Heavies.

L8R

wonder squirrel

Isn't there two sets of springs in there? (two springs in each side I mean). If so, can you change both that way, or is it going to require some more disaseembly?

a2psyklnut

I've got a set of Z-1's, and mine are one spring.

L8R