So, as a newbie to suspension fork maintenance, I’m more than a little perplex over what I seem to have gotten myself into. This Marzocchi DH3 fork is missing one of its dampener adjuster assemblies (see photo above), so I ordered a replacement from “MarzocchiMark” (thanks AggieGrads). While waiting for said adjuster, I also ordered a nice 300# shock pump (only need 51# according to service manual). I found that the drive-side fork leg will hold air pressure momentarily, but it quickly leaks out. The non-drive-side leg with the missing adjuster doesn’t hold any air (and most likely no oil either) due to the missing adjuster assembly. Now, here’s the perplexing part; the fork acts pretty normal as is. The fork came with the obligatory a zip-tie on one of the stanchions to serve as a compression travel indicator. There’s no compression when I sit on the bike (190# rider), as if the pre-load is set to “0”. But, the fork compresses maybe 20mm-30mm when cruising the neighborhood going over pot holes, cracks, curbs, etc. Total advertised travel is only 77mm. Rebound seems good, although the lack of oil in the problem leg would make dampening suspect at speed in most offroad conditions. Is it possible that some previous owner converted this “air sprung/oil dampened multi-valve design” fork to a steel spring fork? My research has found that this was a mod for this fork utilized in the past. I’m trying to avoid tearing down the fork just to confirm this possibility, evoking the “if-it-ain't-broke-don’t-fix-it” rule. Although, it occurs to me that after the new adjuster assembly is installed, I will need to remove the air-valve assembly to add oil. Perhaps that will reveal the answer?
