Dirty fork oil syndrome

[dirtbird]

Hi guys for clarity is it all Sachs forks or forks on earlier models please.

From 2012 and on Sachs forks on RR models and Marzocchi CC on 13,14 and 15 racing RRs.
2011s came with Marzocchi 50 OC and before that Marzocchi 45 OC .
2009 factory models were using Marzocchi 50 CC forks.
American RS models usually were the same with previous year RRs.

[Jakobi]

I'm aware of at least 3 sets of the 48mm Marzocchi with PFP that have lunched on both Beta RR and Gas Gas.

Wear and tear on moving components is inevitable. Changing fluids often helps minimise it. Other issues like misaligned forks or over torqued lower triples can increase it.. but the trend is that Marzocchi coatings time and time again show excessive wear rates, even when special care is taken to minimise it.

[pguerci]

Have about 110 hs on my 300RR my2015 and never got a fluid clean when servicing the Sachs OC forks, this week I serviced it again after 10 hs of use and got chocolate one more time.

I take a lot of care with fork binding, clamp torque, etc, but cannot get a clean fluid when changing the fork oil...frustraiting

[Enmerdeur]

Well the fork fluid will never be clean when you change it unless you haven't ridden the bike

[Glenn]

Hey Bikesparky which dealer did you liase with. I bought mine from Matt Poulson in Ballarat-good guy by the way

[bikesparky]

Hey Bikesparky which dealer did you liase with. I bought mine from Matt Poulson in Ballarat-good guy by the way

Phil in Mackay. He's the closest to me. I can't fault him, he is super helpful.

[oldman]

When I recently serviced the OC forks on my 2017 300RR I found the fluid to look awful with fine aluminum in it. Bike purchased new in Jan 2017. Bike has 58hrs. This is the 3rd time I have serviced the forks. The fluid looked bad each time.
I completely disassembled the forks and found excessive wear inside the outer aluminum tube that appears to be caused by wear on the bushing that moves up and down inside it. The bushing has irregular wear on its outer edges that appears to be caused by wear on the edge of the groove it rides in on the inner fork tube. It appears that the wear on the edge of the groove is causing the bushing to be unable to move as it should while it is moving up and down inside the aluminum tube causing stiction and scratches inside the aluminum tube.
I have contacted my dealer who contacted Beta about the problem. Have not heard back from Beta.

[JoeMaico]

Sorry to hear that it is occurring in the 2017 models. I notice that yours is an Open Chamber. I wonder if anyone with a 2017 Closed Cartridge fork is experiencing the Dirty Fork Oil Syndrome. As for me, the weather is finally starting to warm up so I can get out and put some hours on the bike before I take it back to the dealer for a follow up inspection. Beta has been hounding my dealer, and my dealer has been hounding me, to get some hours on it so they can tear into it again. If my experience with Beta USA is any indication, you will get complete support from the company to resolve your issue.

joe

[oldman]

This is what my fork oil looked like. Terrible! 18 hrs since it was new. Self destruct mode.

[bryanaverill]

I've been following this thread. I have a standard OC bike and I see for the first time some photos which may lead to root cause, at least on an OC fork. So, it looks to me that the edge of the bushing groove is rough from the fork inner tube machining process. Then the bushing gets stuck in the groove like a sticky piston ring. Next is the fork outer wears excessively because of the sticky bushing. The visual evidence is dirty oil and the rough groove edges.

I wonder if this can be improved by simply filing smooth the grove and bushing edges (very carefully) making sure the bushing is totally free to move as it normally should.

Just a though.