997 Sally Driver help please

**Shorty_J** · 02-17-2009, 11:44 PM

I did a bunch of reading regarding which sally bindings I should be looking for to put in existing holes for an s916 binding. I thought I had found a good candidate with some 997 12-din Driver Syncro R bindings, used for $80 CDN. I double-checked with the guy at the gear store I bought it from that it had the same hole pattern as the s916 and he thought it would be fine.

Turns out I'm not so slick because there's 6 screws in the heel piece instead of the 4 I was expecting. In retrospect I remember people mentioning the hole patterns are different on the rental binding systems, but I guess I overlooked the possibility that these were a rental binding with a fixed toe.

Intro aside, I'm wondering if there's anyone in Calgary who has the proper tools/jig/know-how to drill the hole pattern for the heel piece for the heel piece I'm stuck with and wants to trade some labour for a sixer?

I was really trying to avoid extra costs of a re-mount and that's why I went out of my way to look for something like these binding to put in the existing holes, and came up epic fail as per my avatar.

Or should I call these bindings a lost cause (looks like the toe wings are plastic, and from the apparently misguided knowledge I thought I had gleaned, was expecting metal) and get something else? I was hoping to use these skis this weekend and likely won't be able to in that case.

Any other ideas/options?

**flyby** · 02-17-2009, 11:54 PM

any pics? by the way none of the 12din sally's are metal. also even 14din 997's have plastic toes.
if they are just generic salomon rental bindings, most of which share the same hole pattern, you got ripped the fuck off. i sold a pair of those last year for 20 bucks and ended up giving another pair away. hell i even paid shipping on that pair. oh wait, actually both were s912ti demos, with the moving toe, which is a shitload better than what it sounds like you have.

tee hee

**MnO** · 02-18-2009, 02:34 AM

Older Salomon rentals have a separate symrent plate underneath. Under the toe piece you have a moving part on a slider. The toe piece is connected to the plate with four short screws with the standard Solly hole pattern. The plate itself is connected to the ski with another four screws with a totally different hole pattern. Under the heel piece you have a passive plastic spacer and the heel is connected to the ski with long screws going through both the binding and the plate.

Removing the plates and changing to longer screws at the toe and shorter screws at the heel gives you a binding that is almost identical in function to the retail version, but with a longer adjustment track in the back. The usual slop associated with rental bindings is eliminated by removing the symrent plate. I would much rather use that binding than a sloppy 912 Ti demo, even if the 997 12:s in general is a rather weak binding. The 997 with the good rumour around here is the din 14 Equipe version only (plus 16-22 dins ofcourse). 12 dins, rental or not, are all plastic and not near as good as the Equipe. Old plastics=not a very good idea. A binding like this should be free, or at least not cost more than a couple of dollars for the new screws and the time it takes for taking it off a older ski. Still, you can use it and just hope for the best. Check for cracks regularly.

The heel piece have 6 screws and the screw pair in the back fits in the retail standard Solly holes. The other four has to be redrilled, but that is easy as you can just use the binding as a jig. Tighten the two holes that fit, remove the moving part to get easy access with the drill, check the alignment and then mark the holes with a 5mm drill or whatever size that fits tightly in the base plate (do NOT use 3,6-4,1 now). If the drill fits tight it will center itself perfectly in the plate. Just make a slight mark in the topsheet. Remove the binding and drill with the right size of drill (3,6-4,2 depending on which ski). Mount.

**squatch** · 02-18-2009, 03:05 AM

don't use those bindings.

**Shorty_J** · 02-18-2009, 09:37 AM

FUCK!

There's nothing I hate more than trying to save money and ending up spending more as a result!

FlyBy: Thanks for your support.

MnO: How do I find out whether I need 3.6 or 4.2? I'd have to buy a new bit to do this and now I'm adding even more expense to make these shitty bindings work!

**arem86** · 02-27-2009, 05:36 AM

Generally a 3.6 is for a ski without metal, and a 4.1 (4.2? what?) is for a ski with metal in it.

**Shorty_J** · 02-27-2009, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by arem86

Generally a 3.6 is for a ski without metal, and a 4.1 (4.2? what?) is for a ski with metal in it.

Thanks for the info... I decided to pay the local shop a discounted fee to mount the heels for me. There was a post above where someone referred to 4.1 and then later referred to 4.2... I'm no expert here.

I guess I should contact the ski manufacturer for the info on what bit to use for a given ski? I might want to try my own mounting next time.

**ill-advised strategy** · 02-27-2009, 11:45 AM

I'd steer clear of that gouging shop in the future

**Shorty_J** · 02-27-2009, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by YetiMan

I'd steer clear of that gouging shop in the future

Yeah, actually I was pretty pissed about the situation because the discount wasn't even all that much... and I've taken a few pairs of skis there for mounting and repairs. I've been buying more and more tuning equipment to start taking care of that sort of thing on my own, and mounting my own bindings would be the next step.