Dynafitl maintenance?

[lowsparkco]

Anyone have any recommendations for maintenance of Speed Radicals?

I've seen some stuff over on WildSnow ranging from oiling parts to replacing bushings.

Lindahl's thread over on the main page:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...a-no-fall-zone

got me thinking. Like with any gear we can't expect to beat on these tech binding repeatedly without any failure. What would be a conscientious plan for maintenance? Will Salewa take them in and refurb them? Anyone have any thoughts?

[gregL]

pretty sure gregL will when he's done skiing this weekend.

Just the end of lift service at Alpy, skiing never stops.

Dynafit maintenance is normally pretty minimal, but look carefully for cracks in the base plate and around the toe pins regularly, spray under the toe wings with silicone spray regularly, inspect for wear of the pins (and boot toe sockets) whenever it occurs to you, and keep the wings closed (less tension on springs) when you aren't using the skis for a while. Make sure the heel plates on your boots are screwed on tight while you're at it.

Inspect the heels regularly for tightness of the top plate (the only thing holding down the two heel pins). If there's any gap between the plates, make sure the screws are intact and correctly tightened. If there's some vertical movement in the pins, you can disassemble the top and shim up the plastic blocks that hold the pins at the forward end with a layer or two of duct tape before reassembling. Check the heel for lateral stability (Speed Rad heels can also be shimmed up with duct tape under the pivot post to stop this) and check the heel for snappy and accurate centering. Sloppy centering could indicate a worn bushing; take the heel housing off and check - it takes lots of turning to actually wear a bushing out, as long as it's lubed correctly. Clean the two springs, bushing and post and re-lube (I use Pedro's Syn-Grease because it's already in my tool box and it's worked great for years, Dynafit uses some other synthetic greenish stuff). If you've never taken a Dynafit heel apart, read Lou Dawson's instructions at http://www.wildsnow.com before you start.

That's pretty much what I do. You hope that if there's an imminent failure regular inspection will give you a clue before it happens, and most of the critical parts on the bindings are visible without disassembly.

[lowsparkco]

Very nice. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

[Ottime]

gregL, what are you cleaning your springs with? Do you re-lube those as well as the bushings? Last time I had my heal apart to remove brakes, the springs were pretty dry.

[gregL]

gregL, what are you cleaning your springs with? Do you re-lube those as well as the bushings? Last time I had my heal apart to remove brakes, the springs were pretty dry.

Usually I just wipe them clean, unless they are really gritty (once after camping on Mt. Adams in a windstorm) in which case I used kerosene and a tootbrush. Then I slather grease on them before reinstallling, though it's probably enough to just grease the end where the bushing is.