TLT7 Cable Mods / Improvements

[MTPOW]

Messed around some more this evening with option one from above. it seems to work except that the spring will cause wear on the boot shell and cuff. I am not sure which is worse; the cable grinding away at the plastic lower cable guide at the cuff pivot or the spring wearing the lower shell and cuff. I think I would prefer the spring wearing the shell and cuff because the rate of wear in that case may reduce over time and maybe become negligible after enough material wears away. If the worn shell and cuff components aren't compromised in terms of performance then there would really be no problem. My guess is that if I forgo the protective spring at the lower cable guide, the wear of the lower cable guide around the cuff pivot will progress rapidly until the cable wears through to the rivet. Since the rivet is aluminum, its likely that the cable would eventually compromise the rivet which would be dangerous though this could be easily inspected with a flashlight. Regardless i think that option is out. Will update with pictures of lower spring installation.


I also messed around with the new rivet for the short cable. I was able to weld and shape boot material from another boot around the rivet in order to protect it from impact. This looks to be a fine solution and will sufficiently protect the rivet and add strength to the shell and rivet. Definitely a win.

[MTPOW]

Protective springs installed in the upper and lower cable guides. The spring in the upper cable guide tends to walk towards the buckle. I will try a little silicone glue on the other side to keep it from moving.

I added a full size lange power strap for fun. No surprise, the power strap makes the boot feel much more powerful. Thinking a little more about it came to the opinion that a full size power strap may take some of the stress off of the rest of the boot - maybe the boot is more durable with the full size power strap.

Which leads me to another thought...

is there an on the fly removable full size power strap available? If it was very easy to install and remove (kinda like a removable tongue), it would seem to have a niche on long tours that include powerful skiing style. Sure you can just add a normal power strap and tour with it loose but they are kind of a pain.

[MTPOW]

I fixed the protective spring on the upper cable guide so that it will stay in place with out glue. Right boot is ready to ski. I suppose Ill start working on the left boot. Next winter seems so far away and chances of spring touring are looking slim. No sense skiing summer corn runs in these boots so I'll just have to wait.

I still intend to upload some more pictures showing the buckle mod and protective spring installation.

The mod overall seems like it should be pretty durable . The cotter pin in the buckle wont last all that long (wild guess - 50 days of touring) but is very easy to replace and could be repaired in the field I think. It can also be easily inspected for wear. I should look to see if there are any harder steel cotter pins that wont wear so quickly.

The resulting feel of this boot is pretty impressive. The flex is pretty stiff and much more progressive and comfortable. The boot tightens nicely even with the stock liner. Tight enough to ski fast and drive pow skis precisely enough. Previously I couldn't get the boots tight enough to feel any positive feeling in a turn. I had pretty much written these off as a failure, especially when the stock cable broke. Now I think I'll be happy to ski big lines way back somewhere or ski one more run and get back to the wife and kiddos by lunch time. It'll be pretty sweet to ski big days and come home feeling good. My guess though is that I'll still only use them a handful of days at most.

[MTPOW]

Tonight I used a dremel with a cutting disc to grind grooves in the cam buckle to increase friction so the damn things would hold better. They are worthless stock anyway. Three grooves length wise and added grooves width wise corresponding with the spacing of the pointless stock nubins. Holding power waaay better. Haven't carpet tested yet.

Started the right boot mod as well. Going smoothly. The trickiest part is drilling out the upper and lower cable guide to 3/16 diameter making sure the drill path is true and drilling through the damn hidden collar in the lower cable guide. Patience worked. I think I may have mentioned the lower hidden collar probably can be removed by cutting through the inside of the boot but so far I am 3 outa 3 just drilling through the collar.

Wish I could ski this Sunday. Looks to be soft snow up high and likely good corn above 7500ish.

[abraham]

Pictures would be appreciated!

[MTPOW]

Ground cam buckle. The cutting disc melts the plastic even a low speeds. I think this is probably helpful in creating more friction. Not pretty but it works.

[MTPOW]

I almost went skiing in these boots Sunday but I floor tested the right boot with the long cable mod and the long cable slipped from the upper swage during floor testing. I had modified the upper swage to allow the buckle to flatten more against the boot in tour mode and not crimped the swag appropriately. The cable slipped where the modification was. In rebuilding the long cable I am avoiding that swage modification and instead removing more material from the buckle so that it fits over the unmodified swage in tour mode. Should have done this to begin with.


Buckle modified and swage unmodified





I have been taking pictures that will help describe pretty much everything above. I will edit the posts above with pictures - hopefully this weekend.

[MTPOW]

Added a rivet to avoid unwanted deformation:

[MTPOW]

I floor tested the power strap mod. Way better but still not enough grip to avoid slipping on aggressive flexing. I think I'll try roughing up the strap with a knife or steel brush to get more grip.

Working on start to finish description of the steps I used to complete the wire modifications.

[MTPOW]

I put together a document describing the steps taken to perform the mod but its too big to upload here. Message me if you would like a copy.

[Curtassium]

Update

How did the new cable mod hold up? I was looking at possibly drilling out the existing swage fittings and re-swaging them with a larger cable or soldering them into place.