4 Attachment(s)
Telemark binding repair hack: Freeride NTN pivot bar & flex plate replacement
I know that Telemarking is stupid & Freerides suck. However.........
I had a pair of freerides that developed cracks in the flex plate underneath where the power tubes insert (see image below). Contacted Scarpa/ Rottefella for new flex plates which went fine, but they do not offer a replacement pivot bar as the OEM piece is a press bushing/ rivet style.
Attachment 442216
Attachment 442217
After a little searching on line, I found that Grainger sold a Stainless Steel Barrel Bolt/ Sex Screw :D with the exact dimensions as the original pivot bar (3" x 5/16") A bit pricy at $20 a piece, but $40 is much cheaper than buying a whole new binding. I then went to hardware store and picked up a couple stainless steel 10/32 button heads and washers to go with the barrel bolts as the sex screws were flat heads. Ideally I wanted the button heads to have a larger head to dispense with reduction washer, but made do with a 2 washer system.
Attachment 442218
Step 1- Drill out the end of the pivot bar flange on 1 side to allow original pivot bar to slide out. This was the most time consuming of the process as I did not want to damage the actual frame of the binding.
Step 2- Using a drill bit, I had to open up the toe cage hole and the binding frame hole about 1/16" of an inch to allow the last 1/4 of new barrel bolt to sit flush (has 1/16" increase in diameter texture on it) If you can find a barrel bolt without this - better yet.
Step 3- Put it all back together, using loc tight on the button head into barrel bolt threads.
Attachment 442219
Going to test it out on our small ski area groomers to see if the button head stays threaded on tightly before working the binding back into rotation on my other skis. It should as barrel bolt can rotate if needed. I will update this post after getting a few days on them.
