FKS/Pivot Toe Slop (metal toes)

[Wes Mantooth]

Not sure if this has been discussed before but a quick search didn’t reveal anything aside from some super helpful newschoolers threads recommending smoking weed as a fix...

Anyway I’ve been noticing multiple pairs of pivots (metal toe, older but not super old) developing some slop in the toe throughout a day of hard skiing. I’ve been skiing pivots for a long time now and haven’t noticed this issue until recently, but it’s happening now with two of the pairs I use regularly.

About halfway through a day I’ll start to feel a little bit of movement in the toe to the point where I can take the ski off and jiggle the toepiece by hand. It feels as though the metal toe assembly is developing play on whatever type of post it sits on to connect to the plastic baseplate. The weird thing is once it has sat for a while it tightens back up significantly

Have confirmed it’s not loose/long screws since the baseplate stays in place. Also replaced my boot soles recently so it’s not an AFD spacing issue. Don’t think it’s a forward pressure problem either since it’s not constant.

Curious if anyone else has experienced something similar. It’s not a huge deal but also don’t want to blow my toepiece apart at high speed or have the extra movement cause a pre release. It definitely becomes noticeable while skiing towards the end of the day

[gwat]

Toes are dead easy to take apart.
There is a spherical brass bushing pressed into the post, when the grease in that bushing dries out it can give a minor amount (~1mm) of play to the toe.
Assuming nothing is damaged/broken, clean everything up and regrease the bushing with some good thick binding grease.
If you successfully get grease inside the spherical bushing that will remove the play.

[mr_pretzel]

Listen to Gwat

[snowaddict91]

You learn something every day. Haven't noticed this on any of my high mileage pairs (yet).

[Wes Mantooth]

Toes are dead easy to take apart.
There is a spherical brass bushing pressed into the post, when the grease in that bushing dries out it can give a minor amount (~1mm) of play to the toe.
Assuming nothing is damaged/broken, clean everything up and regrease the bushing with some good thick binding grease.
If you successfully get grease inside the spherical bushing that will remove the play.

Great info, thanks. Figured it was something exactly like that and I'm assuming the old dry grease takes up enough space when I'm not skiing but as soon as I start really torquing the binding around it loosens up to develop the play

To remove I'm assuming I just thread out the din spring and then should be able to rotate the toe up off the post? Also any specific grease you use? I assume something very waterproof and plastic compatible

[gwat]

-Unscrew the DIN screw
-take the spring+round metal washer out
-there is a white plastic spacer between the spring and the metal body, get/wiggle/shake this piece out now to make the next step easier
-push the threaded rod (that the DIN screw threads onto) back through the toepiece and remove
-toepiece will now lift up off the post

Not sure about the best grease but the thicker the better. The factory stuff is insanely thick and sticky...
Get the bushing greased and rotate it in every possible direction to allow grease to get inside the bushing interface


Reassembly is pretty straightforward but two tips:
-square metal washer goes between the post and metal body with the wings down and flared forward, lip on top curls over the post
-orient the plastic spacer so the narrow end seats into the metal body and wide end is against the spring washer. Insert spring and push/wiggle spring and toe to ensure the spacer seats into the metal body (the DIN screw should now easily catch the threads of the threaded rod...if you’e having trouble catching the threads the plastic spacer is likely not fully seated in the metal body).

[Wes Mantooth]

gwat for mayor. Thanks!


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[Eluder]

Not sure about the best grease but the thicker the better. The factory stuff is insanely thick and sticky...
Get the bushing greased and rotate it in every possible direction to allow grease to get inside the bushing interface

New ones seem to use white lithium grease.

[sf]

What about heel slop?
As in that you can lift the dildo a little bit off the ski with no resistance before it returns to the normal feel. Snaps into place when stepped into, forward pressure ok, no pre-release.

Have this on 2 or 3 pairs of older FKS and Pivots.

Should I worry? Regrease?

[goran]

Bumping this because it is so useful! I picked up an old pair of FKS 155s and I've been skiing on them for a while but just tried to pop myself out of the toes today and couldn't click out at a DIN that is usually pretty reasonable. I just pulled the toes apart, added white lithium grease to the posts and around all surfaces in there, put the bindings back together, and now I can rotate my toes out smooth as butter. Now of course I'm paranoid that I need to do my heels and toes on all of these bindings... So it goes I guess!

[revolutionrock]

Hi!
I have a pair of look pivot dual 12 that I have been using for a few years now. I have noticed some play in the toe of the ski boot when putting force side to side, I get some movement from the afd.

I can also force some movement in the toe and get up and down movement from the ski boot.

This is with a gripwalk boot. I have tried another pair of skis with a look pivot 12 with gripwalk afd, still get some up and down movement when using force, but not as much.

The boots are not that worn.. thinking about to try with the Alpine soles . Any one else been having this issue? Or maybe it isn't an issue.

Forward pressure is correct.

Thanks!