Salmon Brakes Question

[nomensteven]

This will sound like a noob question but I am extremely dumb anything tech wise so please bare with me... i recently recieved a pair of Wide Brakes for my S916's...(they havent been mounted yet), however, at close inspection of the brakes(they were used by the way) it appears that the plate on the back which holds in the brake is bent somewhat upwards(enough room for the brakes to slide in and out) as well as there is now spring in the brake.. so my question is do salomon binding brakes have springs in them(this is my first pair of salomons i have always used looks which did have a spring) and will that little plate stay nice and snugly down when mounted or does it need to be bent back into place... any help wood be greatly appreciated.. thanks again for putting up with my lack of technical knowledge

[soul_skier]

the plate will be pushed back flush with the rest of the housing when you screw it to the binding, if the brakes came from solomon or someone did a good home bendy job, if not, you might have issues, but probably not.

[nomensteven]

the plate will be pushed back flush with the rest of the housing when you screw it to the binding, if the brakes came from solomon or someone did a good home bendy job, if not, you might have issues, but probably not.

ya at a closer look of the bindings they appear to be bent up in a similar fashion.. so i guess there just like that until there screwed in as you mention .. thanks.. puts my mind at ease.. and i assume the brakes are springless then?

[Vitamin I]

You said you are extremely dumb at tech, so I'll try to be clear and simple. Sorry if it sounds condescending or obvious. I figure your brakes are fine, but...

You can test your brakes without mounting to skis. Here's how:

Take one unmounted brake, make sure the brake arms are in position in the brake base (if the metal plate underneath brake base is loose or bent, it is possible that the brake arm popped out of position in the brake base, in which case just pop arm back in place).

If parts seem loose in the brake base, hold the metal base plate up against the base plastic with your fingers to keep the base "closed" and prevent brake arms from popping out again.

Now "mount" the brake to your unmounted 916 heel piece. To achieve this:
---Insert the 2 metal tabs on forward end of brake base into 2 slots at forward end of heel piece. Now front part of brake base is "connected" to the heel piece, but the rear end of brake base is up high (not screwed down into heel piece yet)
---Then lower the rear part of brake base to make contact with the heel piece, and screw it in (only the one center screw needs tightening). Now brake is mounted to heel piece.

Put heel piece upright on floor. Does the upper brake AFD try to stay up off the floor, causing the brake arms to push down into the floor? If yes, then the spring works fine. If no, then your springiness is broken, and your brake will flap in the breeze, and your brake will NOT stop your ski in the snow when boot releases from binding.

Next, take heel piece in hand off of floor. While swiveling the brakes up and down, inspect the metal part that you think is bent. If the brakes swivel up and down without the arms popping out of their sockets, AND without things looking loose, AND if the plastic platform looks level where boot will make contact, then it should be fine.

Finally, "unmount" your brakes from the heel peices by unscrewing that single screw.

Repeat with 2nd brake.
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