Cracked heel bail. How common is this?

[Galen]

Thought I was gonna get some pow in before the end of the season, but saw this as I was clipping in.:eek: Dang, I'm only 140-160, 3rd season on this pair, and am far from a hard carver. Anyways, how common is this? Check your gear folks! Fortunately I had a spare in the motel.

[crucible]

All metal will eventually fatigue, but I have broken only 2 bails in over 20 years of carving.

It helps that I'm small and light (150 lbs), but half of those years I put over 75 days on a binding.

George

[Dan]

I cracked a couple of Catek toe bails last season. It was user error -- I had them set a little too loose, allowing the boot to move around too much and apply pressure in a direction where the binding was relatively weak.

[RDY_2_Carve]

I would say 99% of the time failed equipment is caused by improper setup.

[CarvingScooby]

I pop me back feet 2 days ago, way to loose:smashfrea.
Hardshell safe me ankle:ices_ange

Roy

[nils]

"I would say 99% of the time failed equipment is caused by improper setup."

I'm not sure this is the case... we break back bails like 2 times per season average ( jacques, patrice and I) and it also depends on your settings... lower angles put way more stress on the bails than high angles..and the steel used for "normal" riding with narrow boards is not always strong enough for higher pressure, even with tight settings.
We have snapped all of them ( all brands, steel and Ti) and the one we are sure that will never break is customs bails we made with a special tempered steel ( costed about 100 euros per pair...!!!)...those are the only one that do not bend, move, break since we started ECing..
Anyway its always better to ride with a spare and an allen key in the pocket :)

Nils

[Cristan]

Galen,
My $0.02! Take it with a grain of salt.

I find that when I ride, sometimes, the portion of the binding that you showed gets filled snow, to the point that it turns into ice. Couple that with some more snow on your heel, compression of the binding, and vibration during your ride. Overtime, if not paid attention to, it might do something similar to what you just showed.

Although, different from your issue, I too have a small gripe with TD2 std. which I posted here last month (http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=19736) and no one replies.

Regards,
Cristan

[Dave ESPI]

I rode hard enough to completely pop out of BOTH my TD2 bindings when I caught some massive chatter and too agressive of an angle/lean and it scared the piss outa me. Luckily my bindings(and my legs) were not broken.

I busted the heel plate on some Sno-Pros and old burton plates, but so far, nothing on these TD2s, but time will tell. Only thing I find is I need to adjust the toe bails every few days because they slide a few mm and get loose in the clips.

BLUE LOCTITE IS YOUR FRIEND :)

[tripine]

Over the years I've broken 7 or 8 bails. However I am 220 lbs and ride a lot. A friend of mine
replaces his bails yearly. Cheap insurance considering the ugly alternatives

[KingCrimson]

Hey Dave-

My first instinct is Blue Loctite as well, but a few months ago I learned about Vibratite, one of my teachers was recommending it for some screws on a throttle linkage on a carburetor that NEVER wanted to stay on, even with Loctite (never went red, you don't want perma-settings on a carb :freak3:) As the name insinuates, it stands up to Vibration quite well. I've never carved on hardboots before, but one would assume that there would be a good deal of vibration.

But this is taken from the Almanac-

<center> http://www.alpinecarving.com/images/vibra_tite_sm.jpg </center> <center> It's a really good idea to put vibra-tite on the screw threads - see the parts list (http://www.alpinecarving.com/parts.html) for vibra-tite part numbers. </center>

[Galen]

I'd be surprised if it was improper set-up. I have no boot slop, but not so tight that you can feel the sole bend. unclipping takes 1-2 hands, depending on how pooped I'm feeling. I do ride flat in front and I've heard that puts a bit more leverage on the heel bale. the only thing that's changed is I'm ridding the t-225's instead of the lemans, and the 225's have a deeper heel lip. maybe the change in load? who knows, I'm going with the "everything eventually breaks" theory. I like the idea of replacing them every year! Small price for peace of mind.

[Dave ESPI]

King C, Red Loctite is a big NO-NO. The Vibra-tite is similar, but has a bit more "rubber cement" in the compound. Metal to metal, and use of red means you will strip the head of the hexx key before you get it free from the threading. Although you can use a torch ( small pipefitter brass/copper welders torch) and heat up the compound and then they tend to come apart a bit easier, but I would still rather just be able to make adjustments on trail rather than worry about needing to find a torch LOL....

[KingCrimson]

Haha, yeah, that's why I said I'd like to adjust my carb, and that's why I didn't use red :P

There are actually different kinds of Red Loctite, like 262 is the nasty bulletproof kind.

I agree, having to tighten your screws on occasion isn't as bad as dragging around plumbing tools and solvents :P

Although, this torch bit you mentioned, gives me an idea..a bit like the breaking the tips off someone's skis if they mark up the tail of your board or your skis.

I'm not saying anymore. But you could also mount a torch and convince someone that it makes you go faster.

[NateW]

Thanks for the tip King. I bought some Vibra-tite based on your mention of it in my binding-screws-coming-loose thread. It should be here next week.

If anyone else is interested, Vibra-tite and Loctite crayons are both available thru http://www.mcmaster.com.

[KingCrimson]

Glad to be of help :) Hope it works out for you, that's really great stuff!

Loctite.....Crayons?

That's a new term to me.

Ah, went to McMaster-Carr, I see.

[bobdea]

while we're on this subject, the use of anti-seize agents is important too on certain parts of bindings and BOOTs
saved my ass more than once!

[corey_dyck]

while we're on this subject, the use of anti-seize agents is important too on certain parts of bindings and BOOTs
saved my ass more than once!
Can you share the details?

[Jeff E]

I rode hard enough to completely pop out of BOTH my TD2 bindings when I caught some massive chatter and too agressive of an angle/lean and it scared the piss outa me. Luckily my bindings(and my legs) were not broken.

I busted the heel plate on some Sno-Pros and old burton plates, but so far, nothing on these TD2s, but time will tell. Only thing I find is I need to adjust the toe bails every few days because they slide a few mm and get loose in the clips.

BLUE LOCTITE IS YOUR FRIEND :)

Last week, I popped both manual TD2's within a second of each other on a hard toeside turn where the tip started to bury itself and then chattered :eek:. The bindiings were tight and the release tabs were down almost against the boot. Scared me good.
In 1995 I hit something in the snow that ripped my rear binding out and did break my left leg in 'bout 20 places--6 months to recover and $20,000 out of pocket! So I replace my bails every 50 riding days.