slabber Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 I'm having challenges getting into my new to me TD3 standard bindings. The rear ball is easily pushed backwards and my boot won't hook into it. I'm used to Burton Race Plates where the rear bail stays up and it's easy to hook the boot in. I'm doing my best to lower my boot back into the binding as best I can and maybe I'll get better at that but it's pretty frustrating currently. Are my bindings supposed to have any spring support to the rear bail or otherwise? I'm going to start looking for some TD3 step ins I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 There are three different varieties of toe/heel blocks for TD3s. If your rear bail goes so low that you can't get the boot's heel ledge under it easily, your heel block might actually be a toe block. The toe block lets the bail drop lower. This page tells you how to identify which sole block is which: https://www.bomberonline.com/TD3-Sole-Block_p_50.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 22 minutes ago, Wolf said: There are three different varieties of toe/heel blocks for TD3s. If your rear bail goes so low that you can't get the boot's heel ledge under it easily, your heel block might actually be a toe block. The toe block lets the bail drop lower. This page tells you how to identify which sole block is which: https://www.bomberonline.com/TD3-Sole-Block_p_50.html Thanks for that, learned something new today Yeah, looks like I have the proper heel block but it just sits too low. Do people put anything in the gap to keep it pushed up higher? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 I just checked my boots in two different TD3 standard bindings and my heel bails are higher relative to the boot ledge than yours (but I have Raichle SB series shells). So there's something about your setup that isn't quite right. Does the heel pad on your boot sit parallel on top of the heel block? From your picture it almost looks like the whole boot might be tilted up in the back (as might happen if the toe block is too low). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 UPZ have a 'raised heel' that tucks the block underneath. I think the bindings are normal, they simply don't keep the heel ball propped up as high as I'm accustomed to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Can I just glue a wedge of sorts in the gap to keep the ball propped up? Piece of zip tie or similar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 16 minutes ago, slabber said: Can I just glue a wedge of sorts in the gap to keep the ball propped up? I think that should work. But in the prior photo without the boot, you can see that the bail is drooping too low. On my bindings, the curved part of the bail is pretty much horizontal while yours is drooping down at an angle. I'll have to sleep on it and see if I can think of anything else that could cause that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barryj Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 On TD3 there are wavy washers at the outside of the lug that usually keeps the bail in the up position until they wear down. I've replaced mine about every season....but I put in 100 days a season.....your mileage between replacing will differ. Additionally I have bungeed the toe bail (for me) in the up position. I made it out of burly rubber bands, like the size ski shops put on skis after tuning. I've also made my own out of road bike inner tubes and just cut the tube and then cut off a end section twice and looped them together and them looped that over the bail and then around the block under the bail. Works for a month or more before they wear thru. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Ah, I see the wave washers @barryj. They're pretty flat now, makes sense and likely the root cause of my grief. I'm a cyclist so have tubes on hand. I'll give that idea a whirl, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 slabber - You have some workarounds but I'm still curious why your heel bail is so low compared with the boot ledge. I've used lots of TD3s over the years and never had this issue, but I've always used Raichle/Deeluxe boots. Maybe the heel ledge on UPZs is higher, but I thought that was standardized between brands. Here are two photos showing how high the heel bail is on two sets of my TD3s - the heel bail is only slightly lower than the heel ledge. A third photo has a scale showing the height of the heel ledge on my boot. Does your UPZ boot measure the same? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 @Wolf, my boots are like new, so no wear to sole blocks. That said, it does look like mine are higher at 35mm. So that would be a contributing factor. But the bails are definitely 'falling down' to the lowest spot in their range and if I can correct that, I should be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Thanks for the quick photo. I have some NOS spare Raichles and they measured 33mm to the top of the heel ledge. So, your UPZ boots are 2-3mm higher. Looks like the shim/rubber band approach is needed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Caution for blocks: make sure they're not touching when the boot is in and clamped. That'll put a bending stress in the bail that will lead to a quick failure. Some kind of bungie cord/tube would be better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 (edited) Fixored. At least temporarily. Flipped the wave washers around and now there's enough tension to keep the bail up. Edited February 13, 2022 by slabber Typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2022 Rode this setup for first time this morning. Better but still a bit of grief getting in... definitely shopping for some step-ins to match up as rear foot bindings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted February 21, 2022 Report Share Posted February 21, 2022 Ummmnn... ~45 degrees on a skinny board... That won't end well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2022 23 minutes ago, lonbordin said: Ummmnn... ~45 degrees on a skinny board... That won't end well. I've not had an issue to date... will this be prone to boot out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted February 21, 2022 Report Share Posted February 21, 2022 (edited) Once you start laying it over you will get boot out. Also, the binding will likely impact the snow sooner as it overhangs the board width. Somebody made a short simple video about this... Edited February 21, 2022 by lonbordin somebody 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted February 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2022 35 minutes ago, lonbordin said: Once you start laying it over you will get boot out. Also, the binding will likely impact the snow sooner as it overhangs the board width. Somebody made a short simple video about this... Thanks, didn't think I had enough overhang to be a concern - I'll look to steepen up the angles. Watching the vid, seems like fuego method assessments are very dependent on what part of the boot you touch... I'll do some reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted February 21, 2022 Report Share Posted February 21, 2022 In that method we're just interested in touching the parts of the boot that overhang the edge. We are also trying to make the front of the boot and rear of the boot be as equal as possible to the edge. Can you go over the edge? Yeah 85 degrees would be a better square for most folk in a lot of conditions, especially beginners. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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