How to Do Your Own Ski Binding Mounts

Working on and maintaining your own skis gives a sense of self-satisfaction and saves you a few bucks in the process. One home task to learn is how to mount your own ski bindings. There are various disciplines of skiing such as telemark, alpine, alpine-touring and cross country. Within the cross country category are even more breakdowns such as skate, traditional and touring. All disciplines follow a basic formula for installation. Take the time to learn the basic binding mount procedure, and then fine-tune it by learning your particular discipline's extras.

Things You'll Need

  • Work bench
  • C-clamps or ski vises
  • Marker
  • Measuring device
  • Power drill with bits
  • Ski glue
  • Rag
  • Large flat screwdriver
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Instructions

    • 1

      Secure the skis to be mounted to the work bench via C-clamps or ski vises (special tools to hold skis). Make sure the tops are facing up.

    • 2

      Align the bindings to the foot-bed location on the skis. For downhill and alpine touring skis, mark the toe-box and the heel-cup of the bindings to the skis. Cross country and telemark skis get marked at the toe-box and the end of the heel-rail. The heel-rail is the raised bar running down the center of the binding.

    • 3

      Mark each screw hole on the bindings to the ski. Remove the bindings and drill out the holes, making sure to go only as deep as recommended for the ski. For example, on cross country skis, as a general rule, go 2 cm to 3 cm deep (most skis use metric measurements) whereas with downhill skis, most run between 2 cm to 4 cm.

    • 4

      Add ski glue to the base of the bindings and align them with the drilled holes. Screw in the retaining bolts into the skis, securing the bindings to the skis. Wipe off any excess glue.

    • 5

      Cover the screws with the binding plugs or use ski glue.

    • 6

      Adjust downhill or alpine touring bindings via the DIN dial on the heel end of the binding. DIN settings dictate the release pressure needed for boots to free during spills or falls. The higher the DIN setting, the harder to release. DIN settings are made by weight and ski ability. Consult a DIN chart for your settings (see Resources).