Who do you trust to work on your skis?

After several weeks of hassle last spring, I got Dynafit to replace my defective heel pieces (I had to email them a link to their own recall notification).

With Marmot gone, I'm not sure where to take them to get the work done; have not had the best experience with ProSki, at least in North Bend.

I'm on the east side, so driving them to Fremont or Ballard is not ideal, but I can do.

Suggestions?

Me. But barely.

I do all my own work, but I would consider using these guys: www.worldcupsc.com/ski-service-menu/

Replacing the heel piece is easy. Review diagrams on Wildsnow. When I had to have someone do something I couldn't do myself to my boots/bindings/skis I went to ProSki in Seattle with good results. I wouldn't go to North Bend again and I find REI staffing to be highly variable.

I find REI staffing to be highly variable. 

Thanks, Andrew. I'll check the WildSnow site, but my impression from the spring was that the entire heel piece has to come off the ski and the new piece installed. So either new holes drilled and the old filled, or helicoils.

And yes, agreed, I wouldn't trust REI staff to recommend batteries, much less work on a piece of critical winter mountaineering gear like skis.

Depends on who mounted them first (and the ski; Dynamist with plastic inserts could be a problem)--if the screws were overtightened to the point of stripping, then the holes might need inserts. Skimo sells an insert kit for $50. If you would rather drill new holes; that is not too hard either. Download a template from Wildsnow or Tetongravity or slidewright. I bought a good drill bit for mounting skis for something like $19 from Tognar and it has proved useful--I've mounted binding of at least 6 pairs of skis with it; it has a stop that keeps it from going too deep. The high concern is just making sure the hole is clean and deep enough for the screws (can't be overstated). On my skis with a good wood core, I heated the screws to soften the epoxy and removed them; I then cleaned the screws thoroughly and cleaned the holes thoroughly. Then I mounted the new bases with epoxy. The screws tightened down well, suggesting there would be no problem; and there has been none to date.

So either new holes drilled and the old filled, or helicoils.

If you end up deciding to do your own work (its really not that hard -- at least if you took wood shop in middle school)

Tognar Toolworks is a wonderful source of tools and materials.

www.tognar.com/binding_tools_boot_cantin...e_ski_snowboard.html

Pro Ski North Bend is a great shop that I totally trust with advanced Dynafiddling.
Evo has done a good job with the basics for me, if you can tolerate the bro-heavy vibe.

World Cup Ski in Bellevue is the place to go for base tuning (if you don't do your own). I don't know if they mount Dynafit bindings. Maybe check Greenwater Skis. I still miss Marmot.

Heel pieces?

How modern yuppie...

Mount em yerself, save coins for drugs.



Binding Mount Paper Templates

PSA Mount your own f*cking skis

Another vote for doing it yourself. Not sure why you think you need to redrill unless there is something wrong with the current mount; you should be able to reuse the existing holes or just remove the heelpiece housing from the pivot and re-install (when I sent mine in, they requested I send only the top part of the binding and not the baseplate/pivot post, but then they sent me entire heelpieces).

I can't tell from reading the thread what your exact situation is, but nothing about working on your skis is rocket science and I don't trust anyone more than myself. As mentioned, everything you could ever need to learn about servicing/mounting Dynafits can be found on www.wildsnow.com

For mounting, I've used REI, ProSki (Seattle), Sturtevants - I'd say all were equivalent, bindings were all mounted properly, never had any problems or issues. I do everything else myself (with Skis, road and mtb bikes) - but for some reason, when it comes to mounting -I worry about either drilling thru or drilling crooked - I know it's not hard, but for $50 I figure if they make a mistake than than they replace the skis bindings, or whatever they mess up. But where ever you go, I agree that it all depends on what tech does the work (or how high they are that day) on if all will go well or not. I'm not necessarily a 'fan' of any of the shops I listed or that are in the greater Seattle area.

What Norseman wrote is critical thinking!
Winning

I've had evo mount three pairs of skis with tech bindings, and they all came out fine.