Newbie need help - binding screw spacing on old board
 

One of my kids has been happily using an old Morrow board but one of
the bindings has broken. I had a spare set of bindings but when I went
to mount them, the screws don't match up. The broken bindings used a
4-screw pattern but the rows of screws seem to be too far apart for the
new bindings. The board has two rows of screw holes about 8cm or 3-1/8
inch apart and the holes in each row are about 2.5cm or 1 inch apart.

Is there a way for me to mount a binding, or buy a binding that fits,
or should I just throw the board away?

Thanks,
Dan

Morrow had their own goofy insert pattern like in '92 or something,
don't know if your old board is quite that old.
You can just redrill new holes in your baseplate, if you're not going
to launch off big jumps or sky the pipe sides.

Thanks LeeD,

The problem is the threaded inserts in the old board are too far apart
for the base plate so drilling the baseplate wouldn't work. Maybe I
need new threaded inserts in the board. I don't know if this is a
reasonable thing to do ... drill and install new threaded inserts in
the board. Any thoughts? Maybe I am just spinning my gears and wasting
time.

Dan

Dan wrote:

Is there a way for me to mount a binding, or buy a binding that fits,
or should I just throw the board away?

I think you have an older board with a proprietary binding pattern. You
could scour e-bay for an old set of Morrow bindings, try posting a
wanted ad at bomberonline (the people there are equipment nuts and have
a surprising bunch of stuff in their closets) or alternately you could
make a transition baseplate. Get a piece of metal, drill holes to match
the board and holes to match the new bindings, mount the bindings to the
plate and the plate to the board.

Or just chuck the old Morrow and buy something newer. You could
probably get a decent used board for your kid with a modern 4X4 binding
pattern for fairly cheap.

Neil

Thanks Neil-

I had thought of making an adapter plate. 1/4 inch aluminum maybe but
steel would be better for holding the screws. Seems like it would get
heavy. I guess will look for another board rather than waste time and
money on old junk.

Dan

Just drill thru your bindings with the center plate attached, if
don't matter.
Only you gots to set the stance for toe and heel drag is OK, and it's
not really adjustable.
Crap old board, it don't matter. Don't make it more complicated than
it is.
Old boards, had holes near sidewalls, and everyone just drilled holes
in the bindings to match.

LeeD wrote:
Old boards, had holes near sidewalls, and everyone just drilled holes
in the bindings to match.

I never heard of that. "Everyone" just used the bindings that came with
the board, which would match the manufacturer's proprietary pattern.
Some boards were had no inserts, instead they had a mount plate under
the topsheet and attach with screws just like ski bindings. Old
Avalanches were like that.

It was quite common to drill right through the board and attach bindings
with T-nuts if the inserts weren't where you wanted them of if they had
pulled out. This was really popular for a while when the jib crew went
to super-wide stances. So the OP could do that if he wanted but I would
be a bit worried about whether the board structure would support being
drilled in a tight pattern to support a modern 4X4 plate.


Neil

Some peeps would think it's smarter to drill holes in the bindings
rather than thru the whole board and then adding T nut inserts.
Whatever floats your boat.....
When you add new holes in the bindings, you need to use washers, and
usually a few more inserts than just 4.

LeeD wrote:
Some peeps would think it's smarter to drill holes in the bindings
rather than thru the whole board and then adding T nut inserts.
Whatever floats your boat.....
When you add new holes in the bindings, you need to use washers, and
usually a few more inserts than just 4.


Sounds to me that the bindings could be salvaged but the board should be
ditched. I'd be more inclined to get a new budget board and not risk
destroying the bindings.

Tough call there .....
You could get a new board that works decently with tuning for $150.
You could buy some on sale BurtonFreestyle bindings for $80........
When I started boarding in '93, the old Burtons pre 3D were still
around, as were the multi inserts around the rails, the Morrow pattern,
some HotPlus custom patterns, and we just drilled the bindings to work
on all of them.
Never had any problems.
Even the Avalance style with the metal plate near the sidewalls, we
just drilled some holes and filled with Elmers.......
Those days, compatability was something for the future....we just
improvised, and it worked just fine....