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I have now ruined three aluminum LT pins for the Spark system. The brackets are fine, but the pins have failed three separate times, and I have been lucky to get back to the car each time. I sent the first two broken ones back to Spark and like the totally cool company they are, they promptly sent me two more. After last weekend though, I will only be using the steel pins from now on, but will continue to use the aluminum brackets.

definitely carry stainless steel spares, they are the only way to go.

How/when/where did they break? I just started using them last week.

interesting...hearing a lot about this lately.

used them last couple of seasons with no real problems (fuse lts). just got the 11-12 burners with lts - i have an extra pin in my pack, but where do these seem be failing?

pretty common sense to carry a spare pin regardless of what your setup is.

where on the pin are they breaking? i've seen a couple of broken ones online and most look like the user was stepping on the bend or the 'handle' for lack of a better term... i would really think that if you've broken three (in what span of time?) its probably something you are doing, like maybe stepping on them.

either way, if steel pins work better for you than by all means use them. won't add much weight to your getup - but having broke 3 pins already you might want to look closer at how you are breaking them...

what do you weigh? #200lbers will break lots of shit that little guys like me never could...

Sound like someone needs to make some titanium LT pins. Only $100 a pair I'm sure... Bummer that you broke yours, I am just switching over to LT's this season and may pick up a spare set to bring or just keep running with my stainless steel.

i thought that there was some issue running steel with the lt brackets. am i misremebering?

You can't use the aluminum LT pins with the Voile steel brackets. You would saw through them in short order without the plastic bushings the LT brackets have.

My wife and I have lots of days on the LT pins and have had nothing but good experiences. I do keep an extra in my pack though, and I try to be reasonably gentle when working them through the binding and bracket.

I didnt step on mine, I caught the wire with my boot in a sideways action as I removed it from the binding. They are so hard that they are not tough at all. Relax the hardness and increase the toughness I say.

Prior Rider, would definitely like to hear about where they broke & your thoughts as to why. Also curious as to your weight.

I have 100+ days on my original set of LTs and do both a ton of skinning and skiing on them, thus putting a ton of use and force on them. Only recently did they start to show enough wear for me to start to get concerned about it. Even then it was only because I popped the bushings out of the brackets early on and never replaced them, causing aluminum-aluminum contact and and slowly wearing little notches in the pins where they sit under the bracket.

In my opinion, they kick ass and have definitely exceeded my expectations from when I first got them back in Fall 2011. Just offering another perspective.

Where's the pics!?

I'll order a couple spares for my longer trips.

Its funny you mention that, I actually went out 2 springs ago and grabbed my spare split with standard steel brackets. Like an idiot I totally spaced on the pins! I actually used my LT pins in the steel bracket that day, wore two spots over halfway through...I have since put over 30 days on those pins!!

I think they are actually pretty impressive really, considering...

Definitely north of 200 lbs so that may likely be a factor as a couple people have mentioned. Two have broken at the bend, and the one recently bent when it came loose during some active kick turning. Yes, I have always carried at least one, if not two spares with me on most trips. Not sure I still have the pictures still.

I may be doing something wrong, but its easier to change to steel. The Burners are an absolute game changer for me. I will buy every advancement they make as it just gets better.

The pin doesn't "click" in place, and kind of rests between your boot and the strap. I think my front strap gets loose sometimes when I am in touring mode and that is where the slack in the system comes from. I bet if I were religious about cinching down those front straps this wouldn't have happened. If there is movement between the boot and the binding, the pin can get bent or wiggle its way out. So, yeah, it's user error, however the steel pins are at least as strong as I may be lazy.

I have never had an issue with the pin, yet I have broken the bracket on occasion.