The Thunder Thread

[Dan Gerous]

Can anybody tell me if there is any rhyme or reason to the Thunder baseplates having "Team" or the lightning bolt on them?

At first I thought Teams had "Team" stamped on them and forged baseplates had the lightning bolt stamped on them.  Then I was looking at this catalog https://www.thundertrucks.com/summer-2021/ and noticed that in the pic, the OG Grenade trucks have "Team" on one baseplate and the lightning bolt on the other.  I have these trucks, so I just went and looked at them and they both have the lightning bolt on them.  But even weirder, they have the lightning bolt on opposite sides...One truck the bolt is on the left, one truck the bolt is on the right, so when setup on a board the bolts are on the same side.

There is not much to it, the cast baseplate molds are modular so they can mix and match 4 different little blocks in them to change the markings or swap them from one side to the other when manufacturing: 'Thunder', 'Team', the lightning bolt or three lines.

As far as I can tell, they're mostly random when they cast them but once at the assembly line, given availability, they try to have those with 'Team' on them for Team trucks and the basic standards trucks usually have 'Thunder' on one side and the lightning bolt on the other.

Given they make batches with the same markings, having one truck with the markings on the opposite sides from the other truck like you have probably means they weren't manufactured at the same time and come from two different batches.

Whatever markings they have doesn't mean much though, they're all the same baseplates functionally.

The forged baseplates though are all the same with 'Thunder' on one side and the lightning bolt on the other.

[Xen]

Expand Quote

Can anybody tell me if there is any rhyme or reason to the Thunder baseplates having "Team" or the lightning bolt on them?

At first I thought Teams had "Team" stamped on them and forged baseplates had the lightning bolt stamped on them.  Then I was looking at this catalog https://www.thundertrucks.com/summer-2021/ and noticed that in the pic, the OG Grenade trucks have "Team" on one baseplate and the lightning bolt on the other.  I have these trucks, so I just went and looked at them and they both have the lightning bolt on them.  But even weirder, they have the lightning bolt on opposite sides...One truck the bolt is on the left, one truck the bolt is on the right, so when setup on a board the bolts are on the same side.

[close]

There is not much to it, the cast baseplate molds are modular so they can mix and match 4 different little blocks in them to change the markings or swap them from one side to the other when manufacturing: 'Thunder', 'Team', the lightning bolt or three lines.

As far as I can tell, they're mostly random when they cast them but once at the assembly line, given availability, they try to have those with 'Team' on them for Team trucks and the basic standards trucks usually have 'Thunder' on one side and the lightning bolt on the other.

Given they make batches with the same markings, having one truck with the markings on the opposite sides from the other truck like you have probably means they weren't manufactured at the same time and come from two different batches.

Whatever markings they have doesn't mean much though, they're all the same baseplates functionally.

The forged baseplates though are all the same with 'Thunder' on one side and the lightning bolt on the other.

Then you have to consider how the shops stock inventory, they could easily break up a 'set' and you are given two bolts/lines/etc.

[gsosa]

Yeah it seems to be pretty random. I rock the 148s Teams on my normal board and have the team on one and the lighting bolt on the other. While on the team 161s I have on my cruiser have lightnings on both baseplates.

[Ok]

Yeah it seems to be pretty random. I rock the 148s Teams on my normal board and have the team on one and the lighting bolt on the other. While on the team 161s I have on my cruiser have lightnings on both baseplates.

My dude out here. I respect the same truck brand across the quiver

[j....soy.....]

I definitely had issues getting the cast kingpin out of both of my baseplates….one was easy….one I just gave up and used my old ones…..

[gsosa]

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Yeah it seems to be pretty random. I rock the 148s Teams on my normal board and have the team on one and the lighting bolt on the other. While on the team 161s I have on my cruiser have lightnings on both baseplates.

[close]

My dude out here. I respect the same truck brand across the quiver

Hell yeah man, I just love how Thunders skate. Ive tried other brands and Ive skated them no problem and they were really good but Thunders just feel like home to me.

[j....soy.....]

Yah, it’s cool feeling the nuances and different applications of the geo…..

[boneless900]

Finally got the kingpins out of these thunder polished baseplates. Gonna install a k5 dlk, just waiting 24h for the loctite to set on the kingnut

[theloniousmonk]

Finally got the kingpins out of these thunder polished baseplates. Gonna install a k5 dlk, just waiting 24h for the loctite to set on the kingnut

Those are the forged? If so, good job! What’s the trick?
I’m loving my 147s with kreper pins.

[Xen]

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Finally got the kingpins out of these thunder polished baseplates. Gonna install a k5 dlk, just waiting 24h for the loctite to set on the kingnut

[close]

Those are the forged? If so, good job! What’s the trick?

The pitman arm puller in the photo? (go back a page)

[boneless900]

Expand Quote

Finally got the kingpins out of these thunder polished baseplates. Gonna install a k5 dlk, just waiting 24h for the loctite to set on the kingnut

[close]

Those are the forged? If so, good job! What’s the trick?
I’m loving my 147s with kreper pins.

Nah just standard polished baseplates, I haven't gotten the courage to mess with forged baseplates bc I heard they can be real tough not to fuck up

[boneless900]

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Finally got the kingpins out of these thunder polished baseplates. Gonna install a k5 dlk, just waiting 24h for the loctite to set on the kingnut

[close]

Those are the forged? If so, good job! What’s the trick?

[close]

The pitman arm puller in the photo? (go back a page)

I tried hammering the kingpins out for an hour (unsuccessfully), got fed up and went to O'Reilly for the pitman arm puller. Worked like a charm

[j....soy.....]

Is your arm ok? Do they have a finger puller?

[PuffinMuffin]

The kingpins came out of my forged Thunder baseplates quite easily. Sprayed some penetrating oil and let them sit for a few hours before beating a 12oz hammer on the kingpin while the baseplates were on concrete; with my foot holding it in place. The top of the kingpins were peened out from the hammering so the kingpins had to be hack sawed in half.

[Mbrimson88]

The kingpins came out of my forged Thunder baseplates quite easily. Sprayed some penetrating oil and let them sit for a few hours before beating a 12oz hammer on the kingpin while the baseplates were on concrete; with my foot holding it in place. The top of the kingpins were peened out from the hammering so the kingpins had to be hack sawed in half.

You definitely get the star for the penetrating oil as that is probably what many others should have used before as well.  Is it just a drip on or a spray application?

I normally suggest keeping a nut on the kingpin, ever so slightly sitting just above the kingpin top, usually an old one too, so the nut takes most of the force and the kingpin once loose can just have the nut removed and will slip straight out as well as being able to be reused in any situation again, while the nut can pretty much go straight in the bin, or be used on the other baseplate or for any other similar projects if not completely smashed.


* I never want to sound like old Mr know it all, as I really value a lot of amazing things I have read and seen on here too, so just in case that comes across as a bit that way, it is never meant to be.

[theloniousmonk]

Expand Quote

The kingpins came out of my forged Thunder baseplates quite easily. Sprayed some penetrating oil and let them sit for a few hours before beating a 12oz hammer on the kingpin while the baseplates were on concrete; with my foot holding it in place. The top of the kingpins were peened out from the hammering so the kingpins had to be hack sawed in half.

[close]

You definitely get the star for the penetrating oil as that is probably what many others should have used before as well.  Is it just a drip on or a spray application?

I normally suggest keeping a nut on the kingpin, ever so slightly sitting just above the kingpin top, usually an old one too, so the nut takes most of the force and the kingpin once loose can just have the nut removed and will slip straight out as well as being able to be reused in any situation again, while the nut can pretty much go straight in the bin, or be used on the other baseplate or for any other similar projects if not completely smashed.


* I never want to sound like old Mr know it all, as I really value a lot of amazing things I have read and seen on here too, so just in case that comes across as a bit that way, it is never meant to be.

That’s a great tip to use the penetrating oil. Did you make an inverted kingpin setup? I’m wondering if the inverted nut that would be sitting in the baseplate has enough room in the forged. If not, it would be possible to use a dremel on the deck and make room for it in the same way many make their wheel wells.

[beandemon]

Penetrating is a good call. Heating the baseplate - you want the heat around the kp but not an it- with a propane or mapp torch or even a heat gun may help with stubborn ones. Careful with the oxy-acetylene torch or you’ll have a puddle with a kingpin in it.
Nut to protect threads is also good advice and gives a bigger area to whack. Another option is using a hammer or drift of made material softer than the kingpin. If you have options, I’d also use a hammer around 32oz - easier to give a nice short precise whack than a full swing with a smaller hammer.

[ish_wav]

Finally got the kingpins out of these thunder polished baseplates. Gonna install a k5 dlk, just waiting 24h for the loctite to set on the kingnut

I read in the Lurpiv thread that some people were putting the Ace rethreading axle nuts to keep it from coming loose. Would the Ace kingpin rethreading nuts work the same? I enjoyed my k5 DLKs in my thunders but they got loose every session (didn’t use locktite) so I’m just curious if anyone thinks those ace nuts would do the trick here too.

[sebbo]

Little guest appearance from Ben Degros. He is riding "hybrid thunders" which he can't talk about. Interesting!

[sebbo]

[goodatmeth]

Thunder is super late to the ikp party, but lets hope they at least figured something out the others didn't

[PuffinMuffin]

Expand Quote

The kingpins came out of my forged Thunder baseplates quite easily. Sprayed some penetrating oil and let them sit for a few hours before beating a 12oz hammer on the kingpin while the baseplates were on concrete; with my foot holding it in place. The top of the kingpins were peened out from the hammering so the kingpins had to be hack sawed in half.

[close]

You definitely get the star for the penetrating oil as that is probably what many others should have used before as well.  Is it just a drip on or a spray application?

I normally suggest keeping a nut on the kingpin, ever so slightly sitting just above the kingpin top, usually an old one too, so the nut takes most of the force and the kingpin once loose can just have the nut removed and will slip straight out as well as being able to be reused in any situation again, while the nut can pretty much go straight in the bin, or be used on the other baseplate or for any other similar projects if not completely smashed.


* I never want to sound like old Mr know it all, as I really value a lot of amazing things I have read and seen on here too, so just in case that comes across as a bit that way, it is never meant to be.

You're one of the most knowledgeable and helpful people on here, you never come off as a Mister-know-it-all.

I used a spray can of PB Blaster on both sides of the kingpin. I'm not convinced the spraying action helped it along any. Letting it sit with the penetrating oil for a few hours probably did the trick. That nut-on-top trick works well with cast plates, but I had a hell of a time trying to hammer a pair of Indy kingpins back into forged Indy plates. I'd rather just replace the pins with Krux K5 DLs and save the nuts. It would probably be an easy job if you have access to an arbor press or something though. 

That’s a great tip to use the penetrating oil. Did you make an inverted kingpin setup? I’m wondering if the inverted nut that would be sitting in the baseplate has enough room in the forged. If not, it would be possible to use a Dremel on the deck and make room for it in the same way many make their wheel wells.

Yes, the nut sits almost flush but peeks out less than a millimeter. There's no need to dermal the deck, as the wood is soft enough to get indented by it, possibly negating any baseplate movement if your hardware gets loose.

I read in the Lurpiv thread that some people were putting the Ace rethreading axle nuts to keep it from coming loose. Would the Ace kingpin rethreading nuts work the same? I enjoyed my k5 DLKs in my thunders but they got loose every session (didn’t use locktite) so I’m just curious if anyone thinks those ace nuts would do the trick here too.

I don't know, but if you do decide to go the threadlocker route Permatex orange holds much stronger than Loctite blue, and you don't have to use a torch to loosen the bolt. My trucks haven't loosened at all with my inverted kingpins in about two months. It's lovely, set it and forget it. 

[Xen]

A 'hybrid' thunder....

Looks kind of like a take on the krux pin, a 'cap' that countersinks into a washer...

Now it's probably the angle but could that b-plate be a tad longer?

[Wizard0f0dds]

Quick question, what would be the biggest size wheels you guys would recommend on Thunders? Coming from Indys (and Ace classics before that) I usually ride anything between 54 and 56 without issue, I have a set of 55mm spit classics on ice and I'm thinking of replacing my cooked indys with Thunder 149s to switch it up for this summer. Haven't been on Thunders in about 4-5 years, I used to ride them with 53 back then, but I think it would be silly to buy new wheels when I have a brand new set already. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with 55s, but I wanted you guys' opinion on the matter.

Thanks! 

[Xen]

Quick question, what would be the biggest size wheels you guys would recommend on Thunders? Coming from Indys (and Ace classics before that) I usually ride anything between 54 and 56 without issue, I have a set of 55mm spit classics on ice and I'm thinking of replacing my cooked indys with Thunder 149s to switch it up for this summer. Haven't been on Thunders in about 4-5 years, I used to ride them with 53 back then, but I think it would be silly to buy new wheels when I have a brand new set already. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with 55s, but I wanted you guys' opinion on the matter.

Thanks! 

What terrain and how tight do you ride your trucks?

I won't go past 53 on cast plates / 52 on Forged (not counting risers); I ride very loose and even then the 52 are pushing it with as much as they wheelbite for me.

[Mbrimson88]

Quick question, what would be the biggest size wheels you guys would recommend on Thunders? Coming from Indys (and Ace classics before that) I usually ride anything between 54 and 56 without issue, I have a set of 55mm spit classics on ice and I'm thinking of replacing my cooked indys with Thunder 149s to switch it up for this summer. Haven't been on Thunders in about 4-5 years, I used to ride them with 53 back then, but I think it would be silly to buy new wheels when I have a brand new set already. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with 55s, but I wanted you guys' opinion on the matter.

Thanks! 

From my regular go to - 149 Indy standards with medium / loose trucks on 56 mm wheels and great turn with minimal issues, I find anything else in the other big brands truck department tends to give me a bit more wheelbite on even significantly smaller wheels, but a 2 mm riser (made my own from some scrap rubber sheeting) on Thunders really makes me feel like I don't have to worry at all about wheelbite on my Team 149s.  You could use any 1/8" stock risers to make them have the same clearance as Indy standard trucks, but I found that most risers stick out or don't fit the truck baseplates that well, even the older universal or plastic Thunder risers I had in the misc parts box are a fair bit bigger, but the Bones / Mini logo are about the best fit to not stick out at all or sit just ever so slightly under the baseplate, or make some of your own.

As for the actual question, on stock Thunders without risers, I think around 52 mm wheels worked well enough with minimal wheelbite on a few sets I had on set ups and skated, but the Thunder trucks are significantly lower than Indy and I kept going to turn a whole lot more than I was able until I adjusted how I skated them, more so than change the board to suit how I wanted to or was used to skating.

That is the trade off.

If you like bigger wheels, I would suggest making your own risers to test.  You can always take them off or experiment with things until you find some happy medium too.

Thunder are a really good truck, but they perform so differently to Indy, or Venture or Ace, etc.

[Wizard0f0dds]

Expand Quote

Quick question, what would be the biggest size wheels you guys would recommend on Thunders? Coming from Indys (and Ace classics before that) I usually ride anything between 54 and 56 without issue, I have a set of 55mm spit classics on ice and I'm thinking of replacing my cooked indys with Thunder 149s to switch it up for this summer. Haven't been on Thunders in about 4-5 years, I used to ride them with 53 back then, but I think it would be silly to buy new wheels when I have a brand new set already. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with 55s, but I wanted you guys' opinion on the matter.

Thanks! 

[close]

What terrain and how tight do you ride your trucks?

I won't go past 53 on cast plates / 52 on Forged (not counting risers); I ride very loose and even then the 52 are pushing it with as much as they wheelbite for me.

Mostly street skating and park, I don't really do any big transition or anything. I'd say I ride on the looser end of medium if that makes sense. My indys were just stock tightness, and I had aces a little looser (maybe a 1/2 turn looser than flush?)

I was planning on just getting either Team Polished or Team Hollows, so cast plates. Either that, going back to indys, or give Ace AF-1 a go, but I'm hesitant as my set of classics had pretty bad axle slip and they weren't even that beat, also my flat game was pretty sloppy on aces for some reason. I think I'm gonna give it a try and if the wheelbite is too crazy I'll get some wider 53mm or something.

[Ok]

Expand Quote

Quick question, what would be the biggest size wheels you guys would recommend on Thunders? Coming from Indys (and Ace classics before that) I usually ride anything between 54 and 56 without issue, I have a set of 55mm spit classics on ice and I'm thinking of replacing my cooked indys with Thunder 149s to switch it up for this summer. Haven't been on Thunders in about 4-5 years, I used to ride them with 53 back then, but I think it would be silly to buy new wheels when I have a brand new set already. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with 55s, but I wanted you guys' opinion on the matter.

Thanks! 

[close]

What terrain and how tight do you ride your trucks?

I won't go past 53 on cast plates / 52 on Forged (not counting risers); I ride very loose and even then the 52 are pushing it with as much as they wheelbite for me.

I’m with Xen on this: 52.
Im riding 149 cast thunders rn, and I get a lot of wheelbite, because I’m not good. I generally don’t ride wheels bigger than 54. Something that makes wheel bite manageable, or unmanageable, for me, is the width of the deck, in proportion to the width of the trucks. Right now I’m riding an 8.6 board, and then wheels sit in a little bit, that gives me more turning until inevitable wheelbite, but if I was riding a deck narrower than the trucks, I’d need to tighten it up a bit.  Wheelbite is the number one reason I stop skating thunders, just wanting to be able to skate a bigger wheel.
That being said, thunders works very well for me, for the type of skating I’m trying to do: flatground, ledges. My ollie feels consistent/good. I also do not have any qc problems/durability issues with thunder.
Could you skate 55s with em? Sure. I’d recommend risers. That’s what the real G’s were doing (locally) before most of em switched to venture. I think BDK has spent some risers, and he’s the best so do that.

[Wizard0f0dds]

Expand Quote

Quick question, what would be the biggest size wheels you guys would recommend on Thunders? Coming from Indys (and Ace classics before that) I usually ride anything between 54 and 56 without issue, I have a set of 55mm spit classics on ice and I'm thinking of replacing my cooked indys with Thunder 149s to switch it up for this summer. Haven't been on Thunders in about 4-5 years, I used to ride them with 53 back then, but I think it would be silly to buy new wheels when I have a brand new set already. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with 55s, but I wanted you guys' opinion on the matter.

Thanks! 

[close]

From my regular go to - 149 Indy standards with medium / loose trucks on 56 mm wheels and great turn with minimal issues, I find anything else in the other big brands truck department tends to give me a bit more wheelbite on even significantly smaller wheels, but a 2 mm riser (made my own from some scrap rubber sheeting) on Thunders really makes me feel like I don't have to worry at all about wheelbite on my Team 149s.  You could use any 1/8" stock risers to make them have the same clearance as Indy standard trucks, but I found that most risers stick out or don't fit the truck baseplates that well, even the older universal or plastic Thunder risers I had in the misc parts box are a fair bit bigger, but the Bones / Mini logo are about the best fit to not stick out at all or sit just ever so slightly under the baseplate, or make some of your own.

As for the actual question, on stock Thunders without risers, I think around 52 mm wheels worked well enough with minimal wheelbite on a few sets I had on set ups and skated, but the Thunder trucks are significantly lower than Indy and I kept going to turn a whole lot more than I was able until I adjusted how I skated them, more so than change the board to suit how I wanted to or was used to skating.

That is the trade off.

If you like bigger wheels, I would suggest making your own risers to test.  You can always take them off or experiment with things until you find some happy medium too.

Thunder are a really good truck, but they perform so differently to Indy, or Venture or Ace, etc.

Yeah, I was thinking about risers too. That's a NBD for me honestly. Skated my friend's board the other day and he has Thunders on, and it made me a bit nostalgic. Somehow it kinda felt like home. I believe he has 54mm on his, but the wheels were pretty worn so probably more around 51-52.

[Damoforce]

Has another skated both 147s and 148s on the same width deck ( 8.25 ) and noticed much or a difference? The same model truck too, or at least the height the same. Just wondering how much the width really affects things