I love my ace f1 lows and I want to turn my set of indys (don’t know the model because I never care until recently) into lows for another setup but don’t want to buy another set of trucks. Can I buy forged mid hollow baseplates and do they even sell them separately? I guess more importantly is the lower geometry of forged mid hollows in the baseplate or the hanger?
Edit:
Just saw on the nhs website the change in height comes from the hanger. Leaving this here incase anybody else ever wonders.
Edit2:
Would lower bushings lower the truck?
Changing the top bushings don't do much at all, besides using a significantly lower top bushing sometimes making the metal top washer stop on the hanger, limiting the turn.
Changing the height of the bottom bushing (or leaving out the bottom washer) will both change the height of the truck and the natural truck geometry, but by how much is dependent on the truck and what bushings you put in.
From that old Nine Club Ishod interview, he uses two top bushings on each truck, which definitely changes things a lot, not to mention blows out pivot cups more frequently, but that is a workable solution to his needs.
In trying the opposite, cutting down the top and putting that bit I cut off with the bottom bushing is an interesting one on old Indy trucks too, which makes them feel a lot more like Ace in the turn of them - so quick.
As to any other things, I know some trucks, like Thunder and Venture especially, if the bottom bushing blows out or compresses so much that the kingpin nut is almost touching the hanger and makes it really hard to get a tool around, which is why I have a spanner handy for those sorts of situations. They can also feel very different in the turn compared to trucks that have the bottom bushing at full height.
As to Indy baseplates, they only sell the standard baseplates and the inverted kingpin baseplates, both the normal cast height, so if you want forged anything, you have to buy the whole truck set and swap things out, but some people might sell a set of forged baseplates separate to the hangers for whatever reason. I have picked up a few sets from ebay over the years, the normal ones that is, not any for the new mid trucks with inverted kingpin option.
Indy standard trucks = 55mm tall, 53.5 with forged plates.
Indy mid trucks = 52mm tall, 50.5 with forged plates.
Indy low trucks (which they don't make any more) are about 50 / 48 from when I measured the sets I have, but I can't remember exactly now.
Yes it is all in the hanger, cause they are the same baseplates for whatever options, but the low truck set did have shorter kingpins too.