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I know this is usually discussed in the ace threads, but have we determined the cause of the washer clicking?
I took a year and a half hiatus from Indy (ventures), and my first pair back was breaking in so good til the front one started making that crazy noise.
They’re 144 standards. I’ve got the orange cylinder aftermarket Indy bushings with the right washers so i shouldn’t be changing any geometry. Kingpin nut is just about flush too, but I can see the washer move if I move the truck back and forth with my hands. The bushing kinda makes the bottom one slide, the top one seems to be pretty ok.
Also, second part to my question; does it just go away?
It iis almost always the metal washer moving on the kingpin, so when the bottom washer, or more commonly the top washer is pushed from side to side, the pressure with the kingpin tightened down causes it to click when it moves to the left or right.
A couple of options that have worked for some people but not for others, most of which I have tried with some success as well:
Tape around the kingpin where the washer touches
Wax on the bottom of the nut / top of the washer
Any sticky adhesive that creates a layer between the nut and washer like blu tac or similar product, not permanent, just something to stop the pressure from moving the washer as much from side to side
It did seem to happen more with some combinations of bushings, washers, trucks but in every case the clicking stopped for either a session or longer, but it is quite annoying until it goes away, or you work out what is going on and fix it.
Soooo after a session on Tuesday night it seems to be…gone? Didn’t skate yesterday or today yet but both days I stood on the board to check and seems like it’s non-existent. Little bit of pivot squeak in the front still but I can totally deal with that.
The current bushing/washer combo is still the aftermarket orange cylinders, ace roadside washer, Indy aftermarket boardside washer.
This got me thinking about what you said in bold - did you mean it goes away only to cruelly come back? Or generally works itself out?
I have no idea why I even care so much about that noise, I’m usually not so picky but that one is maddening lol
Yeah sometimes it does just go away on its own, other times when using wax or other things, it is good for a bit and then comes back.
What I did notice when I had a minute to mess around with things on a new set of Ace trucks a while back, was the clicking would increase if I tightened the kingpin nut down more, or decrease if I loosened it off, so once the bushings wear in a bit, then it decreases the pressure between the washer and nut so it will not have so much force pushing things left or right, which causes the click (to go left) then click (to go right) and so on.
Same as if I had something to prevent the binding, so a little wax on the underside of the nut meant that it would not catch so much, in other cases I had with other random truck and bushing combinations.
As with everything, when you are out and skating and things are loud all round, you don't really even notice it, but just standing on a board, leaning heel to toe and back again, hearing click, click, CLICK, CLICK... it definitely gets to me as well. Knowing it is doing that means I need to fix it otherwise it will keep bugging me. That's the maddening bit to me too.