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Already posted in the ace thread, but anyone have any experience with replacing a top bushing with a lower one and grinding down the kingpin for more clearance?
Specifically I'm considering replacing the top ace hard bushing with a stock venture bushing (which is much shorter) and grinding down kingpin by a few threads so I hang up less on smith grinds etc.
In general what does a shorter top bushing do to the geometry? What differences in turn, response, pinch etc should I expect?
@Mbrimson88 has posted some tips, and links to ig videos.
I need to look those tips up, as I’ve been skating 5.2 lo’s and they do not have kingpin clearance.
Ha yeah, I have done this to most of my setups now, but mainly to get more life out of older well worn trucks of any brand.
The two parts to note, both equally important:
1. Cutting the bushings down - easy enough to cut any and every bushing set, be it top or bottom, but I usually only cut tops, about 1-2 mm depending on what the need is and how much more turn is needed, or clearance is needed. Yes I have cut some too short, which still work but definitely have a little too much top bushing washer touching hanger yoke. For the most part, there is no change in geometry and how the truck performs to me, but get this right first (as per the cutting orange Indy bushings post below). Sometimes having a go with some other bushings you don't really want is a good start, but you can always put the bit you have cut off back in and they will still work as usual on any other trucks.
2. Angle grinding off the kingpin needs to be done gently and I usually do a bit then check it, do a bit more, etc so you don't heat the kingpin too much which in turn will melt the bushings. I usually set up a board and get the bushings how I like them first, really feel them out and make sure where the nut sits is good, then use the grinder to take the kingpin head down a little on one side, then the other, like that for a bit, or do front for a bit, then back for a bit, until you have them down nicely but not too far into where the nut sits unless you really need a lot more clearance, eg truck down to axle and almost no top bushing or nut remaining. See the Real board post from the previous page, also included here.
I can still take the kingpin nut off easily when this is done, as well as adjust anything, but I use the grinder on the board with everything set up, so I can check and make sure the kingpin doesn't get cut too low, which has happened before. I just used some really old squashed top bushings on it and they still worked fine, but it is not recommended, unless you have a lot of spare parts to play with. Regular and hollow kingpins work the same way, no different in fixing them, grinding them down or anything else.
The other post I will include here is a few boards with some kingpin heads taken down, in particular the one with the blue bushings, which were the low head versions, as per the red ones I use in all my usual setups nowdays (also low heads, but I have on average cut down one to two sets of standard height bushings a week for people at the indoor park I am at as well).
Topic: Truck set-ups (Read 1227499 times)