Truck set-ups

[Diocletian]

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Has anyone ever bent or broken their titanium axle truck, whether it be Thunder, Indy, Theeve, or any other brand I’m forgetting? Technically a titanium alloy isn’t as strong as an chromoly axle, yet people have bent and broken those a ton throughout skateboarding history.

[close]

I'm sure it can be done but bending axles are usually a result of a poorly reinforced hangar.  This is why you saw it happen so often with the older Ace and Tensors

I’ve read people bending Stage 11’s, Thunders, Theeves, and more. So perhaps the grade of chromoly isn’t consistent? Pretty sure it’s all coming from China.

[tony_margera]

get indys


Im curious about how you guys set your trucks up, special methods, preferences and all that nerdy stuff.
 
Here's mine:
Thunder 147's riding 8.1-825 and 54 wheels
-replacement 100a Thunder bushings
-Bottom washers left out
-Front truck Flush( edit:perhaps the smallest tad under now) with some wobble
-Back truck 1-2 threads showing edit: correction, back truck is now barely over flush, loosened it when It got colder
-risers

Seriously can't complain about this set-up in anyway, for me its perfect, loose up front for quick turns and tighter in back stabilises on landings and at high speeds. The hard bushing and loose front works really well for me, best of both worlds.

[rob]

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get indys


Im curious about how you guys set your trucks up, special methods, preferences and all that nerdy stuff.
 
Here's mine:
Thunder 147's riding 8.1-825 and 54 wheels
-replacement 100a Thunder bushings
-Bottom washers left out
-Front truck Flush( edit:perhaps the smallest tad under now) with some wobble
-Back truck 1-2 threads showing edit: correction, back truck is now barely over flush, loosened it when It got colder
-risers

Seriously can't complain about this set-up in anyway, for me its perfect, loose up front for quick turns and tighter in back stabilises on landings and at high speeds. The hard bushing and loose front works really well for me, best of both worlds.

[close]

All my trucks(except theeve) I keep stock bushings

And I tighten them around perfect flush or a thread or 2 past, I like the way the trucks are stock

I use to try and mess with my bushings and thinner or thicker washers and barrel vs cone shape but in the end it just furthers my madness so just keep it as it came from the factory cause in reality

The pros that rip the hardest don’t do anything but tighten or loosen their trucks out the box(and or occasionally swap out for bones cause they’re still following the gimmick bones bushings are the best cause they’re broken in right out the gate)

I loved messing with my trucks back then and finding that Goldilocks setup that made the trucks special but I think it was only special in helping me be better at one area like flip tricks or cruising cause yeah I could do all my flip tricks using barrel bushings vs cone but turning was a nightmare

So I keep the trucks as they came and oddly enough it always works best, Love the 90a stock thunder bushings in thunders, soft enough you can get a decent turn but stiff and shaped well to help bounce back to center and pop tricks better

[cosmicgypsies]

literally just 149s with whatever the stock blue bushings are, not saying there's no merit to having a fiddle and finding a good combo but i've seen a lot of people waste a lot of time fucking around with combos that generally feel like shit when for the most part you can break thunders stock bushings in very quickly and theyll be fine. worst feeling one was when this kid i know blew out a bushing from cranking his nut down way too tight, went to some cycle store and bought some black indy bushings. shit felt horrible.

[rob]

literally just 149s with whatever the stock blue bushings are, not saying there's no merit to having a fiddle and finding a good combo but i've seen a lot of people waste a lot of time fucking around with combos that generally feel like shit when for the most part you can break thunders stock bushings in very quickly and theyll be fine. worst feeling one was when this kid i know blew out a bushing from cranking his nut down way too tight, went to some cycle store and bought some black indy bushings. shit felt horrible.

Haha funny thing about that story, my friend who rides his trucks fairly loose but rips hard tore his bushings up and had to get a new set ASAP and the only Indy bushings they had stocked were the only ones no one ever buys which was the 96a black conical hard ones for Indy lows, since they were lows he didn’t have to really go under flush to have them loose but man his trucks were now like a horrible loose

The bushings were stiff but his trucks weren’t tightened properly cause he likes loose so they were just wobbly stiff trucks

[Ok]

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get indys


Im curious about how you guys set your trucks up, special methods, preferences and all that nerdy stuff.
 
Here's mine:
Thunder 147's riding 8.1-825 and 54 wheels
-replacement 100a Thunder bushings
-Bottom washers left out
-Front truck Flush( edit:perhaps the smallest tad under now) with some wobble
-Back truck 1-2 threads showing edit: correction, back truck is now barely over flush, loosened it when It got colder
-risers

Seriously can't complain about this set-up in anyway, for me its perfect, loose up front for quick turns and tighter in back stabilises on landings and at high speeds. The hard bushing and loose front works really well for me, best of both worlds.

[close]

[close]

All my trucks(except theeve) I keep stock bushings

And I tighten them around perfect flush or a thread or 2 past, I like the way the trucks are stock

I use to try and mess with my bushings and thinner or thicker washers and barrel vs cone shape but in the end it just furthers my madness so just keep it as it came from the factory cause in reality

The pros that rip the hardest don’t do anything but tighten or loosen their trucks out the box(and or occasionally swap out for bones cause they’re still following the gimmick bones bushings are the best cause they’re broken in right out the gate)

I loved messing with my trucks back then and finding that Goldilocks setup that made the trucks special but I think it was only special in helping me be better at one area like flip tricks or cruising cause yeah I could do all my flip tricks using barrel bushings vs cone but turning was a nightmare

So I keep the trucks as they came and oddly enough it always works best, Love the 90a stock thunder bushings in thunders, soft enough you can get a decent turn but stiff and shaped well to help bounce back to center and pop tricks better

Tony: you are a g for skating somewhat loose 147s with 54s. 52 is too much for me with those trucks.

Rob: agreed. Stock bushings. At least for the venture, ace, Indy (and occasionally thunder), the stock always EVENTUALLY end up being the best. It’s cold and so I’ve been cheating and putting bones in my ventures.

[cosmicgypsies]

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literally just 149s with whatever the stock blue bushings are, not saying there's no merit to having a fiddle and finding a good combo but i've seen a lot of people waste a lot of time fucking around with combos that generally feel like shit when for the most part you can break thunders stock bushings in very quickly and theyll be fine. worst feeling one was when this kid i know blew out a bushing from cranking his nut down way too tight, went to some cycle store and bought some black indy bushings. shit felt horrible.

[close]

Haha funny thing about that story, my friend who rides his trucks fairly loose but rips hard tore his bushings up and had to get a new set ASAP and the only Indy bushings they had stocked were the only ones no one ever buys which was the 96a black conical hard ones for Indy lows, since they were lows he didn’t have to really go under flush to have them loose but man his trucks were now like a horrible loose

The bushings were stiff but his trucks weren’t tightened properly cause he likes loose so they were just wobbly stiff trucks

i dont recall the exact durometers etc but i remember he tried to stick them in 147 thunders and the bushings were way too high for them so it ended up exactly like you described; wobbly stiff trucks - they'd start to turn and wobble all over the place but once it hit the actual bushing it was as solid as a rock. fucked up for sure.

cheers for the advice on aces in the other thread, i think im gonna grab a set.

[I AM]

indy 169 60mm wheels 1/2 inch risers
indy 90a conical standard
bones flat washer on bottom
no top washer
both trucks flush
stock pivot cups with lots of lubricant

they basically feel like ACE. i think the most crucial point is to stick with the stock pivot cups/don't get indy aftermarket ones.with the exact same setup, the after market ones have a lot of up down/side to side play compared to stock and i feel like this is making the turn inconsistent and could also explain the creaking/bulging specific to aftermarket ones. i haven't had stock ones crack ever, probably because i lube it before that happens, and the correct geometry probably helps. they're really not as bad as everyone thinks, certainly not bad enough to spend half of what a board costs on replacements.
 also, i've been thinking of trying indy conical low bushings on my standard trucks to make them looser. has anybody tried that? is there anything i need to know? are they a different formula? do they fuck up the geometry?

[rob]

indy 169 60mm wheels 1/2 inch risers
indy 90a conical standard
bones flat washer on bottom
no top washer
both trucks flush
stock pivot cups with lots of lubricant

they basically feel like ACE. i think the most crucial point is to stick with the stock pivot cups/don't get indy aftermarket ones.with the exact same setup, the after market ones have a lot of up down/side to side play compared to stock and i feel like this is making the turn inconsistent and could also explain the creaking/bulging specific to aftermarket ones. i haven't had stock ones crack ever, probably because i lube it before that happens, and the correct geometry probably helps. they're really not as bad as everyone thinks, certainly not bad enough to spend half of what a board costs on replacements.
 also, i've been thinking of trying indy conical low bushings on my standard trucks to make them looser. has anybody tried that? is there anything i need to know? are they a different formula? do they fuck up the geometry?

Lows on standards won’t work

Yeah the geo will be a bit off cause the small top bushing is shorter so your gonna have to crank it down more

[Fifty8mm]

literally just 149s with whatever the stock blue bushings are, not saying there's no merit to having a fiddle and finding a good combo but i've seen a lot of people waste a lot of time fucking around with combos that generally feel like shit when for the most part you can break thunders stock bushings in very quickly and theyll be fine. worst feeling one was when this kid i know blew out a bushing from cranking his nut down way too tight, went to some cycle store and bought some black indy bushings. shit felt horrible.

Thunder makes the best stock bushings. all I did to mine was switch pivot cups

[CoMpLeMenTs4Uonlysometime]

I dunno this is my most out there setup but it's fun as fuck. Tensor mag lights with venture bushings bones top washer venture bottom washer

[I AM]

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indy 169 60mm wheels 1/2 inch risers
indy 90a conical standard
bones flat washer on bottom
no top washer
both trucks flush
stock pivot cups with lots of lubricant

they basically feel like ACE. i think the most crucial point is to stick with the stock pivot cups/don't get indy aftermarket ones.with the exact same setup, the after market ones have a lot of up down/side to side play compared to stock and i feel like this is making the turn inconsistent and could also explain the creaking/bulging specific to aftermarket ones. i haven't had stock ones crack ever, probably because i lube it before that happens, and the correct geometry probably helps. they're really not as bad as everyone thinks, certainly not bad enough to spend half of what a board costs on replacements.
 also, i've been thinking of trying indy conical low bushings on my standard trucks to make them looser. has anybody tried that? is there anything i need to know? are they a different formula? do they fuck up the geometry?

[close]

Lows on standards won’t work

Yeah the geo will be a bit off cause the small top bushing is shorter so your gonna have to crank it down more

i thought the only thing that mattered for a correct geometry was bottom bushings. and i'm trying to get my trucks looser, so obviously i won't mind a bit of thread space. have you actually tried it before?

[I AM]

Ace trucks and big dudes...

I just picked up some 66s yesterday and slapped them on a board. It snowed 2.5 feet here this week so I just stood on it in my garage. My 180 lbs turned to one side and the bottom bushing blew out of the board side washer on one turn.

This is not good.  I have heard great things about ace bushings but it seems I need something stiffer.

Suggestions?

Note - the same thing happened with my 8.5 Krux last fall.  After a couple attempts at finding good bushings I realized the trucks didn't turn anyway and they sit on my workbench.

the problem seems to be the bushing not properly fitting in the washer, not them being too soft. both top and bottom ace bushings have this problem, i've also found that indy aftermarket barrels have the same issue with the bottom washer that comes with them, and i don't see it being discussed nearly enough. i would suggest getting flat washers for barrel bottoms. i think khiro makes them.

[rob]

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indy 169 60mm wheels 1/2 inch risers
indy 90a conical standard
bones flat washer on bottom
no top washer
both trucks flush
stock pivot cups with lots of lubricant

they basically feel like ACE. i think the most crucial point is to stick with the stock pivot cups/don't get indy aftermarket ones.with the exact same setup, the after market ones have a lot of up down/side to side play compared to stock and i feel like this is making the turn inconsistent and could also explain the creaking/bulging specific to aftermarket ones. i haven't had stock ones crack ever, probably because i lube it before that happens, and the correct geometry probably helps. they're really not as bad as everyone thinks, certainly not bad enough to spend half of what a board costs on replacements.
 also, i've been thinking of trying indy conical low bushings on my standard trucks to make them looser. has anybody tried that? is there anything i need to know? are they a different formula? do they fuck up the geometry?

[close]

Lows on standards won’t work

Yeah the geo will be a bit off cause the small top bushing is shorter so your gonna have to crank it down more

[close]

i thought the only thing that mattered for a correct geometry was bottom bushings. and i'm trying to get my trucks looser, so obviously i won't mind a bit of thread space. have you actually tried it before?

Yeah the bottom bushing is what matters most but having a shorter top means less material= less resistance and rebound

I’ve tried it and yes it was super loose and I think the top washer would dig into the hangar cavity and the trucks felt super wheel bite

[Xen]

[CoMpLeMenTs4Uonlysometime]

This is beautiful. Xen did you make that? Are you Stephen chick? With your technical prowess and rob's marketability you guys could fucking change the world. No more bullshit ass washers coming stock and no shitty ass small chain polymer bushings we want some Binomial pairs too doh doh get your shit together. That's actually an amazing infographic though I saved it in my journal of really. Important things.

[front3]

I bought a pair of standard Indy 144s over the weekend. Tried them today and I will never go back to my thunder hollow lights. Even though the truck is higher it feels way easier to pop... They made me feel more comfortable on an 8.25 then the thunders did... They are way more fun to cruise around on... and no wheelbite the entire day! Didn't do any grinds or slides so I can't comment on that. Really hyped on these and surprised at what a difference they made.

[Daniel]

That graph is amazing. I've been trying to mess around with bushing/durometer/ shape and washer combos with both ace and Indy to have a decent turn. I love Indy QC but love ace turn more and love both truck's geo a lot.

[Xen]

That graph is amazing. I've been trying to mess around with bushing/durometer/ shape and washer combos with both ace and Indy to have a decent turn. I love Indy QC but love ace turn more and love both truck's geo a lot.

I've found great success with 149 TI Indys with the new ace low bushings, regular indy bottom washer (I think it's an after market one as the shape is less flanged) and bones top washer; it gets them a bit squirrlier than normal so they don't feel as sluggish compared to ACE. If ACE hollowed up it's all I'd ride. Board weight has messed with me since the 80s, my crew and I ALWAYS tried to make the lightest setup we could and it's stuck with me ever since.

I want to size down to TI 144s and call it day as the Indy 149s are just too beastly, TI or not.

[roba]

[DaSk8D00D]

Was just about to post that. Bushing setup is interesting but goddamn that baseplate is ugly af. I wonder what the turn/geo feels like

[Daniel]

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That graph is amazing. I've been trying to mess around with bushing/durometer/ shape and washer combos with both ace and Indy to have a decent turn. I love Indy QC but love ace turn more and love both truck's geo a lot.

[close]

I've found great success with 149 TI Indys with the new ace low bushings, regular indy bottom washer (I think it's an after market one as the shape is less flanged) and bones top washer; it gets them a bit squirrlier than normal so they don't feel as sluggish compared to ACE. If ACE hollowed up it's all I'd ride. Board weight has messed with me since the 80s, my crew and I ALWAYS tried to make the lightest setup we could and it's stuck with me ever since.

I want to size down to TI 144s and call it day as the Indy 149s are just too beastly, TI or not.

I just can't get over the forged baseplate height and build quality. Last couple forged plates I ran had ovaled out fast. A hollow ace would be the dream but I would be worried about QC given the past issues already... Does the ace Lo bushing setup work on cast plate 55mm Indy?

[Xen]

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That graph is amazing. I've been trying to mess around with bushing/durometer/ shape and washer combos with both ace and Indy to have a decent turn. I love Indy QC but love ace turn more and love both truck's geo a lot.

[close]

I've found great success with 149 TI Indys with the new ace low bushings, regular indy bottom washer (I think it's an after market one as the shape is less flanged) and bones top washer; it gets them a bit squirrlier than normal so they don't feel as sluggish compared to ACE. If ACE hollowed up it's all I'd ride. Board weight has messed with me since the 80s, my crew and I ALWAYS tried to make the lightest setup we could and it's stuck with me ever since.

I want to size down to TI 144s and call it day as the Indy 149s are just too beastly, TI or not.

[close]

I just can't get over the forged baseplate height and build quality. Last couple forged plates I ran had ovaled out fast. A hollow ace would be the dream but I would be worried about QC given the past issues already... Does the ace Lo bushing setup work on cast plate 55mm Indy?

I've not tried them with the cast plates as I prefer the forged height/weight and feel.

[Firebert]

Does the ace Lo bushing setup work on cast plate 55mm Indy?

Yes, it does - it feels kinda like if you took an aftermarket indy orange (roadside) with a red (boardside.)

[rob]

This is beautiful. Xen did you make that? Are you Stephen chick? With your technical prowess and rob's marketability you guys could fucking change the world. No more bullshit ass washers coming stock and no shitty ass small chain polymer bushings we want some Binomial pairs too doh doh get your shit together. That's actually an amazing infographic though I saved it in my journal of really. Important things.

Thanks man! Yeah I would do a parody video of the bushings like the ricta wheels where I have a computer generated 3-d model video showing off the way the bushings perform, check out nhs showing off I think it was the slicks getting all technical

But I would love to start a bushing Buisness with j soy, sadly I’m not an material engineer to know enough about such compounds to concoct the perfect aftermarket bushings for my slap pals, I only know what would be demanded, how much rebound and give and what color is most desirable

Those look cool! Kinda Walmart and that top/roadside bushing looks questionable with the metal bones insert thing but overall they look solid

[Larry Dallas]

None of you fuckers called them roadside until you saw that infographic  .

I kind of want indys. Just standard, heavy, tall 139s. Maybe 144s. I don’t know why. I haven’t even skated in like a month.

[CoMpLeMenTs4Uonlysometime]

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This is beautiful. Xen did you make that? Are you Stephen chick? With your technical prowess and rob's marketability you guys could fucking change the world. No more bullshit ass washers coming stock and no shitty ass small chain polymer bushings we want some Binomial pairs too doh doh get your shit together. That's actually an amazing infographic though I saved it in my journal of really. Important things.

[close]

Thanks man! Yeah I would do a parody video of the bushings like the ricta wheels where I have a computer generated 3-d model video showing off the way the bushings perform, check out nhs showing off I think it was the slicks getting all technical

But I would love to start a bushing Buisness with j soy, sadly I’m not an material engineer to know enough about such compounds to concoct the perfect aftermarket bushings for my slap pals, I only know what would be demanded, how much rebound and give and what color is most desirable

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[close]

Those look cool! Kinda Walmart and that top/roadside bushing looks questionable with the metal bones insert thing but overall they look solid

Which color is most desirable? Least amount of dye? I wanna go down this rabbit hole

[bbk]

If they're serious about a comeback they should do something about their website...

https://shop.grindking.com/

Termite!!!

[rob]

Well from my experience and everyone on this board

White/solid colors for lean and turn

Clear translucent for rebound and response

[Xen]

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Does the ace Lo bushing setup work on cast plate 55mm Indy?

[close]

Yes, it does - it feels kinda like if you took an aftermarket indy orange (roadside) with a red (board side.)

I tried this with the worn in aftermarkets, just didn't feel as good, totally acceptable, but not as good/loosey goosey as with the ACEs.

As they're only a couple of duros off from each other this could be the quality/type of thane but also the height as the aftermarket indy tops are taller than stock indy tops (and the aftermarket bottoms are lower than the stocks...The ACE low bushings are closer to the aftermarket bottoms and stock indy tops

/bushing madness