How can you control your board easily and be stable at a greater speed? Simply, you must tighten your skateboard trucks.
The tighter your board trucks, the more the board will be strong and fast. This is especially true if you are riding downhill or on sloping roads.
So, how to tighten your board truck? To help you do this skateboard maintenance, we have rounded up some points and steps on how to tighten skateboard trucks fast and easily. Also, you may read some other information related to tightening your trucks below.
Table of Contents
When Will You Need To Tighten Your Skateboard Trucks?
Setting up your skateboard is important for a smoother ride. As you become an expert in skateboarding, you know what maintenance tasks are necessary. These may include tightening or loosening your truck.
Both adjustments have advantages. What matters only is when to tighten your truck or loosen it up. First, tightening your trucks can aid in pushing your board and help you balance on the board.
Meanwhile, loosening up your truck can make for smoother turns. This means you can maneuver your board easily.
So, when is the time to tighten your truck? Foremost, if you have a heavy weight of around 200 lbs., then you must tighten your truck. The tight truck provides stability and can accommodate the heavy weight.
Also, if you want to ride on a sloping surface you must tighten your trucks. Likewise, when you want a ride at a greater speed you must tighten your truck.
What Part of the Truck Do You Need to Tighten?
The skateboard trucks are the components of the board to which the wheels and the bearings are attached. The parts of the truck are the following:
- Baseplate
- Hanger
- Pivot cup
- Kingpin
- Kingpin nut
- Bushing
- Bushing washer
- Axle washer
- Axle nut
The parts of the truck involved in tightening your skateboard truck include the kingpin, kingpin nut, the bushing, and the bushing washer. You will be needing a skate tool, a wrench, or a socket set to tighten these parts.
How to Tighten Your Skateboard Trucks Fast and Easily
Let us now go over the easy steps on how to tighten your board trucks. These are the steps:
1. Overturn your skateboard
The first thing to do is to flip your skateboard, exposing the two trucks above. Simply, lay the deck on the ground. You will notice the hanger on top and the kingpin with nuts and bushing at the center of the hanger. As mentioned above, these parts are the components you must tighten.
2. Observe how the trucks tilt
Play around with the trucks and observe how the trucks tilt. You may lift the trucks up and down. Take note of how they move. Are they loose or tight? If they are too loose, then it is time to stiffen the kingpin.
3. Turn the kingpin nut
The kingpin serves as the screw with bushings and washer and nut. To tighten the truck all you need to do is turn the kingpin nut clockwise using a skate tool or wrench. As you apply more pressure, the trucks become stable and would not tilt or move.
If in case the truck becomes too tight, you may turn the nut counterclockwise. Adjust until you have that tightness you want for your truck. Also, consider the choice of bushings. You must choose a hard bushing to tighten more of your trucks.
4. Evaluate and adjust
Try testing your setup or adjustment to see if you got the right amount of tightness for your riding style. You may begin pushing, getting on, and rolling your board.
You may also do some of your skating tricks. You will get that tightness that you want if you have a smooth ride and your tricks and jump become better.
If these things do not materialize, then adjust your setup again. You may tighten or loosen up depending on the setup preference that you like.
You may not do it right the first time around. So, just continue testing till you get your setup right for your board. Pretty sure, you will get it, just keep on trying.
Tightening your trucks promotes stability in your board. It will result in an improved skateboarding experience.
On the other hand, your skating style or setup preference matters as well regarding how to tighten skateboard trucks. You need to test the tightness from time to time till you get the setup preference achieving that riding style that you like.
If you have any suggestions about this topic, you may share them below in the comment box. Pretty sure, skaters will greatly appreciate your help and recommendation. Happy skateboarding!
I am Michael, and I have been enjoying this fun sport for seven years. And nothing is better than having a community to share our passion for those thrilling tricks. I am ready to tell you all I know about skateboarding, showing you how to choose a good board and trick to start and how the practice goes. Stay tuned!