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How to Loosen Skateboard Wheels Without Tools – The Easiest Way

Fact checked by Michael Derosier

how to loosen skateboard wheels without tools

If your skateboard is making a grinding sound or jerky spinning, consider it a sign that your skateboard wheel bearings are faulty that require adjustments, it’s either loosening it or tightening it. But most of the time, you don’t have any tools on hand, so it’ll not be easy.

In this article, you’ll know how to loosen skateboard wheels without tools. So, it will be convenient for you to make some adjustments on your skateboard whenever you are.

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What Will You Need

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To put it another way, a skate tool is only a fancy wrench that is suitable and built just for the skateboard. There are a lot of alternative means that you can use that you may find in your household that you can use to tighten or loosen skateboard trucks without tools or use to your wheels and bearings.

Your local hardware shop can provide you with a wrench that fits the bolt you wish to adjust skateboard wheels. There’s no need for a skate tool; they’re only more handy than having many full-sized tools. Only a few sockets and wrenches are required. Depending on your wheel’s screws size, you need a wrench, which is small and convenient.

As an alternative to the skate tool, take out:

  • Wrench – Designed to tighten bolts and nuts. It is known as open-end wrenches; these tools are available in various sizes to match certain nuts and bolt sizes and feature straight-sided slots on the ends that fit over the portion being tightened.
  • Pliers – Pliers may also be used; just be sure that it is enough to grip the nut on both sides, so you can tighten it or loosen it regarding your preference.
  • Socket Wrench – It is much easier to spin bolts and nuts using a socket wrench or ratchet. With the ratcheting feature, you don’t have to keep refitting the wrench each time you make the turn.

In the three options above, you can use only a single tool as an alternative to a skate tool if you don’t have one.

How to Loosen or Tighten Skateboard Wheels Without Skate Tools

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Your skateboard’s wheels must be properly tightened so that they can rotate easily. To be on the safe side, keep the wheels from not being too loose. Try flicking the wheel as hard to make sure whether you need to tighten or loosen skateboard wheels to turn.

If it doesn’t spin too much or stop suddenly, you need to loosen the nuts on your skateboard wheel. On the other hand, if your wheel spins too much and wiggles, you need to tighten it a bit.

  • Only gently loosen the nut using the tool that you prefer.
  • Then spin it in a counter-clockwise direction.
  • Flick it to see whether it comes to a sudden stop. Then do it again until all of the wheels are free to move around freely.
  • If you overdo it and a wheel starts to wiggle, go back and tighten it up a bit. You only have to find the right hit.

To inspect the proper installation, hold your skateboard and shake the wheels one at a time. If they move sideways on the axles, they are too loose, then tighten them. Because when you’re skating, you’ll hear loose wheel creaking while doing tricks, and also, it will cause inaccurate steering.

Also, you can use these tools to take wheels off a skateboard without a skate tool.

When Flicking It, How Long Should It Spin

Your wheels don’t need to spin freely in 2 seconds. So, to further check, you should stand on your board for a few minutes and push it. If you’re having difficulty pushing or stopping, loosen the wheels slightly.

If the wheels are rattling or you’re off balance, tighten them up a little bit on either side. Continue to experiment until you find what feels suitable moving for you.

Keeping this in mind, keep your wheels spinning freely in your palm for 10 to 20 seconds. If they aren’t, clean the wheels and bearings. If the wheels are still spinning faster than 10 seconds, purchase a new set of bearings.

When you get new bearings, it will only spin for 10 seconds when you turn the wheel. Consider the fact that if they’re spinning for about 30 seconds, you might consider buying new ones.

How to Avoid Tightening Your Wheels Excessively

If your skateboard wheels are excessively tight, roll them counter-clockwise to loosen them somewhat. Loosen one wheel at a time until it can spin freely by rotating it with your hand. Washers may also be used to prevent squeezing the wheel and bearing into place. Measure how much the wheel wiggles after a few rotations using your tool.

Conclusion

Anybody can adjust wheels; you don’t need a toolkit to accomplish it. All you’ll need is a ratchet-and-socket set or a few wrenches, although a pair of pliers would do the work. So, spend some time learning how to set the proper spinning of your wheel correctly.

If you don’t have a skate tool, always look for alternatives. Hopefully, you’ve learned how to loosen skateboard wheels without tools. Please, consider sharing this article with your friends or co-skaters!

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