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HOWTO: Trim Wheels

Saturday, 22 October 2005
By Rustyfriend Here is a step by step guide on how to trim the lips on your wheels. each description will be accompanied by a photo. the photos that i have taken are ones from trimming an outer lip on a 3dm avalon. do trim the outer lip, just flip the wheel over. Materials: One handheld grinder, a small vise, a spot to mount the vise, an old hanger, a marker, a ruler, two bad bearings, an axle nut, and a 1/2" wrench. don't forget your ear plugs, a respirtator(you don't want to breathe this stuff ) and goggles. Step 1. Find an old crappy hanger or a hanger from a Randal. If you have an old one you don't care about, cut off the "ring" area where the kingpin goes through. (this would be on a shortboard style truck). If you find a randal, you are already one step closer. Take the hanger and tighten it down in a vise with the wheel sticking up so when you look down at it you are seeing the bearing. Before you mount the wheel. find two old bearings. Don't worry about speed rings or spacers, you don't need them. tighten down the nut so the wheel has minimal flop and only slight resistance. this is so the rorating grinder will spin the wheel while it is shaving the lip. Step 2. now that the wheel is mounted, pick up your ruler and the marker. measure down from the lip as far as you want to trim, mark that with a color that stands out a lot. one my white wheel, i used red. you know you are done trimming when the mark is no longer there, so make the lowest point on the mark the total distance you want to trim. Step 3. You have to have your grinder at the correct angle or the point of this whole process will be destroyed. do not hold your grinder like this: you want your grinder the be flat on the top of the wheel with only a little bit of the grinder over the lip. having the lip under the center of the grinder may chunk and destroy your lip. this picture is what you want to do: sorry for the fuzy picture, but this camera is not good at close-ups. Step 4. Now that you have everything ready, put on your safety gear and go grind! make sure to do it outside because there will be particles going everything and it sticks to things. if you can't go outside, do this in an area with a vacuum to suck up the particles. Don't try to grind the whole amount at once. stop every few seconds so the wheel doesn't heat up. if the wheel heats up the particles start to get stringy and the overall job becomes very messy. Once you start approaching you mark, start grinding at smaller intervals so you don't over trim. Once you hit the mark, your done! well, almost. Step 5. Now that your wheels are done, clean your equipment. Also, i would suggest taking a shower, you can never be too careful. Now go ride those puppies! Finished Product: If you have little burs, just ride the wheels, They come off in a heartbeat!
Last Updated ( Friday, 14 July 2006 )