Wedging a ~60" board w/ a ~38" wheelbase?

**bpz** · 02-17-2006 12:36 PM

My homemade looongboard is riding on Tracker Dart 184s and 76mm Gumballs. I use it mostly for carving, a bit of transportation, basic "longboard" not oriented towards any specific discipline. I'm running medium green Tracker Stims on the bottom of both trucks, with a soft yellow Stim on top in front, and a red Radikal on top in the rear. The front truck is positively wedged with a soft Khiro wedge, and also has a 1/8" soft riser above that. The back is being ran flat on a 1/2" soft riser.

The ride height is pretty even, and I can feel most of the steering coming from the front. However, I want to get more turn out of this setup. I know Revenges or another torsion truck would give me more carve-ability, but the Trackers are a very happy medium for me - they handle speeds fine and also allow for good turning. Unlike Randals, they don't raise my board up either.

I'm thinking of using another soft Khiro wedge in the back, also positively wedged. Maybe soft + wedges front and back, as well as 1/4" of extra riser for a bit more leverage? I might switch my Gumballs out for 70mm Flashbacks, which would allow for a bit more clearance before wheelbite. Perhaps running clear Radikals on top, front and back, will allow for a bit more turn. I know the back of this board won't fishtail out in any carves, so I don't really feel the need to run the back tighter than the front.

Let me know if you guys have experimented with this before and what you've learned.

**FightingTheTide** · 02-17-2006 01:14 PM

Ive never used conventional trucks on my big board, but from what your talkin about, it seems like it should work, especially if you switch out for some smaller wheels.

I would suggest positively wedging both trucks, and adding just enough flat risers to keep your wheels from biting. One thing to remember is that the only way to get a large plank to turn well is to put some torsion style trucks on it...but I agree with you that what you have is a good medium between stability and carvability.

On my 62" plank, I had crails (bad choice for turning...) with a 1/4"-1/2" angled riser on each truck, with a 1/8" softee under each truck. I had the stock yellow moogs (which were taller than most bushings, and soft) with a blue khiro barrel on top, and it worked fine, but still wasnt as turny as i wanted it to be.

I think the best thing to do for your case would be to do what you described, and come back and tell us what you found.

But Im no expert on this, so if anyone has better input, go ahead...

**bpz** · 02-17-2006 06:30 PM

I figure + wedging front and rear, as well as the same bushing setup front and rear will help. Perhaps medium Stims on the bottom, clear Radikals on top... perhaps I'll switch top/bottom. As soon as I lathe these Radikals down they'll fit better, I'll report back if I make any progress.

**Pinhead** · 02-19-2006 09:58 AM

Try a longer kingpin with stim bottom and white
Khiro barrel top for the front truck.

You can wedge up to 20 deg + front by using two
10deg wedges stacked. Use a drill to angle
the holes in the baseplate.

**bpz** · 02-19-2006 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Pinhead

Try a longer kingpin with stim bottom and white
Khiro barrel top for the front truck.

You can wedge up to 20 deg + front by using two
10deg wedges stacked. Use a drill to angle
the holes in the baseplate.

Aha, damn dude... last night I decided to throw white Khiro barrels on top. They're so soft they don't really serve any purpose on any of my other boards, I even found them too soft for the front of my slalom board. But yeah, I left the front wedged, the back flat, with Khiros on top - turns a lot more. I put the Khiro whites on bottom with green Stims on top, while it turns a bit more, it gets that crappy, mushy feeling you get with the white Khiros, and the trucks completely lost the rebound you get from the Stims. With 70mm Flashbacks I could run an even softer bottom bushing, but I like the setup I'm on now.

**smallbean** · 02-23-2006 10:10 AM

Try randal bushings on those trackers. I got this idea from the loaded site. You might need a longer kingpin to run those bushings nice and loose. I've run the red randals on rtx 149's and had to swap them back out on the rear truck 'cause it was washing out it was so turny. Its kind of surprising how surfy a feel they are.

**worldwide** · 02-24-2006 12:13 AM

Originally Posted by smallbean

Try randal bushings on those trackers. I got this idea from the loaded site. You might need a longer kingpin to run those bushings nice and loose. I've run the red randals on rtx 149's and had to swap them back out on the rear truck 'cause it was washing out it was so turny. Its kind of surprising how surfy a feel they are.

that doesnt make sense on more than one level