How To: Why is my board squeaking?!

[assumeivan]

I looked up "squeaky" and "noisy" up on the search function and noticed a lot of people asking "Why is my board so noisy?"

I don't know if one of these has been done yet, but I'm stuck at school and have nothing better to do.

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First, we all know the squeak you're getting from your (most likely) new longboard is extremely annoying. I'm sure most of us wondered when we first started longboarding what the noise was, where it was coming from, etc etc.

This annoying squeaky noise isn't coming from your bushings, which is what most people assume. The noise if coming from your pivot cups!

A couple of known remedies for this noise are:
Soap shavings - just use your nails to scrape off a couple of strands of soap
Pencil graphite/lead shavings - go sharpen a pencil or just crush the tip of a pencil, use the graphite
Candle wax/snowboard wax - Dip the nub of the hangar in some hot wax, let it cool, reassemble
Hand soap - Get a couple of drops into the pivot cup.
Olive oil (?) - Get a couple of drops into the pivot cup. "It can get smelly" - bucksaw

You want to stay away from petroleum based products like Vaseline because it's been known to mess with urethane. Never use WD40 on anything on your board.

Tutorial:

Tools you'll need:
1. Your board/trucks (My Flexdex and RTS/X trackers)
2. A skate tool
3. Any of the above remedies (I'm going to be using bar soap)


1. Grab your skate tool and take your trucks apart.


2. Look for this little hole in the baseplate of your trucks, this is called the "pivot cup".


3. Grab your remedy (I'm using Irish Springs bar soap)


4. Use your nails or any nifty tool to get a couple of shavings, place your shavings into the pivot cup.


5. Wiggle the nub of the hangar in the pivot cup a bit. (not necessary)


6. After wiggling.


7. Reassemble your board (repeat this process to both trucks if necessary).


Say goodbye to those annoying squeakys

Feel free to post up any other ideas/remedies for squeaky pivot cups.

[pelucachris]

nice.

[Blackmore]

Wow that is a ton of soap, i usually just scrape in a tiny bit, maybe ill try using that much sometime

[bucksaw87]

2 things:
-i've been told that you DON'T use vegetable/canola/corn/olive oil because it'll start to smell bad after a while
-STICKY!

[CL]

This How-To is a good idea. Irish Spring is definetely the best option, it totally eliminates ANY squeeks, plus theres the added bonus of making your trucks stink to high heaven of that marvelous Irish Spring scent!

[ConnorH]

just wondering, would putting a bit of speed lube in the pivot cup maybe work?

[SteveC]

just wondering, would putting a bit of speed lube in the pivot cup maybe work?

It'd probably work, but it might eat the urethane too.



never use wd40 on your skateboard, anywhere, ever.
just thought I'd add that...



Other common sounds come from:
1—the top washer rattling against the kingpin — tighten your kingpin a bit, if you then hate how the board feels you need softer bushings.
2—compressed/too small bearing spacers. Replace them. shim/speed-rings/washers can sometimes be used. Steel is good.
3—loose hardware. check axle & deck-bolts regularly. nuts have a limited life, the nylon only survives a few times on and off before it stops working.
4—dry or dead bearings. lube/replace, really-really avoid going fast on dead bearings, they can seize and melt your wheels.

[assumeivan]

thanks a lot steve

[assumeivan]

bump 10char

[Tucking Fypo]

that was great, thanks

[.secrets]

great how-to! this will hopefully (or an attempt to) eliminate the same question every day.


we need some more basic how to's like this!

[LiteBoy]

On more squeak fix.

if you're riding a KS scimitar and none of this stops an annoying woody sounding squeak the source is probably those crazy cooky wooden risers coming unfixed from the board.

All you need to do is remove your trucks fully. then take off the risers.
get yourself some wood glue or Gorilla Glue (i suggest the latter) and follow the instructions on the bottle.
only other suggestion is to use something like wooden cooking skewers to besure all the wholes are lined up before you apply the clamps.

Things to be sure of: don't use a lot of GG, a little goes a long way.
GG foams a bit as it sets so Keep an eye on it and scrape off the excess with a skewer or something
I'm serious about the skewers to make sure everything is properly aligned.
be sure to have plenty of clamps ready and apply them so that pressure is even
Don't be hasty do one riser at a time, and the whole thing should take about 2 hours

[scottnotbombs]

Vegetable, canola, corn and olive oil go rancid.
Coconut oil or jojoba oil work, but they're expensive if you don't already have them.
Silicon spray works as an alternative to wd-40. Liquid wrench and 3m make it, so do a lot of other companies.

[jmasta]

just wondering, would putting a bit of speed lube in the pivot cup maybe work?

works for about two days and then the squeak comes back. plus it causes your pivot cups to leak black ####

[assumeivan]

The best remedy out of all of those (personally) has been bar soap

Smells good, works for a few months, real easy..


Someone sticky this please????

[rva]

never use wd40 on your skateboard, anywhere, ever.
just thought I'd add that...

Dude, what's the deal with WD40 being bad for everything? Ive done some web research and I know not to use it on the bearings or the urethane parts because its got surfactants and such that are no good for these said parts. So I dont. I use Bones Speed Cream for my bearings and soap shavings for the pivot cups.

But remember that WD40 stands for Water Displacement and is therefore good for driving out moisture and consequently rust. Therefore I use it after a rain session for the mounting hardware, kingpin, axles and nuts. I apply it unto a toothbrush and spread it on these parts. It works like a charm in preventing rust or removing whatever rust has built up... And to date, there's nothing wrong with any of these parts and they're actually in tip top rust free shape despite my rain riding here in the humid tropics... I've also used WD 40for years on the screws and screw holes on my wakeboard after salt water riding, and it works well there too...

Can someone give a scientific reason why its no good for these metal parts? Because it just boggles me that a product so widely used for metal is bad for skateboard trucks.

[BUboarder]

nice job man! +1 rep.

sticky please!!!

[chandler95]

Woah, that''s a lot of soap you put in there..I use maybe half of that amount.

[assumeivan]

Woah, that''s a lot of soap you put in there..I use maybe half of that amount.

Good to know?

rva: I'll wait till someone knowledgeable replies to you, I actually don't know much about WD-40 use on boards. I've heard both good and bad, mostly bad.

[rva]

rva: I'll wait till someone knowledgeable replies to you, I actually don't know much about WD-40 use on boards. I've heard both good and bad, mostly bad.

Thanks! good post though! I say sticky!

Did a bit more surfing on WD40 and yes there are both bad and good stuff about it.

In summary though, the valid bad comments are mostly "Dont use it coz it ruins your bearings, its got surfactants, it's not a lube, the WD40 prevents real bearing lube to be used in the bearings, it's got residue that attracts dirt"

The good: "It does not ruin your bearings, but its not a lube so dont use it as a lube. Just use it to displace water after getting your stuff wet" "It works well in driving moisture out, so use it after a rain session" and "Yeah sure it attracts dirt, but so does everything else that's remotely sticky, even Bones Speed Cream attracts dirt"

I guess in final analysis, I will continue to use WD40 on the parts and for the reasons I mentioned. It works well (everything I've got is rust free), it's widely available everywhere, it's cheap, its easy to use, and it serves other purposes around the house as well.

Unless of course there's real compelling evidence that it does screw my stuff up...