How to: Trim inner or outer lips

**Rustyfriend** · 10-22-2005 10:25 AM

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!

**crowleyd54** · 10-22-2005 11:30 AM

good job! cleared out much info

**Longbord1** · 10-22-2005 02:34 PM

awesome i might just try that. i wish i could do that but i know that id definatley mess it up.

mike

**Longbord1** · 10-23-2005 07:37 AM

wait so how long did it take you to perfect this technique? how old are you? should i try it on my avils id be afraid id mess it up

**Rustyfriend** · 10-23-2005 08:03 AM

i got it right the first try. but before i touched my avalons in june i tested it on a shortboard wheel, worked like a charm.

i am 16.

your avilas...it depends. what is your impression of your avilas? and what do you want to gain out of trimming them?

**Longbord1** · 10-23-2005 08:52 AM

a little more speed

**Rustyfriend** · 10-23-2005 09:02 AM

then yes, i would say trim them.

are yours 74a? maybe a harder curo would be better

**Longbord1** · 10-23-2005 09:58 AM

i have white ones but they were the older versions so id say maybe 78a?

im kind of nervouse about doing it though.could a knife work ?

**holikujak** · 10-23-2005 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Longbord1

i have white ones but they were the older versions so id say maybe 78a?

im kind of nervouse about doing it though.could a knife work ?

probobly not, got a dremel? i think that would work pretty well

**Rustyfriend** · 10-23-2005 10:08 AM

i would not recommend a dremel. not enough power to dpin the wheel at a high rpm and i doubt it will be accurate

**Longbord1** · 10-23-2005 10:16 AM

yeah i feel like the smaller it is the better. o well ill just have to deal with it or something. if i try it ill let u know how it goes.

**Iron Chef** · 10-23-2005 10:24 AM

Just throwing ideas out, what about a sanding drum and a power drill?

**CRASS** · 10-23-2005 01:56 PM

Hey, great Idea, rusty! Been thinkin of a way to do that simply & cheap without buyin a lathe(no matter how goddamn handy itd be to own..)

**sk8thedowner** · 10-23-2005 09:06 PM

how much does a hand held grinder cost? this is a great tutorial by the way. i'm definately gonna look into it, as i've got some 94/90 avalons that need some trimming.

**bean-a-reano** · 10-24-2005 02:59 AM

I trimmed mine by turning a beltsander upside down and holding the wheel on there by hand. Comes out super smooth.

**GPymp** · 10-24-2005 06:21 AM

...personally I could not watch..(damn these back room butchers)...its unsanitary. I dont own any trimmed wheels at this time. I would rather spend the money on them to come that way. You can never have too many wheels. I understand its done out of necessity sometimes...I just hope you used sterile equipment.

**Rustyfriend** · 10-24-2005 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by GPymp

...personally I could not watch..(damn these back room butchers)...its unsanitary. I dont own any trimmed wheels at this time. I would rather spend the money on them to come that way. You can never have too many wheels. I understand its done out of necessity sometimes...I just hope you used sterile equipment.

**CRASS** · 10-24-2005 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by sk8thedowner

how much does a hand held grinder cost?

Check the Harbour Freight site.. they occasionally have angle grinders on sale for like $10.

The belt sander idea is a good one too.

**Anonymous** · 10-28-2005 06:17 AM

I have seen wheels that have been trimmed with a sureform (sp)
tool that looked good. This is done while riding by holding the
sureform on the wheel. It does seem kind of risky. Don't run
over your fingers.