Skateboard Truck Buying Guide

Introduction

Choosing a skateboard truck can be hard. Buying the right truck is important and will influence the way your board feels and handles. Here you’ll find everything you’ll need to know before you buy a truck for your board. Factors that are important are things like width, height etc.

Truck Parts

A skateboard truck exists out of quite a lot of parts. The basics are: baseplate, hanger, kingpin, kingpin nut, bushings and washers.

The hanger is the part where you grind on and what holds the wheels. The part where the wheels turn on is called the Axle. On the axle you can find washers called speedrings. Speedrings protect your bearings from wearing out against the hanger or axle nut.

Kingpin Baseplate Washer Pivot Cup Bushing Hanger Bushing Axle Washer Axle nut Kingpin nut Speed ring

1. Kingpin
The kingpin is the big bolt that goes through the bushings and holds the skate truck parts together. Most kingpins are solid but there are also hollow kingpins. The are lighter but do not compromise the strength or durability.

2. Baseplate
The baseplate is the base of the truck. This is the part that attaches to the skateboard deck with four bolts. The Kingpin and pivot cup are attached to the baseplate.

3.(9) Washers
The washers are the metal rings on the bushings. These washers distribute the load on the bushings and make sure the board returns to its center position after turning.

4. Pivot cup
The pivot cup is the small bushing in the trucks baseplate. It makes sure the truck turns effectively at the baseplates intended angle.

5.(7)Bushings
The thick soft urethane rings are called bushings. They control the way the board turns and pivots.

6. Hanger
The second main part of the skate truck is called the hanger. The triangular part rests in the pivot cup and is attached to the bushings and baseplate with the kingpin. The hanger holds the axle and is the part that you can grind on.

8. Axle
The axle passes through the hanger and is made out of titanium or steel. The bearings and wheels turn on the axle.

10. Axle nut
The axle nut is there to keep the wheels from falling off the axle.

11. Kingpin nut
The kingpin nut is the nut that holds the truck together. Tightening or loosening the nut influences the way the board steers and how the bushings react to input.

12. Speed rings
Speed rings are small washers that go on the axles, one in front and one behind the wheel. It prevents the bearings from wearing out against the axle nut or hanger.

Truck Width

Truck width is usually the issue that you face when buying a truck. The width of your skateboard truck is dependent on the width of your skateboards deck. If the truck is too narrow it will make for an unstable set-up. Too wide and your shoes can touch the wheel while pushing etc.

Board to wide/ truck to narrow	Just right/ Perfecto	Board to narrow/ truck to wide

Deciding what skateboard truck you need to buy can be challenging. One of the difficulties is that deck widths are usually measured in inches while the truck sizes come in a variety of units that can vary by brand.

Ideally you want the axle nuts of the mounted truck to be within ¼” from the edge of the deck. The axle nuts should not extend outside of the edge of the deck and they should also not be further inwards than ¼” from the edge of the deck.

In the following diagram you can see some of our Truck brands, the truck sizes and the deck widths that fit the certain truck size. Sometimes you’ll see that a certain truck size will with multiple board widths and that sizes overlap. In these cases you can remember that a wider truck provides stability and a narrower truck provides quicker turning.