What’s up this is Tim with Tactics Boardshop,
and today I’ll show you how to pick out the right trucks for your set up.
Choosing trucks can seem confusing, but it’s actually pretty straightforward once you understand a few basic concepts.
The first and most important step is finding the right axle-width.
If you’re getting your first set of trucks, this is really the only thing you’ll need to consider when picking them out.
The size of trucks you choose should be based on the size of the deck that you want to ride.
Therefore, if you have an 8 inch board, then you should get trucks with an 8 inch axle.
That seems easy enough, but a lot of truck companies label and measure their sizes differently.
For example: An Independent 139, a Thunder 147, and a Venture 5.2 all have an 8 inch axle width.
It can get a little confusing.
So to make it easy for you, here’s a chart with some of the top truck brands and sizes with their corresponding deck widths.
Pause the video here, find your deck width, and find which trucks will work with that deck.
The trucks don’t need to match the deck width exactly. It’s okay if it’s a little bit off.
But we recommend keeping the difference between the deck and truck widths no more than a quarter inch.
For example: If you have an 8.25 deck, you could go down to 8.0 trucks or up to 8.5.
Whether you go wider or narrower than the deck is entirely personal preference.
Wider trucks are more stable, and narrower trucks are more nimble and easier to flip your board.
Truck sizes usually come in ¼ inch increments, so if your board is in-between sizes, like 8.375,
you’ll have to decide if you would rather have your trucks slightly bigger or slightly smaller.
You can still mount trucks that are bigger or smaller than ¼ inch,
but if they get too far off, it starts to affect the way the board skates.
If the trucks are too small, it will give the board weird pressure points when trying tricks
and the additional leverage will make your trucks feel extra loose.
If you have trucks that are way too big, they will stick out past the sides of the deck and you might kick them when you push.
Which is a real quick way to eat some pavement.
So again, we recommend having truck axles that are within a quarter inch of your deck width.
Also if you decide to switch up your deck size,
keep in mind that you may need to get different trucks to accommodate it if it’s much wider or narrower than your previous deck.
If you’re getting a deck shape that has a taper where one end of the board is wider than the other,
I’d recommend getting trucks that match the width of the narrowest part of the deck.
The next consideration is truck height.
The height is measured from the bottom of the baseplate to the center of the axle.
Higher trucks can accommodate larger wheels without the addition of riser pads.
They also give you a slightly steeper angle of pop and potentially sharper turns.
Lower trucks give you a slightly lower center of gravity and give the board quicker and more responsive pops.
High vs. Low trucks is completely a personal preference thing,
but higher trucks are generally preferred by skaters who ride transition and skaters who want steeper pop for high ollies and flip tricks.
Low trucks tend to attract skaters who like doing technical flip tricks, and skating ledges, and manual pads.
But again you can do any style of skating with whatever size trucks once you get used to it.
You can always make your trucks taller by using riser pads to give yourself a little extra wheelbite clearance.
If you want to know more about riser pads and how to avoid wheelbite, check out our riser pad guide.
Another thing to consider is the weight and materials of the trucks.
Most standard trucks are made with aluminum hangers and base plates, with steel axles and kingpins.
Some skaters prefer lighter weight trucks to give the board more responsive pops and easier flipping tricks for technical skating.
So truck companies will utilize things like slimmed down geometry,
hollowed out kingpins and axles, and special materials like magnesium to cut down on the weight.
The trade off however is the durability of the trucks.
Some companies make trucks with titanium axles to give them extra strength to make it less likely that they’ll bend or snap.
The weight difference however between lightweight and heavier trucks is only about 30 to 50 grams,
so it's not going to make a drastic difference in your skating.
Another thing you might see is an inverted kingpin.
This means the kingpin has been flipped upside down with the nut inside the baseplate and the butt end of the bolt is up top.
These trucks generally require a 3/8th allen key to adjust instead of the usual 9/16th wrench.
The advantage of these trucks is that there is a little extra grind clearance between the kingpin and the grinding surface of the hanger,
so it’s less likely that your kingpin will catch on whatever you’re grinding.
The hardware hole patterns on trucks have been standardized across the industry so that any brand truck will fit on any brand skateboard.
However, before 1993 the hardware hole patterns on decks were slightly wider apart.
They used to be 2 ½ inches apart instead of the now 2 1/8th inches.
The change came with the evolution of new tricks and they needed more space on the nose and tail for slides.
So if you have a deck that is from the era before the bolt pattern changed, or if you bought a re-issued old school deck,
it might have the old bolt pattern.
Meaning you will need to get trucks that have the holes available so you can mount them.
Just look for the extra set of holes by the pivot cup housing.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to leave them in the comments. And have fun skating out there!