Choosing the Right Skateboard Trucks
Skateboard trucks are the metal T-shaped pieces that mount onto the underside of the skateboard and keep your skateboard wheels and bearings securely attached to the deck. They are a key component to creating your own skateboard, and can affect the way you ride your custom complete.
Skateboard trucks are composed of several different parts: axles, hangers, kingpins and bushings. All these parts impact your skateboard's performance and the type and size of skate trucks you choose – or that will fit your skateboard – directly affect your stability. Choosing and maintaining the right skateboard trucks is also key to avoiding wheel bite, which happens when your wheels rub against your board and cause you to stop on impact during a trick or turn.
Trucks can easily be adjusted to perform tighter turns or tricks on your board, but you can also choose softer bushings for easy turning, or hard bushings for stiff turning. How loose or tight you keep your trucks really depends on how you prefer to skate, but it all starts with choosing the right trucks and building the appropriate type of skateboard for your style.
Warehouse Skateboards carries skateboard trucks in lots of sizes and colors, and we have a huge selection of brands to suit your personal taste.
Features of skateboard trucks
Skateboard trucks are made up of several main components:
Axle
The axle is the long pin that runs through the hanger and attaches to the wheels. For the best fit, the ends of your axle should line up (or come close to) the sides of your skateboard. Different brands use different scales to measure the axle width, but generally stick to either measurements in millimeters or inches.All axle nuts require a 3/8 inch wrench socket.
Hanger
The hanger is the triangular metal piece that is the largest part of the skateboard truck, and supports the axle, which runs straight through it.
Kingpin
The kingpin is the big bolt that fits inside the bushings and holds the skate trucks parts together. Recently, hollow kingpins (and axles) have been on the rise because they weigh less, but don't compromise strength or durability. Just remember that even solid kingpins can break, mostly because it controls the amount of overall pressure placed upon bushings. When deciding between a solid or hollow kingpin, assess whether you need a lighter option, or one that will hold up longer under tighter pressure settings and with more impact-heavy tricks.All kingpin nuts require a 9/16 inch wrench socket.
Bushings
The bushings are the soft urethane rings fitted around the kingpin to allow the board to turn and pivot smoothly.
Materials
Generally speaking, you can expect to mostly find aluminum hangars and steel axles when shopping for your skateboard trucks. There are a few other options out there, though: like titanium and even brushed steel. Overall, what you buy depends on how you typically ride your skateboard. If you know you’re an avid skater who needs trucks that will hold up under pressure, go for the heavier metals when assembling your skateboard.
Regardless of what type of board you're rocking, you will need quality trucks. However, if you are riding a vintage board (pre-1990s), your skateboard won't fit most of today's trucks. Contact our customer service to inquire about vintage skateboard fittings.
Top Selling Trucks
Choosing the right skateboard trucks size
Truck size is measured by axle width or hanger width. The width of the hanger and axle determines how far apart your wheels are. The width of your trucks will affect the performance of your board, since different truck widths are better suited for certain riding styles. The most common setup is for the truck axle to be approximately the same width as your deck – this setup offers the most stability. Generally speaking, go with an axle that is just greater or less than 1/4" the width of the board.
6"-7.25" truck axle - 6.5" to 7.25" skateboard decks7.5" truck axle - 7.25 to 7.5" skateboard decks
7.75" truck axle - 7.5” to 8" skateboard decks
8.0" truck axle - 8” to 8.5" skateboard decks
8.5" truck axle - 8.5” to 9" skateboard decks
9.0" truck axle - 9” to 10” skateboard decks
10.0" truck axle - 10” wide and above skateboard decks
Choosing a skateboard truck profile
The distance between the hanger and the bottom of the skate deck is known as truck profile. Generally, mid-sized trucks suit most skateboarders, though they can be substituted for high or low trucks depending on skating style.
Low: Designed for small wheels, low trucks provide extra stability for certain moves, such as flip tricks. We recommend a 50-53mm wheel size for low trucks.
Mid: Mid-level trucks are solid choices for park or street skateboarding. We recommend 53-56mm wheel size for mid-level trucks.
High: Ideal for large wheels, high trucks are made for carving and cruising streets and would work well for a longboard or cruiser. We recommend 56mm+ wheel size for high trucks.
Vintage trucks
Finally have the time to fix up and polish that vintage board that's been sitting in your garage for the past couple years? You've come to the right place.
One of the coolest things about this industry is that manufacturers are constantly making improvements and modifications that can be adapted to different skate styles and tricks. That's why if you examine an older skateboard deck, you may notice that today's baseplate is slightly too short for your deck's mounting holes. That's because, prior to adopting the modern pattern that we skate today (42mm x 55mm), trucks were made with a longer base plate (42mm x 65mm). This allowed for easier access to nuts and bolts. The longer baseplate would often get hung up when skaters were trying to do nose and tail slides, so manufacturers responded by shortening the baseplate. This resulted in – you guessed it – a shorter hole pattern.
Although most of the trucks on the market won't fit the older hole pattern, your best bet is to check out the brands Tracker as well as Independent (159s, 169s, and 215s). They offer 6-hole baseplates, which will fit both the old and the new school pattern.
For the 101 on maintaining and replacing your kingpin and bushings, check out our Skateboard Truck Maintenance Guide.
Check out our massive selection of skateboard trucks.
Still have questions?
We are Warehouse Skateboards. Our goal is to provide you with great customer service and information to make an informed skate purchase.
Give our customer service team a call at 877-791-9795. They will help you find the right products to fit your skateboarding needs. Still have questions? Please fill out our simple contact form.