How To Replace Your Skateboard Bushings
What you’ll need:
1) Skate tool or wrench: To remove the truck from the deck and to remove the king pin on most trucks.
2) Phillips screw driver: To remove the truck from the deck using common Phillips head hardware.
3) Alan Key: To remove the trucks from the deck depending on your hardware and to remove king pins from some trucks.
Step One
To make things easier on yourself you should remove the truck from the deck by taking the hardware off.
Step Two
Remove the king pin (loosen your truck until it comes apart) using whichever tool is required and pull apart the truck. There are many different ways the king pin may be attached to the base plate. Some thread into the plate, some go through it and have a nut at the top and the one shown is attached permanently to the plate and has threads at the top for the nut. It’s a good idea to only disassemble one truck at a time, so you can use the other one for reference if needed when reassembling.
Shown here is a disassembled truck. From left to right there is:
- Base plate with attached king pin
- Large bottom washer
- Big bottom bushing
- Axle
- Smaller top bushing
- Smaller top washer
- Tightening nut
Step Three
Once you have your truck disassembled as shown, simply exchange your new bushings for your old ones. Now, some say to boil your bushings in water or hold them over a flame to heat them up and allow them to bend and react better. That is up to you. Personally, I don’t do either.
Step Four
To reassemble the truck make sure the king pin is in the right place then place the bottom washer onto the king pin, followed by the new larger bottom bushing, then the axle, then the new smaller top bushing, then the top washer and finally the nut. Depending on your truck you may have to assemble everything and put the king pin in last. Either way, make sure not to mix up the bottoms with the tops for both the bushings and metal washers. Tighten the truck to comfort level and put it back onto the deck.
That’s it! Good luck.
