Renovate Old Skateboard Trucks

So you've got an old skateboard that you fancy renovating, or you're building a new board ?!

This Instructable will show you how to renovate your old trucks and get them looking and riding as good as new.

So take your skate tool ,and remove all 4 of the axel nuts, and the 2 kingpin nuts from the pair of trucks. You may want to replace these for brand new nuts depending on their condition.

Make sure to not loose any pieces.

Now pull off the top bushing and washer from each truck, next removing the hangers.
Finally lift of the bottom bushing and washer, then let the king pin drop out. (Some baseplates may have fixed kingpins. In that case leave them there)

The washers can be separated from the bushings.

we are going to clean up the baseplates and hangers. I used a 60grit emery cloth to coarsely sand the old paint and oxidisation off. I used a flathead screw driver to chip off some of the more stubborn patches.

I also found a wire brush to be quite helpful for giving the hangers a good scrub. it is not necessary to remove every spec of paint however it will give a cleaner result.

To finish this step I wiped the parts down with a dry cloth to remove the majority of the dust, and then some rubbing alcohol to strip any grease from the surface. This leaves the surface ready for the paint primer.

I did a similar process for the bushing washers aswell.

In this step you will require some masking tape and some string. I like to hang the pieces for painting as I think it give a more even and cleaner look.

Fist I screwed one axel nut on to each hanger.
I then tied roughly 40cm lengths of string to each of these axels, and tied a loop in the other end.

For the base plates I used a couple of M8 bolts and nuts and put them through the kingpin hole. I then tied the strings to the bolts and looped the ends again.

The string just gives a means of hanging the parts when we spray paint them.

I used the masking tape to cover the axels of the trucks as to prevent them from being painted.

I used the loops to tie the strings to the washing line. This is an easy way to hang the parts for painting.

I then gave the parts 1 coat of primer. Remember to paint in a well ventilated area and shake the can vigorously first.

The parts will likely spin when painted. You can use this to your advantage to spot any missed areas, and achieve an even coat.

Once the primer has dried, usually 1-2 hours, we can move on to the paint. I'm using a bright orange. You can use one or multiple colours. How about a 2 tone colour scheme?!

I put on 2 coats of the orange spray paint.
Make sure to try paint even coats. Avoid applying thick layers of paint as this will lead to drips forming and will need longer to dry. Allow at least 30min between the coats.

I also prepped, primed and painted the washers, kingpins and kingpin nuts. I used a gloss black paint to paint these.

Once the paint has fully dried, I left mine for about 5 hours, you can untie the parts and remove the tape.

During this step I made new pivot cups as the old one were very worn. I used Polymorph to make them. Check out my other Instructable to find out how.

I added new bushings on reassembly. I'm useing Vaults soft yellow bushings.

To reassemble your trucks:

1. Take the base plates and insert the pivot cups. I like to use a little bit of wax based lubricant here to prevent the trucks from squeaking.

2. Push the king pin through the base plate.

3. Place on the board side bushing washer and bushing.

4. Press in the hanger. Check that the pivot is inserted correctly and the bushing sits nicely in the bushing seat.

5. Place on the ground side bushing and busing washer.

6. Finally, screw on the king pin nut. I used a paper towel to try prevent the skate tool from scraping the paint of the nuts.

You can now use your snazzy revitalised trucks on one of your boards. Have fun skating!