charliedontskate.com

[Bugs]

Comparing stock Bennetts to stock Trackers - I reckon the Bennetts are better. They turn more, they make pumping easier and more powerful, and they make hard courses easier. But don't use one on the rear - only the front.

I can't really answer your other questions.

Richie and Brad - you guys are freaking me out with your truck mods - I reckon it's a NACCOSS conspiracy to psych out the competition. Those photos are another moon-landing style fake.
_________________
http://www.skateboardracing.org.au - ASRA, the home of Australian skateboard racing

[old school Richie]

They are not fakes its real or I am dreaming.
Not trying to steal your wind Buggs but the Bennetts , whilst easier to convert they could turn too good and stability is compromised in some situations.Just my and P.C. s opinion though.Boyd on the other hand seems to like Bennetts.
The Trackers are a bit trickier but they seem to be the more stable of the two.
I could probably do (a how to) video so others can do it too.
No conspiracy here.
Da Bear Bennetts are relativly cheap at the moment and the trackers were not much more.I have bought 6 trucks of late and will be buying a few more soon.There are plenty of pictures and descriptions as to how to go about doing it.Just remember that I never saw one until I made one.
I just heard that the yanks were doing it.
To my dismay the picture of the American conversion only had 1 spherical bearing and a ball pivot I just thought that 2 bearings were used on their conversion.Maybe they are not doing 2 bearing conversions in the US yet.I have and they work but time will tell.

[mosu101]

IM thinking that Trackers get a bit of the old "gemini status".

Many people start driving in a cheap car such as a Gemini, they go well are relatively inexpensive and once you get some thing better you never want to go back to a Gemini if you can help it.

Similarly Tracker RTX are an entry level front truck for slalom (ok so thats just my opinion) so modded rtx seem a little less attractive than some more exotic modded trucks.

That doesnt mean a modded rtx is anything to be looked down on. In terms of bang for bucks it seems to be the next step up from entry level slalom trucks in my books.

Now as for OSR's mods...

when I started this thread I knew trucks could be moddified after all Hops exotic Krispy Hills seemed to have it all to me faced hangers, modified pivot and a price tag which Im loath to pay for (no offense to Hop but they are pricey units much as I would like one my pockets have to have enough pennies before I can pay for one...and I just payed for an airflow rear)

OSR's efforts inspired me to have a go and I was blown away at how easy it is to get a performance gain for only the price of a spherical bearing and a few hours effort. Im going to wait a while before doing a double spherical bearing mod as I think my slalom ability needs to catch up with my equipment but I am going to mod a tracker RTX once I get a die set.
_________________
Do evil vegetarians worship Sultanis?

[fitz]

Mark, make sure you come on sunday to the mash longboard day. I'll bring some stuff to show you that can give you some ideas.

Hope you can make it too Rich. I've got those gullwings for ya.
_________________

[old school Richie]

Depends on the weather but I am going to try make it. Now I got to get a long board assembled.All mine are disassembled at present. Yeah FITZ dying to get my hands on the Sl s.I won't be modifying them but I will try to get them to work as they were designed to. Only fine tuning and apropriate bushings.Brad NS has done the spherical job to the hanger on his.
I want to put them on a flex anyway. The splits that I got to ride did work really good so the SL should too.The original splits did have far better bushings than what the SL s have though.
I currently have a modified Bennett handy and could have a tracker as well for Sunday For you all to look at and and try. Lets pray for a no rain Sunday.

[DA BEAR]

Tryin to shave off a couple of secs at Scoresby for CHC3,
i finally got hold of some inexpensive,
8mm id x 16mm od spherical bushings, for my front pivots.
Just did a tracker 106 RTX and its feels great round the garage
and backyard.

My prediction, it'll fly past the Radikal GOG gang!

Happy snaps and feedback to come over the weekend.
_________________
Get on a winning truck, Call me, call me now!
Truck mods done for,
12inch, Brady, Bernie, Hambo, Hamish, Ludi, ScottyT, Scuppers and Me.

[MARK WINFER]

GO DA BEAR....................
_________________
If you dont pick it up, you wont have to put it down.

[seanfb]

should be interesting at scoresby on sunday

[DA BEAR]

Well i hummed and hah hah long enough cos i thought $25 bucks
for 8mm/16mm spherical bushin,
was/is over capitalising on a $35 truck,
now i think its worth doin and here it is.
With the RTX its not hard at all, just a bit of time and patience,
anyone with even a little bit of hand tool ability can do it.

The RTX pivot cup hole is app 16mm, th od of the s/b is 16mm, just have
to deburr/sand the throat of the hole for it too slip in,
to hold the s/b at the top of the hole i cut a support ring, 16mm od app 4.5mm high, this sits the outer of the s/b near flush with the baseplate.





The pivot point of the hanger is about 10-13mm, this is run over with a die,filed,sanded back to 7.8mm to fit inside the 8mm id of the s/b.
Heres a before and after.
I want to try it like this before having to replace the pivot with a stud.


By sitting the hanger on the baseplate in its "right"/centered position, then measuring the depth of the hanger pivot into the empty pivot hole
you can work out how long/(far back, from the end of the pivot)
you need to take the shoulder for the s/b to sit against.
I dremmeld the shoulder back to about 10mm od, so it fits nice to the
od of the actual "ball" of the s/b.


The shoulder of the hanger being right down on th s/b keeps the
hanger centerd around the kingpin nicely.


Now ride it baby .
_________________
Get on a winning truck, Call me, call me now!
Truck mods done for,
12inch, Brady, Bernie, Hambo, Hamish, Ludi, ScottyT, Scuppers and Me.

[DA BEAR]

Feedback on the ride.
Well on the bench, it plainly obvious that its heaps better than a
standard pivot cup version cos there's no binding at all at the pivot point.
Rode Scoresby last weekend with the same bushings but no timer so
couldnt "measure" the performence, but i reckon it works .

So based on me thinkin i've got better faster equipment then i must
be quicker and faster YEH.
Any queries just ask.
Wayne.
_________________
Get on a winning truck, Call me, call me now!
Truck mods done for,
12inch, Brady, Bernie, Hambo, Hamish, Ludi, ScottyT, Scuppers and Me.

[fitz]

Top job.
Just a shame it cost that much for the spherical.
Bearing companies in Aus are renowned for ripping off the average joe.
CBC=Cut-throat Bearing Company
_________________

[old school Richie]

I get mine for about $14 - $15 for a for an 8 mm id and a 10 mm id bearing.It is pretty cool that other people are doing spherical mods besides me .It is a cheap way to get better performance from your trucks.
Cosmic Avenger has been doing Ace trucks and uses 10 mm bearings all round.They work well , not quite as twitchy as Bennetts .Bennetts are fantastic for tight slalom though but they can't be wedged too much as they won't work properly.At higher speeds they feel a little unstable to me.Boyd on the other hand is very comfortable with them.I am happy that the trucks that I have modified have stood up to the rigours of racing and do not apear to have failed as yet.
It's a bit of a worry playing around with experimental gear like this.
I only tried these conversions because of a rumour spread on one of the US slalom sites that they were doing this to Bennetts.
To my dismay when I saw the US conversions they were only using 1 spherical bearing.
I took it for granted that the Yanks would have used 2 bearings .
I possibably beat them to the punch with a 2 bearing set up.
They are more than likely doing 2 bearing conversions now too.Not all trucks are able to except spherical bearings and still remain strong as there is not enough metal to fully support the bearings in the first place.
Trucks that have so far been successful candidates have been.
Bennetts 2 bearings 8 & 10 mm
Tracker RT / X 2 bearings 8 & 10 mm
Ace 2 bearings 10 & 10 mm
Generic Indy coppies 2 bearings 8 & 10 mm.
Trucks like Lazers look a bit light in the metal to be sucessful as do other older style trucks.
I would like to encourage others to have a go at this as it is not too hard.

[seanfb]

i am thinking about trying it on a set of randals and on my freebord to try improove the turning ability on them

[fitz]

[seanfb]

i think i might have to try the pivot cup one for my randals