I must have missed it but why do you want to remove the king pin?
Because I’m trying to install the Riptide double barrels, need the extra length.
I bought some of the kingpin’s you linked from the aviation supply store. They’re longer than stock.
You dont want to mess up hanger on baseplate geometry by using tall barrels on trucks that arent designed for them.
Theres no benefit and the hanger wont sit flush on the boardside bushing.
This is actually a design flaw of orangatang nipples as well…
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won’t work dude, the pivot won’t line up and you will increase the angle of the hangar…
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So barrel + cone is necessary on Calibers?
the board side barrel/bushing needs to remain stock height.
Thanks. I’m replacing the stock Blood Orange bushings in the Calibers to the Riptide barrels. The boardside bushings are almost the same height. There’s less than a mm difference in height and I’m comparing new bushings to old, slightly compressed bushings. Is this enough to make a difference in the angle of the hanger?
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No need to replace the King pin in Calibers, they are designed to accept our standard .6" tall bushings so you can use RipTide Cones, Barrels, Canons, FatCones and Chubbys. The slight variation in the picture is not an issue.
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Do you mind giving me some advice Brad on a gravity deck?
I comute on this deck on wet days down the esplanade in to town. The trucks used to be on a symetrical double drop deck that softer bushings worked on.
The set up Hi5ber limelite (36.5 x 10 inches), currently set up 26 and a bit inches truck bolt to truck bolt. Aera k4 50/50 trucks running 6mm positive rake f/b (176mm wide). Venom 1/8 risers. Venom mach 1 magnum wheels (78x70mm wide). I am 6 foot 2 & just over 100kg or 220 pounds.
Aera recomend Hardcore barrels, 4 x 93a barrels (firm as they come, I have tried all combinations of 90a & 93a) are too soft and the deck gets sketchy at speed over uneven ground. If I put all my weight on the deck edge and rock it on to two wheels the wheels catch the deck. Cupped washers just restricted the bushings without getting me what I wanted.
I changed out the board side bushings for 93a HPF venom eliminators with a flat washer to make up for their reduced height. Front and back it took out all the turn (lean) and made the deck dead, heaps of wheel clearance now. With a eliminator just in the rear (current set up f, bs/93a, rs/93a hardcore barrels, r, bs/93a venom eliminator/flat washer, rs/93a hardcore barrel) is best so far but not quite perfect.
I’d like a fraction more turn (lean) out of the rear but to keep the stability the eliminator has added (I was thinking maybe a venom keg before I decided to take your advice). In the front I’d like a tiny bit more wheel clearance and a tiny bit more resistance, maybe rebound, like I need to up the bs barrel duro (a flat washer didn’t do it for me).
I also have some of your k4 pivot tubes that need to be modified to fit my trucks. The kingpin/hangar fit is quite tight on the k4’s and I have noticed with the stock pivot tubes the kingpin is now contacting the hangar and a aluminium dust is collecting on the bushing seat (wasn’t a problem on the double drop, maybe my weight and the extra leverage of the top mount?). As per our previous conversation to cut the pivot tubes flush, could I grip the pivot tube in a socket or similar to hold it true and sand it down till the bushings/hangar line up?
I currently have a old bushing as a foot stop, I tend to squirm around on the deck changing micro positions. Is this the footstop you would recomend me?
Sorry for the long post and the blow by blow…
Thanks for your time in advance.
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Can you send some pictures of the set up? Please include the pivot tube you are referring to. As for the FootStop, the Aer-Out, Out/side and In/Out Mini are all great if you like to move your foot around bit. If you are changing from a bushing, the I/O Mini should be perfect
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Sure Brad, it will have to wait till I get home from work tonight, i’ll dis-assemble the hangar to and get some shots of where the kingpin has made contact with the back of the bushing seat.
the pictures for you @Alphamail… (tell me if you need more, I have not got the pivot tubes with me atm, I’m at work they are at home)
ignore the wax, at the back of the bushing seat you can see where the kingpin threads have grooved the hangar. another angle… & finally you can see how tight the bushing seat is around the kingpin If you look to the pivot you will see a small gap between the hangar and the base plate. When I had two 93a hardcore bushings on the truck, I think the hangar was deflecting up in to the pivot. The eliminator seems to have stoped that on the rear truck though as there is no more new aluminium dust in the bushing seat although you could see the previous wear from the pictures.
The new pivot tubes I have are too long and you can not get the hangar bushing seat over the bushings. We did have a previous conversation about it and you gave KR a call and he told you that there were two different depth pivot tube seats over the manufacturing period.
So my suggestion was istead of cutting the pivot tube flush with the base plate to sand it down so I have enough pivot tub exsposed to fill the gap between the base plate and the hangar to stop the hangar from moving in to the pivot tube and catching on the king pin…
lastly this is where I bought my riptide pivot tubes
Certainly it is OK to sand down the pivot to where you want it. Technically speaking if a truck is not using the bottom of a cup to provide thrust support to center the king pin in the hanger, the shoulder of the hanger at the pivot nose should be used for that purpose as you are describing. From the Aera K-4’s I have seen they rely only on the bushing seat and the bushings for that thrust support and not the shoulder of the pivot tube which is how it should be done, The stock Vinyl tubes Aera used will not provide enough thrust support. You are on the right track.
Area notes: K4.1 - K4.1 was originally made in Canada. It has double the rake of the K3. The bushing seat is deeper, and there is more distance between axle and bushing seat making it a touch taller. It has the old Aera Trucks logo. .96" seat - we brought out K4 plates with a large A engraved on top that were 25% lighter than K3 plates, but they were too weak and we discontinued them. They still gave 2-3 years of service for most people, and most of them are still out there today. The K4 hanger was 17% lighter than K3, so we did make some pretty big improvements. Stainless steel and titanium parts became available at this time.
K4.2 - made in California, bushing seat opened to 1", same everything else as Canadian made.
Can you measure the diameter of your bushing seats?
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will do Brad, my vernier calipers are at work though so it will be a few hours, i’ll post back here again…
I think I might have 4.2, measurement will tell, but I don’t have a big engraved A on the top of the base plates, they look like the purple ones pictured.
Ok @Alphamail I got the calipers in to the bushing seat and took a handfull of measures between 25.34mm & 25.28mm with the hangar still mounted (but the rs bushing out). I would say I have the 1 inch bushing seat.
Looking forward to see what you recomend for me Brad, Doesn’t matter if every bushing is different or the same what ever you think is best for me.
thanks again in advance for your time mate.
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1.) TorqueBoards 218mm 50 degree trucks
2.) I currently have stock bushings, but my friend recently gave me a set of Orangatang Nipple 96a (barrels), and a set of Bear 90a (barrel/cone). I would love to know what I can do with those until I can buy new ones!
3.) Trucks feel super tight, kind of difficult to control due to massive turn radius. I want stability at 35mph speeds with reasonable turn radius. I’m pretty new to this, so I’m not familiar with what rebound means.
4.) Commuting as fast as i can 
top speed of 35mph
5.) Arbor Shakedown, I don’t think it actually can wheel bite. I have 1/2" risers to accommodate the somewhat large wheels and enclosure.
6.) 160lbs
I also want to know what I can do in terms of base plate angles, and why. Can I 3d print an angled riser, as a temporary fix until I get a different base plate? As well as pivot cups! Tell me what I can do about those!
Thanks in advanced!
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35 mph is very fast for a commuter, I just hope you dress appropriately! Since it feels super tight, I suggest changing out all the cupped washers and put in flat washers. Try that to see where you are at then if it is too loose, progressively change back some of the positions with cupped washers. Begin with the back Cone, then back Barrel, then front Cone…With this you are simulating a split set up so the front turns more than the rear. You will need to experiment with the Nipples but run the shorter bushings in the set boardside. For base plate angles, as the kingpin approached vertical, the truck turns less and has more leverage over the bushing so you will need harder or bigger bushings to compensate, conversely as the kingpin approached horizontal, the truck turns more and has less leverage over the bushing so you will need softer or smaller bushings to compensate. Since you are starting out with 50 degree base plates I would just de-wedge the rear and leave the front at 50. This will make the rear turn less and make the setup more stable. Printing you own risers is fine as long as the material you use can withstand a lot of compression without failure! Pivot cups are simple for the TB 218’s, RipTide Caliber II pivots fit them perfectly!
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I probably won’t go that fast normally, but if i find a nice strait road, let 'er rip! I have full safety gear for sure, I It has already saved me once which is why I’m here Thank you for the fast reply! So what I am understanding is that I need to use flat washers, and I need to de-wedge the back trucks. De-wedging just means adding angled risers right? How much should I do that? I’ve seen a lot of people add 15 degrees, do you have a better recommendation? Is there a good combination of nipples/bears I could use, or should I just stick to one? I was thinking nipples in the back, nipple boardside/bear (cone or barrel, need to experiment) in the front to simulate the looser in front thing.
Thanks again! You are saving me a pretty expensive future trip to the hospital!
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Start with the washer fix first to see if the stock bushings will work well for you. Making the rear kingpin more vertical by 15 degrees will go a long ways. A 50 / 35 split is nice. As for the Bear and Nipples, I am not that familiar with how they respond so you will need to experiment.
Sounds good. Thank you so much!
Since you have the 1" diameter seat, the eliminator you have is likely the issue since it’s diameter is a bit below 1" (.965" I think) thus allowing the hanger to come in contact with the king pin. Best to use bushings closer to 1" diameter like the Canons using the sharp edge towards the hanger.
Hi, i would like to have your advise. I am a 200lb guy who is commuting with an esk8 on a daily basis. I am not a really experienced rider so my truck’s are way too tight and my turning radius is shit. Additionally to my heavyweight i need to carry lunchbox, clothing to change and so on. I would like to keep the stability but if i lean in i would like to turn the board more as it is now. My trucks are Paris style clones which are widely used on Meepo, Wowgo etc. I will include a picture.
I am really looking forward to your advise and would like to thank you for doing this, great initiative!
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