Clamp/Bolt on Pneumatic Wheels

I really like riding pneumatic wheels, very comfortable and great for bad roads or semi-rough trails. But I prefer urethane for daily use. Just feels more natural and the carves are tons of fun. Why can’t we have both?

I am trying to design a method either clamping or bolting on pneumatic wheels to the existing urethane wheels, preferably a tooless process. I think this would be fun because you could swap between a urethane ride and a pneumatic ride in seconds. You also get the added benefit of extending the wheelbase (over installing the pneumatic wheels in place of the urethane wheels) to reduce wheel bite without cutting on your deck or using taller risers/shock pads.

I started with the idea of a bell clamp, drilling a hole in the end & welding a 5.16-24 bolt in the hole. That would allow you to simply clamp the bell to the existing wheel, regardless existing wheel size and ride. Tooless, elegant. Unfortunately not many companies manufacturer bell clamps anymore and the ones that do want $50 + each. That’s $200 plus the drilling, welding and incidental parts. Too much to make the idea feasible, IMO.

Next I thought about using a Coupling Nut in place of the current wheel nut. The all you would have to do is bolt the pneumatic wheel into the Coupling Nut and go. The problem with this scenario is that you have to keep up with the speed rings of the pneumatic wheels when not in use and you have to carry a skate tool to bolt on/off the wheels. I am also worried about the long term stress on the truck axle (bends & thread damage) with this method, thats a lot od down pressure on the Coupling Nut.

I am going to try this today when my Coupling Nuts are delivered. I’ll post pics and my impression when I’ve completed the install.

Does anyone else have any ideas on how this might be accomplished?

Skike sitting on top of a 833mm urathane wheel as an example of what I am trying to accomplish...

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I tried earlier in the winter with drilling holes through the urethane fake flywheel 90 and bolting 6 bolts into the wheels, did not work urethane flexes out and then wobble at any speed higher then a snail pace, maybe if your going through the core but it would be supper heavy, as mine was and then you have to work around the pulleys

I would have thought that would work. If I bolt onto the axle, that should relive any issues with the pulleys, unless I am not understanding correctly?

Ya if you can grind down the trucks to expose the axle you would prolly be fine but I was trying to extend the axel so I had more turning by attaching it to the outside of the wheel without bearings on the pneumatic wheel

@mmaner what about using the locking bolts on your uro wheel pulley (the outer ring that presses against the hub of the flywheel) as a mounting spot for some bolts that the pneumie could latch onto? Most of us only use 3 of the 6 slots…

That would be great, I’ll look into to that. Would probably be helpful to have more mount contact on the drive wheels.

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With the kegels lining up with the skike pattern it should theoretically be possible to mount them this way. Additional benefit would be a wider wheelbase. However your gear ratio will be unfavorable this way and I doubt that there would actually be any time benefit compared to just removing the urethane wheel and adding the pneumatic wheel together with a suitable belt.

The flywheel bolt pattern does NOT line up with the Skike’s hub/hole pattern. I cannot say for sure about the Kegel bolt pattern, but I assume it does from what other people have said.

If there’s no time savings, it’s really not worth doing. The extended wheel base would be nice, as it would let me run Skike’s without having to trim my deck. But the idea is to make it fast, which was why I really liked the idea of using bell clamps, but that’s a non-starter.

I’ve received the coupling nuts (link here), but on first try it wont work.

For all of the wheels other than the drive wheel they are about 7mm to long, meaning they don’t sink up to the irathane wheel. I’m pretty sure the down force would damage the truck axle with that much space in between the wheels.

For the drive wheel the situation is the same, but also the hub shape of the Skike does not allow it to sit flush against the urethane drive wheels pulley retainer and bolts. I could swap out the bolts with some pan heads, but it still wouldnt be perfectly flush. So back to the drawing board.

Like where you are going with this @mmaner I would think the pneumatic wheel would need to sit flush against the thane wheel to provide support … very interesting idea

But don’t think a coupler is what you want…too much stress on the coupler and tip of the axle…

If you where able to have the larger wheel compress against the thane wheel…like a huge washer and lock it down with a single nut

How about that? it was used in the old racing roller skates for really quick wheel release. i hope you can see the system because it will be very difficult for me to explain :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: inside of the shaft is a spring and bla bla…at least i can say that system was working perfect and did last years and years without any maintenance.

Thats was the idea, I was just going to use the COupler Nut to extend the axle and then run a bolt through the skike and bot it down tight. The Coupler Nuts are too long, I am going to have shave 7mm of them to make it work, but there is still the drive wheel issue. The hub of the skike will not sit against the retainer of the pulley.

Honestly, I am not sure there is a way to do this safely and get decent performance out of it. I’m just trying to figure out i there is a way.

Thats awesome, not sure how I would get that translated to a truck axle, but it’s definitely worth thinking about.

Playing with diameter of the Axel could be a dangerous thing…

I would say the hole in the pneumatic wheel would have to be larger hence a larger bearing so you can insert some type of long nut type thing to place it flush

I’m lost, how am I changing the axle diameter. I’m using a 5/16-24 coupling nut, 1 side holds the urethane wheel in place, the other side accepts a 5/16-24 bolt which has a speed ring before the skike and after. And the Skikes have there own bearings. So I AM extending the axle, by 1.5 in but NOT changing the diameter.

Oh ok got u :ok_hand:t2:

I’m gonna stop at Home Depot to take look at some of the odd couplers and stuff now lol

It took me a little bit of testing, but the Calibur II’s axle threads are 5/16-24…hope that helps. I bought 3/4in long couplers, and they are 7mm too long, so translated to millimeters, the couplers need to be 12mm in length or 0.47 inches.

BUUUUUTTTTTTT…there is still the issue that the Skike hub will not sit flush against the pulley’s retainer clip (on the urethane wheel). All I can think to do is get some really low profile pan-head replacement bolts for the pulley and retainer clip and see how that does. It looks like that might be below the outside of the urethane wheel and could work.

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FYI, I never did get this to work. The skikes were just not to my liking. I’ve thought about revisiting it using my spud though.

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I just swap the front trucks to 5" pneu. wheels and leave the rear. (hub motors) Ride quality is much improved. Esp. when you lean hard on the front when riding. Slid some truck pads in the rear to offset height change.

Also working on getting the avenue truck style suspension mounted on rear truck. That way I’ll have “suspension” at all 4 corners. Guys with the belt drives should have it easy. Swap in the avenue truck suspension pads and go.

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Just to follow up on this I welded up a little plate onto the avenue trucks mounting plate. Then bolted on my hub motor/truck assy.

I drilled 3 additional 1/8th” holes in the bend of the spring as it was initially too rigid. The ride quality isn’t as good as having 4 pneumatic wheels, but with the pneumatic wheels up front and spring suspension in the rear, it’s a BIG difference!

I’m trying it out on the new WOWGO board. Sits a bit high for my liking. I ordered another drop deck to swap out.

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