''Swing arm'' Steering mechanism for mountainboard..How? And would it work?

Is it possible to build a ‘‘swing arm’’ type mechanism, so that wheels get turned when the board tilts… or perhaps, that there is a ‘‘steering handle’’ mounted on the board?

Something like some diy go-cars have, looks like could be easly made!

I think this all sounds crazy… but Im just thinkng on how to come up with a mechanism which would make the wheels steer more! It is not possible to achieve very curvy / angled turns with regular skate trucks!

I believe that spring trucks might elevetate / improve the situation… but im still not convinced enough, that they work that much better for sharp steering to one of the sides… This would hold especially true for mountainboard with pneumatic tires…

Ideally, Imagine something like this ‘‘stroller’’ type eboard… with some sort of ‘‘the wheel’’ which helps to move / navigate the wheels on the road!

(Picture / board author unknown :slight_smile: just picked it up on the net :wink: )

With this… I think steering wobble would also go away… (at least for the front)… and it would be possible to control the board in more ‘‘precise’’ way…

I also do understand that a lot can be changed with different bushing types or hardnesses but somehow the whole regular truck construction, to me, seems like has not taken into consideration the ability to make sharp turns…

It is either too wobbly or too hard to steer… (turn) with the regular trucks.

And with spring trucks… Ive heard it is somewhat hard to ‘‘calibrate’’ them in a way, that at low speed it is easy to turn them… while at high speed it is less easy to turn… But they do seem to do the job good at tight/ turny steering!

I’ve also seen ‘‘Other planet’s’’ trucks… they also look quite promising and interesting… here’'s the video:

On the street:

– What I found interesting is that they mentioned 32 degree angle… of turning… I wonder how much angle does skate trucks / sping trucks can get…

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Sounds like you are looking for Gullwing Sidwewinder trucks. You can trun very sharp corners with them.

Evolve Skateboards use a similar setup. I used to own a Bamboo Gen2 and loved carving with it.

But they are made for cruising at relatively low speeds around 20 mph. They get quite unstable when you go faster.

I’ve heard about them… but im not sure how easy it is to obtain them… They also look kind of complicated a bit… but thanks for pointing out about their turny-ness :slight_smile:

Though, you mention the problem which im facing - you can get good steering at low speeds and then you get a bit dangerous riding / instability at higher speeds…

somehow. in my mind it seems like to achieve high stability and at the same time turnyness at high speed… there needs to be a way / mechanism which can be controlled precisely… as needed… Urethane is too much influenced by the environment / movements of the board… and just simply surface the board is riding on…

You need to wedge out your trucks. That way you can have them tight but still turn sharp.

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@lowGuido Can you suggest what angle to achieve? Im totally new to all of this truck adjusting thing… so some tips/suggestions are welcome :slight_smile:

Its a personal preference really. You are going to have to wedge them and try it and see. Then if its not enough add more wedge. You can buy them or you can make them from wood. But you will need longer hardware.

I’ve got emtb personally… so there’s actually a slight wedge already… and also a bit of an angle for the board in general (similar like, if you mounted trucks at the ends of regular skateboard)…

Though, it still seems not enough… I’ve got standard black bushings/urethane… and if I loosen the kingpin nut or rise the deck higher the board becomes too unstable :confused:

I might try one day with wood… though Im not sure how close to that I am now lol… something made out of metal seems better… and if that swingarm idea would be feasible… I might as well contact a local welder, who would do something like that for me… without much cost… It just needs to be working… and for the idea itself I might consider doing it…

Making the wedge out of alumnium could also be an option (others have done it before anyways)… So I will definately keep this idea in my mind.

One idea on how the ‘‘swing arm’’ could be made:

At the end of the shaft/axle there should be a ‘‘moving’’ adapter…after that… there would be a rod connecting both of these plates… and then a ‘‘knob’’ or stick in the middle… for adjusting the direction

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I think this could be added here:


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Dude had a kickstarter for his swing arm trucks. But you had to buy his complete board, he isn’t selling the trucks separate. And it looks like he’s had trouble delivering to his kickstarter backers.

http://www.pramash.com

I like the wheels…

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Yep, I found the same board / guy a while ago… did not know about his kickstarter ‘‘backstage’’ but non the less - that is some awesome steering system… even the wheels looks really badass…

Too bad it probably costs quite a lot and there would also be trouble with mounting the motor… of course, unless someone would come up with a way on how to mount a hub motor onto these points where wheels attach to the arm mechanism.

To update the topic:

I tried to ‘‘switch out’’ the front wedge, I basically just turned it around (in opposite direction) and now instead of making the trucks more ‘‘straight/parallel to the road’’ they are now more ‘‘angled’’ and turn a lot better!

I can make ‘‘snappy’’ turns now… without any problems + I still got my stability since I did not switch out the rear end risers to the otherside…

I must confess that I had been riding with ‘‘too stable’’ wedge angle / position all the time!

I could post some pictures of the wedge angle I’ve got, if there is anyone who would be interested in seeing that!


[Edit]

Look what I found!

Someone has already done it before me, haha!

I bet his board turns way more ‘‘interesting’’ than our old / regular skate/spring trucks… Just not sure whenever this steering is firm enough… loose steering wouldnt be great either :slight_smile:

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@Jedi Also not bad… how is this called ? Looks like a tri-cycle to me :slight_smile:

I think that the standard truck design has stood the test of time because it works just fine without any fancy linkages or complications. You may need to tinker with the odd wedge here and there for specific setups, but if it aint broke don’t fix it.

It looks like ‘‘outback’’ / ‘‘frankenboards’’ also has such steering system.

I imagine they are quite turny… and in general, these 3 wheeled designs can achieve what is not possible easly for 4 wheel ones…


@lowGuido I agree with you that current trucks have been around a long time and they have already been refined pretty much not to search for something new and untested… but on the other hand, I think to achieve something new or what is not possible with them currently, someone indeed needs to come up (like it has already happened) with different steering systems…

They work quite okay as it is… and there are now more than one version of them - Other planet trucks, Roja’s, Gullwinger trucks… perhaps some more, I believe other planet does not use urethane but thought to mention it anyways.

So I assume there is a bit of choice anyways with what is currently available.

I can show you one more 3 wheeled board and it looks extreme what he can achieve with it… especially because he has made something like over 50 prototypes and his wheels tilt at an angle, too… but that’s for another time, since we focus more on 4 wheeled board anyways :slight_smile:

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Found this today:

I assume it is possible to find something new everyday…

Have you seen @Flexboardz steering / suspension mechanism?

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Thanks for mentioning Flexboardz design…it can be maniable and stable at the same time

I wanted to post a pic of our new model but I don’t know how to do it…

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@Flexboardz Bigger picture would be nice. I see that u have tried to ‘motorize’ the board in the picture… Any plans to do this for real in real life?

I think this might be a bit oh hurdle unless hubmotors are used for such ‘independant wheel’ designs. On the other hand - if u were able to come up with such steering system im sure u will be able to come up with how to attach a motor and belt there, if hub motors are not used… (or at least make direct drive with smaller wheel pulley and motor pulley)

This could be a big hit, if made and promoted correctly and wouldnt cost the same as Baja, since price factor is always important…

Your solution looks like would totally minimize the annoying shaking and bumping the whole board up when going over an obstacle with just one wheel or so.