Posted on by AHA
One of the worst things about getting new trucks is getting them to turn just right. Once you have worked out what truck geometry you like (they are all slightly different and you’ll have to try a few) the next thing to do is fine tune them. Everybody is different. If you are lucky you can just grab your favorite trucks, bolt em’ on and go. If however you like your trucks looser or tighter there are a few things you can do to get your set up just right. Today we are going to have a look at a few bushings (possibly the most correct engineering term?) which are also correctly called suspension cushions.
Bushings or Cushions are the urethane inserts mounted on the kingpin. There is a top one and a bottom one. The top one is almost always a conical shape, the bottom is most commonly a barrel or slightly taller conical shape. the stock cushions in most trucks are pretty good, but do not suit all skateboarders. The first question you should answer is do you like loose trucks for carving and turning or tighter trucks for a more stable straight line ride? Maybe (and most likely) you are somewhere in between. As a general rule you can use the following as a bit of a guide to grabbing the best cushions for your set up.
LOOSE TRUCKS – Extra Soft to Soft Bushings – 75a to 90a durometer
MEDIUM TRUCKS – Soft to Medium Bushings – 90a – 95a durometer
TIGHT TRUCKS – Medium to hard Bushings – 95a to 101a durometer
The reason you should choose the right durometer or hardness of bushings is that they work better. And last longer! If you ride tight trucks and use soft bushings, you will notice they bulge out. This can cause them to split or get cut up by the edges of the cup washers.
*The durometer is the hardness of the bushing, measured by how far a pin penetrates the material under a certain pressure, usually measured on the shore durometer ‘A’ scale.
When you are upgrading your trucks with aftermarket bushings (or have brand new trucks) often you will find the hanger sticks after turning. Not a huge issue. But people often take their board to the skate shop to have this fixed. A good thing to do is put a smear of grease, oil, WD40 or dry lube stick on the top and bottom flat surface of the bushings. This just helps the hanger ‘slip’ back to it’s correct position. If you ride your trucks a bit they will ‘break in’ and it will probably sort it’s self out pretty quickly. Besides when you are standing on your deck your weight will put even pressure on all four wheels.
So if the stock bushings in your trucks just aren’t cutting it, here are a few of our most popular options for swapping them out.
Nine out of 10 old men who still skateboard use these bushings. I’m not a fan, they feel a bit weird to me. But hey, a lot of the pro’s use them and they are one of the most popular bushings on the market. These bushings are constructed a little differently with a hard top and core. Check the video to see how they work.
The good news for me is I have an endless supply of leftover stock Indy bushings to use when I need them. Thanks George!
Call me old fashioned. My favorite bushings are the stock standard orange ones that come in Independent trucks. I’m not sure if these are the same original Supercush formula, but I guess they are pretty close. We’ve got these in a few durometers including a hard to find super soft 78a. The 78’s are perfect for little kids to learn to turn with. The kit comes with new cup washers too, a nice little bonus.
Supercush Suspension Cushions are a quality bushing made with a Ultra high rebound urethane for a responsive truck feeling. The original cushions and formula are the stuff of legends. This is what all the original Ermico trucks came with as their stock bushing back in the day. These new ones have a fairly low profile and are great for mid and low trucks.
Thunder have these great rebuild kits to completely refurbish your trucks. Not only do you get quality cushions, but also every other component your trucks need. Put em’ in, good as new!
- 2 x Top bushings (black)
- 2 x Bottom bushings(black)
- 4 x Tempered steel washers (black)
- 2 x Kingpin nuts (black)
- 4 x Axel nuts(black)
- 2 x pivot cups
Like all skate set ups there are no hard and fast rules. Skaters like Dane Burman and Daewon Song ride notoriously loose trucks. In fact Daewon doesn’t event use a top cushion, check out more about that here. There are also a plethora of longboard Bushings or Cushions so you can change the way your trucks work here. Why not test out a few different set ups? Let us know how you go and what works best for you.
