Spring Clean Your Skateboard

When spring has sprung, and the sound of skateboards is in the air, it's time to clean up the old board and get it running like new again. Here's how.

Steps

1. Gather all your tools and towels and other items. These are listed below under "Things You'll Need.
   
   
2. Remove the grimy old wheels. The biggest part to a smooth running skateboard is clean, functional Add Bearings to a Skateboard, so grab your wrench, and unscrew the bolts.
3. After you have the wheels off, you'll need to get to the bearings. There are a couple ways to get the bearings out of the wheels, but they're all pretty similar. Make the skateboard work for you – use the tip of the trucks, and carefully but firmly pry them out. You can put a lot of weight on the board that you can't get with a wrench or screwdriver.
   
   
   • Note: a little olive, sunflower, or canola oil around the outside of the bearing helps shimmy it out!
     
     
     
     
4. Once all of the bearings are out, fill a dish with olive, sunflower, or canola oil and drop them in to soak for a little while.
   
   
   • CAUTION: If you use water or WD-40, your Spin a Bearing will rust and not work for long!
   • WD-40 is only good to get parts unstuck, not to grease them up for extended use.
5. Now that the bearings are lubed up, clean all the dirt and sand off them. Roll them around a little. Get them moving again and use a cloth or paper towel to rub them off.
   • Tapping some of the dirt out of them works a little bit too. And depending on the bearing construction, a cotton swab is a good idea to get in the groove to reach spots that a towel can't get to.
6. Start the reassembly. The easiest way to get the bearings in the wheels again is using your skateboard. Place the bearing face down on the trucks' wheel post and then push the wheel over it, squeezing the bearing into the wheel. Do this until all the bearings are in.
   
   
   • Note: if your bearings have metal spacers make sure you put them in before you put both bearings in your wheel.
7. Before you screw the wheels back on, if you have washers to put on the outside and inside, do that now. And clean off the posts of dirt and grease from last summer.
   
   
8. So your skateboard is all back together. Time to readjust your trucks' King pin. This is the mega-screw in the middle of your trucks. It adjusts how stiff or loose your turning is.
   
   
   • Note: If you're new to skateboarding, try a firm setup. If it's too loose, your ride will be wobbly.
9. Make sure you check your hardware screws too. (They're the screws that hold your deck to the trucks.) They should be nice and tight.
10. Ride off into the sunset! Your wheels should be spinning much smoother and faster now.
    
    

Tips

• Test the board out after setting your King pin. nothing worse then trying a new setup and getting to the park and finding out your board isn't responding how you want it to. also, bring tools along for a day at the park after setting up your skate-If you don't need to use them, surely someone else there will.

Things You'll Need

• Skateboard
• Wrench
• Wrench bits (1/2 and 9/16 used in this article)
• Towel/paper towel
• Dish/bowl
• Cooking Oil

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See also

• Choose a Good Skateboard
• Remove Grip Tape from a Skateboard
• Make a Skateboard
• Tighten Skateboard Trucks
• Clean Skateboard Bearings
• Build a Longboard
• Assemble a Skateboard
• Clean Skateboard Wheels
• Get the Bearings out of Skateboard Wheels
• Put Griptape on a Skateboard

What links here

• Be a Professional Skateboarder
• Clean Skateboard Wheels
• Paint Your Skateboard