modding bennets?

[Curt Chapman]

silverfish. someone was righting a review on the new CNC'd indy DH plates. they said it was a bit slopply, so they were going to add a spherical to stiffen it up, so i figured this was true in all trucks? correct me if im wrong

When they said "stiffen it up" they were probably referring to removing the "slop" that they were talking about, not saying that they wanted to make the truck less maneuverable. That's basically what spherical bearings do, is remove slop. They don't cause "loss of maneuverability".

If you think about the way a truck works without spherical bearings, due to the nature of the bushings, the hanger can "move around" the kingpin because of the bushings compressing. To the left, right, front, back and up and down also. The same with pivot cups. The "slop" in the pivot is not as noticeable, but it's still there. The movement of the hanger around the kingpin due the the bushings compressing side to side, etc. is what is referred to as "slop". When you add spherical bearings to a truck, it gets rid of the "slop", making the truck more precise, crisp, or however you want to describe the abscence of "slop". (I'm sure there's someone else around that can describe what I'm trying to explain here better than me....)

On most of the trucks I've modified with sphericals, I've done more than one. I do it in steps, and compare the feeling of the truck with the sphericals, and the same truck without the sphericals. There has been no "loss of manuverability" in any of the trucks by adding the sphericals. When you compare a Bennett with sphericals to a Bennett without sphericals, they feel different, but they both still turn like crazy. I personally haven't felt any loss of maneuverability by adding spherical bearings to trucks. Of course all of this is my personal opinion, and your mileage may vary....

[Danny Trinen]

silverfish. someone was righting a review on the new CNC'd indy DH plates. they said it was a bit slopply, so they were going to add a spherical to stiffen it up, so i figured this was true in all trucks? correct me if im wrong

[Curt Chapman]

alright, i finished the mod, and it turned out great. i did a bit more research on sphericals and decided it wasnt for me, im only 13 so my ankles arent as strong as some of yours, so the loss of manuverability would effect me more than most.

Just curious, where did you find this research that said that adding sphericals bearings to a truck causes "loss of manuverability"?

[Danny Trinen]

alright, i finished the mod, and it turned out great. i did a bit more research on sphericals and decided it wasnt for me, im only 13 so my ankles arent as strong as some of yours, so the loss of manuverability would effect me more than most. me being a mad scientist, i tried something ive never seen before, i modded the bennett baseplate, and a gullwing baseplate also. and decided to compare the two when paired with a bennett 5.0 hangar and various bushing combos. i bought two new kingpins to experiment with also, 2 1/2 in kingpin, and 2 3/4 in kingpin. along with the kingpin i bought new reflex bushings to experiment with also, two green tall cones, and four orange short cones. and here are my favorite combos i made:

for TS and pumping

green tall cone
hangar
pink barrel
orange short cone

for GS/hybrid

pink tall cone
hangar
pink barrel
orange short cone

i needed a 2 3/4 in kingpin to use those setups, and road clearence was a bit of an issue, but the kingpin only scrapes when you fly off big bumps in the sidewalk or potholes on a crappy road. its nothing that will hurt me on raceday.

now heres a comparison between the bennett 5.0 hangar paired with a reverse kingpin gullwing and a reverse kingpin bennett baseplate.

the gullwing sidewinder baseplate

the baseplate is at a fairly high angle, so the truck sits a bit higher, affecting the road clearence a bit more than the bennett, but also affecting manuverabilty in a positive way. since wobbles generally come from the back truck, my board is about as stable as it was before the mod. so i dont lose any stability from the low angle. i have taken into the twentys and its a bit twitchy, but none the less a fun ride. sometimes wobbles are good, they knock some sense into you in the middle of the hill, adding to the adrenaline rush you get, making your next run more edgy as you push yourself more. its a very pumpable setup, ive pumped up some inclines without a problem, something i could netver do before i used this baseplate. so basically the sidewinder baseplate rocks TS and pumping.

the bennett baseplate

a tad less pumpable than the sidewinder, but less twitchy and squirrely. the same classic bennett manuverability and pumpability. the turns are a tad smoother with the brilliant casting of bennetts compared to the awful casting of gullwings. the baseplates are designed very similar, the bennetts just have smoother edges and a lower degree baseplate. they are great for GS and hybrid but i put the gullwings on for everything else. they are also a tad bit harder to mod. the sidewinders require no welding, the locknut fits perfectly in the baseplate, with an accurate hammer swing you can get the mod done in less than a minute. while the bennett takes welding and is a big hassle.

so thats what ive learned in my studies, thanks for the help everyone!

[Wesley Tucker]

There are sections of this forum with the flowing blather of endless smack and umbrage but fortunately the "technical" sections stay technical. One of the distinguishing features about slalom is the endless variables in making a board turn left and right very quickly while maintaining a certain degree of adhesion to the surface while sacrificing little momentum.

As such just about every nut, bolt, shim, shimmy and multi-color sticker on the bottom of the board is worth investigating.

It's important, though, to never let discussion and typing to overcome getting outside on the street and skating.

[Danny Trinen]

Pierre,

Had you previously tried Stims? You think the new Reflex are better? Size or rebound?

Yes, my Bennett was on a rounded cone shaped yellow stim top and green stim bottom, and later i changed the bottom for a tick rubber bushing, it was OK till i tried the Retros.

The stim is still an amazing bushing, but for the Bennett i think Retros work better, especially with all the duro options.

thats probably why, ive been running eliminators on my dancer, and i love them, i agree, i dont like the stims either

this forum moves slow! im used to silverfish where its infested with prepubescant kids posting something new and pointless every half a second, without any longboard talk, like, ever. i like this place

[Pierre Gravel]

Pierre,

Had you previously tried Stims? You think the new Reflex are better? Size or rebound?

Yes, my Bennett was on a rounded cone shaped yellow stim top and green stim bottom, and later i changed the bottom for a tick rubber bushing, it was OK till i tried the Retros.

The stim is still an amazing bushing, but for the Bennett i think Retros work better, especially with all the duro options.

[Rick Floyd]

No question for me - I've been using A11 rebound bushings on my front trucks for two years now, in all different shapes and configs. They've proven faster in training time and again.

[Joe Iacovelli]

Pierre,

Had you previously tried Stims? You think the new Reflex are better? Size or rebound?

[Pierre Gravel]

I agree, i was never fully satisfied with my geezerized bennet and since i placed a retro green barrel / pink tall cone, it's magic! The best front truck for TS.

[Brian Ellison]

to me, venoms have a lack of rebound

[Danny Trinen]

yep, sk8kings sent me a nice set of pink retros, they are the nicest bushings ive ever owned, more lean and rebound then my venoms, which is saying something, cuz my venoms have a TON of lean and rebound

[Pat Chewning]

I agree--- those retro bushings are the bomb for Bennet trucks.

[Brian Ellison]

bushings can be a bit of a pain in the butt when it comes to bennetts. i ordered some custom bushings from sk8kings which seemed nice at the time but when the retro reflex bushings came out, i was told to just put those in and they fit perfect by themselves. i would highly recommend ordering a green tall cone and barrel and pink tall cone and barrel for your bennett

[Danny Trinen]

Skate shops and hardware suppliers really should offer bushing choices/solutions for the trucks they sell. If you buy a truck it should come with either the manufacturer bushings of the buyers choosing or an alternative for the prices they charge. I don't understand why the value-add on this is not more common place. Richie and Maria do this (Sk8kings) and it's a good commitment to getting the rider what they want not just what comes with...

well i ordered a custom bushing combo from sk8kings, so im good on bushings.

basically you just epoxy a 10mm in the baseplate for sphericals?

[Curt Chapman]

yeah its possible to put a spherical, actually need to put in 2, in a bennett but I'm not sure that it would be an improvement

It's actually a big improvement. Can you say poor-man's GOG Homer?

[Stephen Lavin]

Skate shops and hardware suppliers really should offer bushing choices/solutions for the trucks they sell. If you buy a truck it should come with either the manufacturer bushings of the buyers choosing or an alternative for the prices they charge. I don't understand why the value-add on this is not more common place. Richie and Maria do this (Sk8kings) and it's a good commitment to getting the rider what they want not just what comes with...

[Eric Brammer]

Danny, there's really no need to invert Bennett kingpins. Back,back, back in-the-day, that's how they came, and with that type of kingpin/jam-nut setup came the issues of thread wear in the baseplate (look at any old, used, ACS baseplate, and you'll see stretched threading), and when Bennett used to used plastic bases, cracks would often be found, as steering torque was signifigant enough to tweak them. The bases you see now are 3rd-Gen bases for Bennett, and when the Vector originally came out with this (in '79) type of baseplate, it was a huge improvement for them.

What's tough is getting bushings that fit well. The height of stock Bennett cushions is taller than most of what the industry puts on their less-turny trucks. So, thin spacers (as per R. Floyd's suggestions) can take up some of that slack, as can using thicker washers. But that's not addressing the potential of using a taller bushing kit, which allows deeper turns. So, look around at what's used in Quad rollerskates. Snyder, Lazar, and SGI all make tall, tippy trucks for quads, and they've got bushings that are deeper than what's usually found at a skateshop. The challenge there is finding a Roller Rink, and getting the noob behind the counter to let you peruse their stockpile of tall squishy bushings.

Meanwhile, I'm stoked to see Vemon, Khiro, Tracker, Randal, and Reflex all stepping up to the plate in offering better, meatier bushings that'll let you turn. Bennett's 'stock' bushings are nice for cruising or geneneral riding, but aren't available in enough durometer choices for Slalom tuning. You'll just have try the 'mix + match' route of experimenting to really dial in your Bennetts.

[Danny Trinen]

yeah its possible to put a spherical, actually need to put in 2, in a bennett but I'm not sure that it would be an improvement

thanks, so how do i do it? and how do i invert the kingpin?

[Tony Peters]

yeah its possible to put a spherical, actually need to put in 2, in a bennett but I'm not sure that it would be an improvement

[Danny Trinen]

im using a bennett as my front slalom truck, and want to make them as good as possible. i ordered a custom bushing combo from sk8kings and want to improve them while they are on their way. (i searched, if there is any threads that can tell me stuff id appreciate it if you post a link)

i was reading the tech page on the galac site Galac Landsurfing Tech and want to invert the kingpin, if someone could tell me how to do this id appreciate it.

on more thing, is it possible to put a spherical in bennets? is it necessary? i saw that guys spherical randals in the classifieds and they look sick.

thanks in advance
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