tracker rt-s & rt-x

racer128 · tracker rt-s & rt-x

I have a pair of 30+45 degree 130mm sesmics, and they are awesome. Except that every time I run into wet trail, they have to be cleaned, and the cleaning is hard. Cleaning bushing style trucks is waaaay easier. I don't want to spend the money on bennetts, cause I just got another new deck. So I am wondering if the trackers will work when properly set up?

stocago

The RT-S is a great rear truck, but the RT-X is a step back from a Bennett.
That said, my fastest mile time was with the RT-X in front. The Bennett is more fluid, takes much less effort to climb hills and put in extra miles. I recently did some experimenting with my wheelbase and wedging and for the heck of it I put back on the RT-X with 15 degrees wedging, whereas my Bennett only had 10 degrees. I didn't like it and had to go back to the Bennett. Maybe 20 degrees of wedging would be a good place to start. Smile

northcoast

Hey, james asked me to post my RTX/S setup here, after a brief dialogue on silverfish. i'm getting my superglider tweaked for LDP, and the most effective setup i've found, with trackers, is:

front:
wedged 5 deg. (9 deg. total, with the superglider's built-in wedging)
bushings (from deckside up)...flipped cup washer; white khiro cone/orange cone hourglass on the bottom; bones blue hardcore top
rear:
dewedged 7 deg (one khiro soft riser)
bushings...blue tracker stim; lemon reflex cone, flat washer

what i've found is that the 9 deg. provides a really unique pumping feel for the RTX. with a khiro in front, it takes away turning...makes pumping more difficult, and more finicky (you lose momentum quicker). i'm gonna assume that the wedging on the RTS is personal preference, just like slalom...normally i'd use 2 khiros on the RTS, but because the superglider has such a long wheelbase compared to any slalom board, i figured that the less wedging, and therefore more turning, would be best.

next step: a bennett front Wink

pavedwave

hey thanks for posting! yeah, i feel when it comes to tracker fronts there may be others who played around with these more than myself, and always good to get a mix of opinions. bushings sound great, especially the rear truck -- that's my favorite blue Stim bottom and something reboundy on top.

brad jackman got a lot of us testing out the tracker Midtrack in front on our TS boards a couple years ago, and one little tweak I remember that made a big difference was to take a round file and file down / bore open the hole in the hangar, that the kingpin points up through, making it more oval-shaped -- this gave the pin a little more freedom to rock back and forth. and i think the wedging was extreme enough to bend the bolts, but that's probably not an issue with your EW board since it's pre-wedged.

LD skater since 1971

I have new 106-mm RTX on the front 106-mm rts on the back of my Never Summer concept board it pumps about the same as the Bennett for me with out that nasty Bennett dip.

I am using a orange Khiro barrel bushing on the bottom and a White Khiro Barrel Bushing on top. I tried to set it up with a third bushing ground down to 1/8 inch to seat the truck properly in the pivot bushing
I did not like this set up on the tracker.
I am also using a tracker large bushing cap on the bottom and a large bennett cap on top. both are wedged and dewedged with the rubber Khrio pads.

The tracker work great together are a little more stable for me.
The Bennett is not as stable but because of the 3 bushing set up it allows you to pump more and generate more energy easily.
I weigh a 183 lb. now according to my moms scale so this works for me.
It's fun to try out different trucks to see what works and does not work for you.

I tried out a funky truck from Brazil at a freestyle contest that is has no Pivot and made out of solid piece of poly urethane. That truck sucked it did not turn at all.
All truck turn differently and set up stock and with different settings. If I see someone with a board with a different truck I ask to try it out just to see how they turn and perform.
We use to race all plastic Tracker Midtracks for awhile the hanger and base plate was plastic.

northcoast

i'm putting my superglider project on hold for a bit...the RTX/S setup really isn't working as well as i'd like on it. i'm not sure if it's because of the width of my trucks (149), the wheelbase of the board, or what. i kinda wanna try a randal front maybe, or a bennett.

pavedwave

i highly recommend trying the Bennett. the Trackers work for short courses, and they are more stable at higher speed, but i have personally never found them to be appropriate for effortless flatland distance pumping.

LD skater since 1971

Since I got my Long board larry walkabout board. I have experimented with different wedging and different trucks like Bennett's and trackers front trucks and bushing/ wedging setting and wheels.

I have come to like the tracker 106 mm Rtx front and Rts rear as the best set up for me I get alot of power out of my pumps and it easier to pump and more stable for me.

What I have done that work for me with the all tracker set up.

I found these hard rubber wedges the same shape as the plastic sector 9's wedge pads. I stack a Khiro solid rubber wedge 80a hard on top of it. Then the Tracker 106mm RTX truck.

I first shrink tubing the king pin. Then I use a ground down orange Khiro to 4mm tall. Then I stack a white Khiro barrel bushing with the edge slightly beveled ground so the truck will fit snug. Then the truck hanger then a Orange Khiro barrel bushing slightly beveled so it fit the hanger. Then a small pivot bushing cup washer upside down with the nut on it. I get so much power and pump out of this front truck set up it easy pump.

The rear truck has just the hard rubber dewedge pad and a flat plastic
1/4 inch Khiro riser pad for clearance. Khiro all red barrel and cone bushing as normal set up.

The hook up is I am using a abec11 78a Grippens wheels all the way around.

I really don't know how to measure degrees for the wedging but front truck is 1/2 inch in the front and 1 inch in the rear of the truck.

The rear is 1/2 inch at the front and 3/4 inch at the rear of the truck.

aschmidt

Terry, where do you buy your Trackers? I'm going to be in S.D. next week and would like to pick up a RT-S 129.

Thanks.

-Alan

LD skater since 1971

Muir skate and surf on The UCSD Muir campus have them in stock usually.
Plus you will see the biggest selection of quality long boarding gear in San Diego. So bring some cash you will spend it with Scott at Muir.
http://www.muirsurf.com/skate

aschmidt

Thanks Terry- I'll give them a try.

stocago

I've started to play around with my RTX again. I've been totally happy with the Bennett in front, but I have several decks and I like to fiddle around with my setups regularly. I started out with about 15 degrees of wedging and I didn't like it so I tried bumping it up to around 20 and it seemed worse. So I backed it down to just a soft angled riser and it was so much better. I'd never tried it with such little wedging. Has anyone else tried this? I haven't given it an extended road test, but I'm encouraged so far.

Also, I've really been liking the Seismic rear truck as far as feel and grip, but especially over rough roads it can be a bit noisy. So I've pulled out the RTS and have liked how smooth and quiet it is, but rear traction was a step back. By putting in some extra hard bushings, now the Tracker sticks almost as good as the Seismic.

jat.

Your combination of trucks are RTX 129 up front and Seismic 130 in the back then?

I got an RTX with my pair trackers that my girlfriend ordered me and been feeling a bit bad about never using the RTX so this would be worth trying out.

Thanks for sharing, Stocago!

stocago

Well, my preferred setup is still a Bennett in front and Seismic in back, but on my secondary LDP deck I've been revisiting the Trackers, both the RTX and RTS. I've just been trying to fine-tune them. I've been trying to build an LDP setup for speed, like for a cyber mile, and another one for comfort and distance.