pavedwave longboarding

funkymonk · Joined: 22 Jul 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Wales UK

Took the plunge, fitted a steel spherical into my Bennet.

Impatient for JB weld to arrive in post so used ordinary 2-part epoxy.

I positioned the spherical slightly below the level of the hangar king pin hole, so now find that a flipped small cupped washer spaces the bottom barrel perfectly.

Reshaped the pivot from a somewhat irregular potato into something more of a cylinder shape and buffed it, then got carried away and blinged the entire hangar into a high(ish) sheen.

I REALLY like the feel of this truck with these modifications.
No slop whatsoever, feels really precise and smooth, snaps back to center beautifully, and has definitely improved my pumping performance.

Absolutely no chance of wheelbite with 77mm speedvents (5 mm of riser/wedge at front end of base-plate)

Lastly, I found some 10 mm plastic tube with a very thin (<1mm) wall, rather than thick walled PEX tube.
As the bottom bushing needs no protection, and the spherical would not go over the tube, I cut it to be about 2 mm shorter than the thickness of a Khiro barrel and screwed it down onto the kingpin quite firmly against the spherical.

So the top bushing is now protected against the Bennet KP thread, and easily slips over the thin wall of the tube.

After about 30 miles the epoxy looks fine and the top bushing has no shredding.

(still can't embed pics for some reason)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/4014501224_d2979bd92b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2487/4013736543_8a7860c309.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/4013736765_4551c39f16.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/4014500432_2aa6ce06b2.jpg

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_________________
Pulse II - longest wheelbase
Bennet front 5'' spherical hangar 20* + wedge
White Khiro barrels
RTS 129 rear - 18* neg wedge
Stock bushings

Little Bob · Joined: 26 Jun 2009 Posts: 19

Great finish you've created on that Bennett FM, and the installation of the spherical looks virtually professional - great work.

Did you put a grade 8 kingpin in?

Is that Dremell handywork, and if so what kind of attachment(s) did you use?

Loving your work.

funkymonk · Joined: 22 Jul 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Wales UK

Thanks!

I think that maybe because I used a standard clear epoxy, it not only looks better in the pics than for real, but maybe easier to work with than JB weld, which I understand is more like a paste when mixed.

Clear epoxy is quite runny when first mixed, so it can be drawn up into an oral syringe and injected, so that's what I did, into the bushing seat around the spherical leaving a nice smooth finish.
Whether it stands up to the stress of LDP though is another matter. I'll post the results in 100 miles or so......(I only weigh 135 lbs BTW)

The kingpin is stock Bennet, hence using the plastic tube to protect the top bushing against thread shred.

I opened up the kingpin hole with a round file, after scribing around the spherical with the tip of a craft knife. Hangar clamped in a vice.
Aluminum files down surprisingly quickly.
I honestly don't find Dremmels so easy to work with, something about not having the same control that you do have with an ordinary file, which you can hold at both ends at the same time.

I highly recommend trying this out, really transforms the feel and performance of the Bennet.
_________________
Pulse II - longest wheelbase
Bennet front 5'' spherical hangar 20* + wedge
White Khiro barrels
RTS 129 rear - 18* neg wedge
Stock bushings

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 418 Location: Seattle, WA

Great work, very professional. I was curious, does the pvc around the kingpin still allow the spherical to move up and down along the kingpin? I had a radikal that seized up on me so that the shpherical didnt move on the kinpin, when it finally got fixed, it defenitely added new life to the truck. The ability of the sherical (and the hangar along with it) to move up and down along the kingpin seems to be beneficial to me. If you do replace the kingpin with a chopped down 3'' kingpin (you seem like the handy sort who could manage that pretty easily) you may find that you no longer need any covering for the threads becuase the smooth shank section will be longer.

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

Polishing the pivot is brilliant. Great to see you doing this and samhell as well. I've "polished" a few of them by accident by letting the plastic pivot cup go all to hell, then not check on it for weeks and be running them metal on metal. But man, when you take out a new set it is kind of amazing how imperfect some of those pivots are. I've been taking sandpaper to mine lately.

Good stuff!!

funkymonk · Joined: 22 Jul 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Wales UK

JeffVyain · Joined: 20 Aug 2009 Posts: 59 Location: Indianapolis, IN

That is such a sexy truck. I either need to learn how to do this or hire it out to someone...like you Smile

Does putting in a spherical reduce the turnability of the Bennett? Is that why you're not getting any wheelbite? From the looks of it, you don't have a riser underneath that wedge...