spend your time. However, to provide you with a pleasant experience, Longboards need to be clean often.
Longboards aren’t cheap, so you’ll want a guide on caring for them, obtaining a smooth ride, saving money, and achieving durability.
Despite your affection for your longboard, you might have no experience cleaning and maintaining it. It is simple, If you follow the techniques below, you should be able to clean your longboard by the conclusion of this article.
Tools Required to Clean Longboard
- Wrench
- A damp cloth
- A dry cloth
- A nylon brush
- An old toothbrush
- A sponge
- A t tool
- A detergent or you can also use soap that is used for dishwashing
Steps Required to Clean Longboard
Step 01: Clean the Deck After Detaching Longboard Trucks
Detaching the truck is an essential task in order to remove the dirt off your longboard. Since trucks are large, removing the wheels from the board is preferable. This restricts the cleaning procedure. Water may also cause rust and corrosion on metal parts. You have to lose the nuts placed between the wheels to remove the trucks. For this purpose, an adjustable wrench will be suitable. Lift your trucks from the board once they are free. Apply this to both the wheels, the front one and back also.
Step 02: Clean the Deck and Grip Tape
In-room temperature water, combine a few drops of dishwashing soap or detergent. Dip a nylon brush in the freshly produced solution and clean the grip tape and surface in a semicircular motion across the grip tape. An old toothbrush might also be useful in difficult-to-reach areas.
Step 03: Use a Wet Sponge to Rinse the Grip Tape
Soak a clean sponge in clean water for a few minutes. After it has been wet, transfer it to the grip tape to remove any remaining foam and soap. After removing the soap, allow the board to dry for a few hours in the open air or in a dry place before reinstalling the wheels. Otherwise, the soggy board may crack.
Step 04: Wipe Down the Underside of Longboard
To clean the underside, use a soft sponge and clean water. Remove any dirt that has accumulated. Do not get your board’s metal parts wet.
Step 05: Cleaning of Ball Bearings
Cleaning the longboard also includes cleaning the ball bearing to ensure a smooth ride. To have a smooth ride, you must change bearings over time. So, before cleaning, determine whether cleaning is sufficient or whether the bearings must be replaced.
In fact, using spacers is preferable since spacers are meant to prevent ball bearings from being forced together.
In addition, each wheel on a longboard has two ball bearings and a spacer. Genuine ceramic ball bearings are of excellent quality since they are resistant to heat and moisture.
The following tools will help you for cleaning the bearings
- An empty bottle of plastic
- Ball-bearing oil
- Citrus oil
- A shish kebab
- T tool
- Few paper towels
Take the rollers off the axles by using a 13 mm spanner. Following that, you would get the ball bearings. Keep the speed ring in a safe position around you. So you can easily find them.
You may currently pull the roller away from the shaft pin and lever the bearing out of the roller core using the shaft pin. Remove the spacer, rotate the roller, and follow the same process for the second bearing. However, paper towels are used to clean the ball bearings.
Fill the PET bottle with a citrus cleanser after cutting it on top of the label. Then, dip the skewer into the citrus cleanser within the halved PET bottle. Shake the skewer for about 40 seconds. Then draw it out again, obtaining the bearing and spacer, and thoroughly rinsing the pieces with an agent or equivalent.
Then use the bearing oil and place many drops into the ball bearings, press the bearings into the rollers, and fix them on the axles.
Step 06: Cleaning and Replacing the Wheels
The longboard wheels are an essential component of the longboard. While caring for your longboard, you need also to keep an eye on the wheels. If required, replace the wheels, or wipe the still-usable wheels with a moist cloth.
Step 07: Dry the board
Scrub the board with a dry cotton towel to remove any leftover moisture.
Caution: Do not dry the board with paper towels or napkins.
Step 08: Assembling of cleaned longboard
The wheels and bearings need the greatest effort to remove. The rest is simple once you’ve put the pieces away. If you systematically do things, reassembling the board will be a breeze.
Place the ball bearings first, followed by the rollers. Bearings are another name for ball bearings. The castors can be reassembled once the ball bearings have been supplied with speed rings. If your vehicle’s steering rubbers are severely worn, you should consider replacing the bushings or the steering rubbers. You may use them to ensure that the axle returns to its original position after each round.
Check that both axles are properly fastened beneath the deck. Tighten the screws with the T-tool.