Skate Board Question - Bearing Spacers

[Johno]

Hi all beeing boared and and sercching the net I have come across skate board spacers, are they required or need for skate boards?

I usally long board and could see a use for them, but have 2 long boards (bought second hand) and a couple of short boards and none of them are fitted with spacers.

I think on a long board coz the wheels are softer the bearings could move?

Any advise on pros + cons or just info would be appreciated

[prawerski]

Hey man, I always assumed they were absolutely essential to being part of the board for the very reasons you mentioned. Heres an article that talks all about them http://thelongboardblog.com/category/longboarding-101/ Hope this helps, happy longboarding.

[petersen2020]

EDIT Fish-based troll nonsense removed EDIT

[jaffa1949]

Here's another happy clueless troll thinking that conditioning your water will help the spacers on the bearings of your skate board.
Probably thought you meant the skate that some people eat.

The other scum in the picture is Algae and he ought to do his own posts. I'll have a go at him on his other posts until the moderators deal with him

[Forage]

The short answer is get the spacers.

The long answer is that you don't really need them. In the time I spend skating I've gone through my fair share of bearings. If you put your wheels on without spacers and don't overtighten them you shouldn't really have any problems, as bearings seem to be quite strong, and in almost all cases they'll start to wear out from dirt getting in them long before you blow one out riding it.

However, there's a few advantages. The spacer means you don't have to worry about tightening them properly, you just put them on fairly tight, since a properly sized spacer (with washers, don't forget the washers) will make a solid connection throught the nut, outer inside race, spacer, inner inside race, and truck hanger (also, the washers). Also, the load on each wheel during a turn will be applied to both bearings on each wheel instead of just one. I don't know how much of a difference this makes, but since they're so cheap, I'd say get them.

Also, longboard wheels are sometimes wider than regular ones, so don't torque down on those nuts unless the spacer is actually properly sized for the wheels.