Updated 17 February 2024
For some reason skateboard truck companies have the habit, i.e., there is a convention, stating the size (i.e., width) of their trucks as the width of the hanger of the truck ... which makes no sense at all.
Your truck width should be the same as your deck's width, or it can be 0.125 inches (= 0.125" smaller). I wouldn't go for 0.125" larger. And a bigger size difference is doable but not ideal.
So, if you ride a board that is 8.25 inches wide (deck width), here are your options (see table below). I don't have this info for ALL (proper) skateboard trucks available right now. ... If you ride a different board size (deck width), check this table.
|
Company name |
Acceptable deck width |
Axle width |
Size name |
Hanger width |
Height category |
Height |
Country the company’s from |
Made in … |
|
Film |
8–8.25″ |
8.125″ (206 mm) |
5.5″ |
5.5″ (139 mm) |
Mid |
52.5 mm |
France |
China? |
|
Polster |
8.0–8.25″ |
8.125″ (206 mm) |
5.5 |
5.5″ (140 mm) |
Mid |
52 mm |
Germany |
China? |
|
Indy |
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
144 Mid |
5.625″ (143 mm) |
Mid |
52 mm |
USA |
China? |
|
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
144 Standard |
5.625″ (143 mm) |
High |
55 mm |
USA |
||
|
Thunder |
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
148 |
5.67″ (144 mm) |
Mid |
51 mm |
USA |
USA? |
|
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
148 Team |
5.67″ (144 mm) |
Mid |
52 mm |
USA |
||
|
Venture |
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
5.6 High |
5.6″ (143 mm) |
High |
53.5 mm |
USA |
USA? |
|
Royal |
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
144 |
5.66″ (144 mm) |
Mid |
52 mm |
USA |
China? |
|
Tensor |
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
5.5 Low |
5.5″ (139 mm) |
Low |
46 mm |
USA |
China? |
|
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
5.5 Regular |
5.5″ (139 mm) |
Mid |
53 mm |
USA |
||
|
8.125–8.375″ |
8.25″ (209 mm) |
5.5 All Terrain |
5.5″ (139 mm) |
High |
55 mm |
USA |
||
|
Destructo |
8–8.25″ |
8.125″ (207 mm) |
5.5 Mid |
5.5″ (139 mm) |
High |
56 mm |
USA |
China? |
I personally like buying Euro company trucks (and wheels and boards) right now, not because I'm anti-USA but because a lot of stuff that a lot of companies (say Girl ...) from the US sell, and especially what they sell in Europe, is terrible quality ... and I don't mean terrible as an exaggeration like Cicero would have, for stylistic purposes.
My pretty limited experience with trucks in recent years:
- Indy (Independent): slip axles ... and (in my experience) the pivot cups (the rubber things in the baseplate that hold the pivot) are bad quality and just disintegrate (within days of skating)
- Thunder: quite good, kingpin broke and could hardly get it out and then could not manage to get a new (Thunder) kingpin (which has some ridges) into the baseplate
- Venture: I hadn't had Venture in 100 years ... now I have some: perfect (so far)
- Polster: good but slip axles
- Film: good but baseplate broke and pivot (!) broke ... still skating Film trucks though (I don't like them promoting fishing though - bloodclot) and have not had problems with Film trucks recently
- Royal: belongs to Girl (not a compliment) ... haven't had Royal trucks in ages
- Destructo: I can't believe Destructo exist again ... haven't skated Destructo since the Welcome to Hell era (late 90s)
- Tensor: weird ... I had some that were quite high and they made the wheel base massively (!) longer which was really weird, and the baseplate broke too