What is slop?
Slop is any additional movement in the truck not from the user's input. Generally, if you can grab your trucks and feel a little play before you feel the urethane engage, your truck has slop.
Downhill riders attempt to minimize slop in their trucks, as having slop
Where does slop come from?
Slop generally comes from 3 main sources:
1. Improperly tightened kingpin nut
If the kingpin nut is too loose, the centerpoint of the truck will not engage the urethane, resulting in slop, as the board has to lean a little before touching the urethane.
2. Hanger rotating not in line with the pivot
Disassemble the truck and note that the hole the kingpin passes through in the hanger is not tightly hugging the kingpin. This means that when riding, the hanger could tilt side to side, resulting in slop.
3. Pivot or pivot cup wear
If the pivot cup wears, the pivot can sit loosely in the pivot cup, resulting in slop.
How to fix slop the cheap way?
1. Improperly tightened kingpin nut
This is a little tricky, and comes down to personal preference. If the kingpin nut is too loose, the roadside washer or bushing can spin, and the truck will have slop. If the kingpin nut is too tight, the bushings will be overly compressed and feel too restrictive.
To avoid this, tighten the kingpin nut until the washer can no longer spin. From here, tighten it around a single turn.
2. Hanger rotating not in line with the pivot
This can be improved on by using an insert bushing. This is a piece of urethane that fills the space between the hole in the hanger and the kingpin.
For trucks like Bear and Caliber, you can use Venom plug barrel bushings, which are the same height as a short barrel but with an insert bushing molded in to it.
For trucks like Paris, you will have to get a 3d printed insert bushing from Pats Risers, as the hole in the hanger is not a circle, like with Bear and Caliber trucks.
3. Pivot or pivot cup wear
Replace the pivot cups. Riptide manufactures a great variety of pivot cups, including for Paris, Caliber, and Bear.
How to fix slop the expensive way?
Buy precision trucks.
99.99% of precision trucks have some mechanism to almost fully eliminate slop.
