Independent trucks

[dcgnus]

History and timeline of each stage of independent trucks info supplied courtesy of Wikipedia

The company was co-founded by Richard Novak, Jay Shiurman, Fausto Vitello, and Eric Swenson and the Stage 1 model was the inaugural product, released on May 23, 1978, in Newark, California. The Independent truck (or "Indy") was designed as a response to the lack of quality skateboard trucks on the market at the time. In reference to the two other major truck companies on the market, Blackhart stated that one broke, and one didn’t turn (Bennett Trucks and Tracker Trucks, respectively).[1]

Independent trucks are manufactured with:

- high quality aircraft grade T6 aluminum alloy

- high tensile SAE 4130 Chromoly alloy steel axles

- high rebound formula stock bushings.

Stage 1 - 1978

Original Release Date: July 1978

Available Sizes: 77, 88, 109, 121, 131 (Superwide), 151 (FW), 169 (MFW)

Other Available Trucks:

Available Colors: Silver

Features: T-Hanger Design, Solid Metal Baseplate, Integrated Kingpin with Top Nut, Fast Action Independent Geo

First release, a mix between Bennett and Tracker trucks.

Introduced 77mm and 88mm trucks in July 1978

Introduced the 109mm and 131mm (Superwides) November 1978

Discontinued the 77mm truck and introduced the 121mm January 1979

Introduced the Grindmaster device April 1979

Introduced the 151mm (FW) truck in May 1979

Introduced the 169mm (MFW) truck in July 1979

Stage 2 - 1979

Original Release Date: May 1979

Available Sizes: 151 (FW), 169 (MFW)

Other Availabible Trucks: Stage I 88, 109, 121, 131 (Superwide), 151 (FW), 169 (MFW), Roller Skate Plates

Available Colors: Silver

Features: Implemented Lower Removable Kingpin, Added “Pinch” on Baseplate for Strength, Smoothed Additional Su

Added a support wing to the hanger for strength

Strengthened the base plate with additional material between the kingpin and the pivot areas (known as the "pinch")

Implemented lowered, removable kingpins with less drag

Introduced the 169mm Stage 2 (MFW) truck in October 1979

Introduced the 151mm (FW) truck in April 1980

Introduced Roller Skate plates with hangers April 1980

Stage 3 - 1982

Beefed up, strengthened and smoothed pivot area of hanger

Widened and strengthened yoke area of hanger

Introduced the 159mm truck in February 1984

Introduced the 215mm truck in March 1984

Stage 4 - 1984

Beefed up and smoothed yoke and pivot area of hanger

Stage 4 hanger design is still used to date on 215mm truck

Stage 5 - 1986

Introduced the hollow body in October 1986; redesigned with added hanger 'wing' and hollowed out underside of hanger based on original ideas and concepts from Steve Caballero and Lance Mountain.

Introduced the 149mm truck in June 1987

Introduced anodized color options in blue, maroon, gold, purple and black April 1988

Red Pivot Cup (same geometry as 5-6-7), dual-wing design called the hollow body, which was much more durable and lighter

Stage 6 - 1991

Added material to pivot housing, reduced amount of metal on top of the hanger. This makes them shorter than stage V, BLACK PIVOT CUP,

Stage 7 - 1993

6 Holes: Implemented new hole pattern on base plate to reduce wear on bolts from nose and tail slides. Holes were set back on the baseplate, closer to the center of the board.

Thicker, sturdier pivot housing and reduced material on top of hanger to achieve a lighter weight

Introduced the 136mm truck February 1993

Stage 8 - 1997

6 Holes mounting base plate with cross logo added.

Introduced the 126mm truck (Duralites)

Reduced material on hanger wing to lighten up truck. Introduced new baseplate / kingpin design rendering inverted kingpin use impossible.

Stage 9 - 2003

Introduced an all-new lighter weight hanger and base plate; designed to be rigid for performance and durability.

Added all-new, ultra durable 4140 chrome molly steel axles

Reduced thread length on axle for tight bearing-to-axle fit and a faster, smoother ride

Precision drilled mounting, kingpin, and pivot holes to ride straight for improved performance

Same Fast-Action Independent Truck Co. geometry

- the first stage that was computer drafted. The truck ended up quite a bit lower, from 55mm to 53.5mm, totally altering the turn. It didn't help that the baseplates sucked too. Those things broke.

STAGE 10 - 2009

Returned to a beefed-up baseplate but the lower geometry remained and the trucks just didn't turn like old Indys, making many riders to look to past models to get the perfect turn.

STAGE 11 - 2012

“I wanted to get it back as close as possible to the Stage V to VII geometry,” return to the classic 55mm height and pivot and kingpin angles inspired by Stage V.

[punkboy]

stage 1 169

[dcgnus]

Again very nice are they stage 1 or 2

[punkboy]

stage 1

[dcgnus]

You’ve got the gear

[dcgnus]

Independent Indy trucks

[Skaterman]

stg 1 indys the best

[punkboy]

what stage are indys up to nowadays? i get completely lost after stage 2

[dcgnus]

Yes after stage 2 no one’s interested

[Itsonlymoney!!!]

Never noticed we had an Indy section before, I have a couple of early ish sets although I’m not a purest and fitted new baseplates to a set of stage 1s so they would fit a reissue deck.

[punkboy]

burn the witch strangely indys arent a collectable truck over here,they dont seem to get much attention/interest at all, however in the states thats totally the opposite

[punkboy]

i think this would be an interesting ride

[brightredmegaphone]

Yeah I wouldn't mind a set of 88s atm. I have a Comp II I want to set up.

[dcgnus]

Found this showing the history and timeline of most stages of independent trucks , with pics of each stage if you click the links where it says stage 1 stage 2 etc stage 1 and 2 are easy to identify but later stages not as easy

https://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2018/05/ ... nt-trucks/

[dcgnus]

Steve itsonlymoney enlightened me recently to what FW and MFW stood for on the end on the independent size designation

And the 215s were known as “the big 10 inch “