Difference between old and new

[Mattias Gustavsson]

I Found 2 old tracker slalom trucks in my friends farm(!) He said that they dont have been used for the latest 20 years. well, i wonder if there any difference between the new tracker trucks and the old ones...

[Eric Brammer]

Mattias, there's a few differences in the old Vs. new. Narrow pivots are the big thing, The old Trackers would turn very easily, very little resistance in tipping. With bushings, you may get lucky and still find a set of Old TK-51 Rubber bushings on E-bay or over on NCDSA's B.S.T. forum. Most current bushings will fit (like Khiro). The old Trackers also could be fitted with 'Copers',nylon grind covers for the hangers, which protected the kingpin nut and hanger, plus provided a smooth,fast, coping grind. The geometry is fairly similar to the current RTS, but with the axle set lower, and maybe a bit closer to the kingpin. Trackers from back-in-the-day are still competent trucks, really only lacking in available Pivot replacements and having axles that're not a true 8mm. I wouldn't put them on a kickflipper or modern freestyle board, as the smaller pivot might not withstand repeated hard Ollieing. But slap some good bushings,pivots and refit with 8mm axles, and you've got a pretty good Slalom truck. Or, leave them mostly stock,buy a G+S Fibreflex Bowlrider, and new YoYos or Shugo Kubo wheels, and have a cool retro commuter/ramp/pool/beer-run board!
BTW, I've still got 3 sets of 'old' Trackers, all still in use, one pair are from '76-'77, bought 'em new, have rode them for many thousands of miles. Tracker, Guaranteed for Life!

[YOYO SHULTZ]

Pls keep in mind that back in 1985 Tracker was already using the 'gnarly' (thicker) pivots.
Yes, the very early models had the small pivot, but only until like 1980 (I guess).

yoyo

[Nick Krest]

Tracker made the change from original small pivot to Gnarly Pivots in 1979 on all of their trucks.

[Jani Soderhall]

... and only the old ones are really good slalom trucks. I still use those on my S-Camber. Can't find anything better in order to replace them. The ones with gnarly pivots don't turn as easily. Just like the mids they are selling right now. Not really as good as the old stuff.

/Jani

[YOYO SHULTZ]

I agree Jani, so here is an example I made :
I filed down the pivot of a gnarly midtrack down to the original size.
Now it fits the oldstyle base as well as the newer ones.
If you want to use the modified hanger with a new base, then you have to put a small pivot cup into the gnarly base pivot.
See image link:
http://home.arcor.de/skateyoyo/Fotos/gn ... -pivot.jpg

yoyo