If you have ever owned a pair of roller skates that wobble you may have wondered why and what you can do to fix that problem.
Roller skates wobble for several reasons including loose trucks, misaligned wheels, dirty bearings, a loose kingpin, broken pivot cups, hard truck cushions, or a combination of these conditions.
In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the most common causes of wobbling and how to fix them.
Table of Contents
How Do I Stop My Roller Skates From Wobbling?
One of the most common issues with roller skates is that they wobble. Let’s take a look at how to fix the most common sources of roller skate wobbling.
Loose Roller Skate Trucks
Roller skate trucks are the metal piece that connects the wheels and attaches them to the plate found on the bottom of your skates. The tighter the trucks the more stability and structure you will enjoy while you skate. Tight trucks will require you to use more force from your body and push through the balls of your feet to turn. Tight trucks are ideal for going downhill and performing certain tricks.
Loose trucks help you turn more easily by allowing you to lean on the edges of your skates. If you decided to tighten your skates, you will not only lose the wobble, but you will also lose the ability to make effortless turns.
How to adjust loose roller skate trucks
What’s needed: Y skate tool or T skate tool
If you have loose trucks, you can easily tighten them using a skate tool. To tighten the trucks, tighten the axle nut that is found on the kingpin.
Tips:
- There is no one-size-fits-all level of tightness for skate trucks. You will have to adjust your skate trucks to your preference. To achieve this, make small incremental adjustments and test the skates after each adjustment. Do this until the skates feel how you want them to feel.
- Make sure the level of tightness is the same on the front trucks of each skate. Do the same for the back trucks of each skate. Be sure to be precise in your adjustments.
- You can check the level of a truck’s tension by counting the threads you can see (or feel) in the axle nut.
- Adjust all the trucks to the same level to start. If this is not exactly what you want, try using a different tension level in the front trucks than in the back trucks.
Misaligned Wheels
Your skate wheels should spin at the same speed. If they don’t, you should adjust the wheels by loosening or tightening the axle nut on each wheel.
Watch this short video to see how easy it is to align your skate wheels.
Bearings Need Cleaning
To keep your roller skate wheels from wobbling and squeaking, and back rolling smoothly, it’s important to keep your bearings clean. Here is a simple way to clean your bearings, step-by-step:
What’s needed: acetone, bearing press, a tack, lubricant, a skate tool, a bowl, a towel, and a spoon
Steps:
- Remove wheels – using the skate tool, unscrew the nuts on each wheel
- Remove the bearings from the wheels – for the back bearing: using a bearing press, press the bearing in to attach it to the press then pull it out. For the front bearing, it’s easier to push it out from the back side of the wheel.
- [optional step] Use a thumbtack to remove the shields from each bearing – pop the shield off being careful not to damage them
- Place bearings in a bowl of acetone for 1 to 3 minutes – visually inspect to see the dirt coming off the bearings and know when the cleaning process is complete
- Use a spoon to remove the bearings from the bowl of acetone
- Place the bearings on a towel to dry
- Once the bearings are dry, lubricate the bearings, placing one drop on each side of the bearing. Let the oil soak into the bearing before you move to the next step.
- If you’ve removed the shields, clip them back onto the bearings.
- Use the bearing tool to put the bearings back into the wheels.
- Put the wheels back onto the skates.
Loose Kingpin
The kingpin nut connects the truck to the roller skate plate. A loose kingpin can cause your roller skate wheels to wobble. You can use a Y-tool to tighten the kingpin until the wobble is reduced to the desired level.
Broken Pivot Cups
The roller skate’s pivot cup is the small black object that sits between the plate and the pivot arm of the skate’s truck. A broken pivot cup on a roller skate can make your roller skates feel unstable. Even worse, the damaged pivot cup can make the hole in the plate bigger and can eventually break the plate.
Replacing a pivot cup is simple. Using a skate tool, take off the kingpin nut, cushion, and the truck. Remove the broken pivot cup with a screwdriver. Install the new pivot cup then re-assemble your skate.
Hard Truck Cushions
Sometimes if your skate truck cushions are too hard, it will cause you to feel wobbly while skating. A simple fix for hard truck cushions is to replace them with some that are softer.
Other Possible Reasons for The Wobble
Your skates may also feel wobbly because your ankles are weak or because your skates don’t fit properly.
Are Roller Skates Supposed To Wobble?
Roller skates should not wobble. Your skate wheels should roll smoothly. Your trucks should be just loose enough so that when you skate forward you can turn easily.
If your skates wobble, check the various parts outlined above to figure out why yours are wobbling and repair or adjust them.
Final Thoughts
A common misconception is that the wheels are the cause of wobble. But that’s not always true. I hope this post helped you understand why roller skates wobble and how you can prevent them from doing so.
