1. Safety knife for cutting grip tape
2. Phillips screwdriver or Allen wrench
3. Skate tool or key socket set with 1/2" and 9/16" sockets and a 10/32" nut driver for truck mounting

Grip Tape

Place your brand new board on a flat clean surface. Your sheet of grip tape comes in a length of 33 inches. Peel back about 2" of paper and place the grip tape centered on the nose, leaving a 1/2" to 3/4" overhang.

Working form the nose, pat down the grip tape towards the center, then to the tail. The more time you take, the less air pockets you will have. Small air pockets will work their way out after you begin riding your board, but it helps to eliminate them by rolling a wheel back and forth over the grip tape.

Using the side of a screwdriver or a tool that can withstand grip tape elements, score an outline around the deck. Do not file through the grip tape. Just remove the grit. This ensures complete adhesive of the grip tape along the edge of the deck and serves as a razor guideline.

Grab a safety knife (use the safety knife with caution) and hold it at 45 degrees to the edge on the underside of the deck. Proceed to cut around the line you just created with the file and trim the excess tape. Be careful not to trim so deep that you cut into the board. Have patience, this takes some practice.

Remove the trim.

Wheel Assembly and Mounting

The most difficult part of assembling wheels is getting the bearings into the wheel without damaging the delicate shields on the bearings. Skate tools for pushing bearings are available from CCS, but your trucks will work as well. Drop one bearing on the truck axle, and press the bearing into the wheel using the leverage between your hand and the truck. (For younger and smaller hands, mounting the trucks first may result in easier assembly. For more leverage, see “Truck Mounting," then return here). Be careful not to place your palm flat over the axle hanger, this will hurt. Remove the wheel and place the second bearing on the axle followed by a spacer (if your bearings come with spacers) and press it into place. Do the same for the final three wheels.

Most trucks have four thin washers on both axles. Some trucks may have only two. In that case, they should be placed between the wheel and the axle nut. These washers are placed on the outside of each bearing to ensure a good bearing seat and to minimize friction.

If you have four washers, place the wheels on the axles in this order: washer, wheel with bearings, washer, and axle nut. Tighten the axle nut down with the 1/2" socket - snug and then back off slightly until the wheel spins freely without side to side play.

Truck Mounting

Now grab the deck and place it grip side down. Punch through the grip tape that covers the mounting holes using a bolt from your mounting hardware. Take your mounting hardware and push them in the holes topside down.

After all the hardware is in, turn the deck over and put the risers in place (if you use riser pads).

Next slide the trucks onto the hardware with the bushings facing each other. Finger tighten all the mounting nuts onto all the bolts, then tighten them down using your 10/32" nut driver and screwdriver or Allen wrench.

Final Adjustments

After you’re completely done with assembly, give the deck a quick check for any missed nuts and bolts or strange problems. If you place the board on a flat surface, sometimes all the wheels won’t sit flat, 2 or 3 wheels will touch but the other is floating a bit. This is normal and the problem will correct itself once the truck bushings are worked in and relaxed. Another minor problem is that new wheels do not spin very free. Once the board is used and the bearings settle in the wheels, they will spin very free. Adjust your trucks with the kingpin nut and the 9/16" socket. You will discover on your own how tight or loose you want your trucks to ride.