Top 7 Tips On How To Maintain An Electric Skateboard

Electric skateboard has come a long way with advanced technology to become a part of your life. Now, almost everyone owns an electric skateboard for commuting and fun rides. Naturally, the fanaticism for the e-skateboard has increased considerably.

However, using the electric skateboard hasn’t spread maintenance awareness about the board. So, people will often fail to maintain their electric skateboards properly. It results in loss of performance, battery capacity, and inconsistency. So, you must know how to maintain an electric skateboard to boost its performance, consistency, and riding smoothness.

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how to maintain an electric skateboard

Also, knowing the proper maintenance of an electric skateboard is essential as it has many complex parts. It consists of a motor, battery, wheel, LED lights, ESC system, and display. If you wish to get the best riding performance from your favorite skateboard, you must maintain all these parts appropriately.

It includes cleaning skateboard wheels and bearings, taking care of the battery, and protecting from overcharging and overloading. It also includes taking care of the ESC system. You have to check the motor and replace its sleeves when required.

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Electric Skateboard Maintenance

Electric skateboards have become immensely popular among kids and adults. Yet, most people complain that their e-skateboard fails to deliver the performance as the manufacturer advertised. It happens because most people do not properly maintain them.

So, here are some tips for maintaining your electric skateboard for the best riding experience.

Tip 1: Read the user-manual carefully

Reading the user manual is the first step in doing the best possible maintenance on your electric skateboard. A lot of your work will be simplified if you read the user manual. The manual will guide you through the charging voltage required to keep the battery healthy, how long you should charge it for, and proper charging techniques.

The manual will help you to understand when to replace the wheel bearings. Finally, you will learn how to maintain the skateboard’s motor, which is the most important component.

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read the user manual

Tip 2: Take care of the motor and the battery

The two key components of electric skateboards are:

  1. The battery
  2. The motor

First, let’s see how to take care of the skateboard’s battery. The key is to avoid overcharging the battery. If you continue overcharging the battery days after day, you will quickly reduce its capacity and delivery.

  • You should mostly keep the charge of the battery from 30% to 80%. Although modern-day lithium-ion batteries have multiple cells, you shouldn’t charge them to 100% always.
  • Once a week, drain the battery completely. Then, charge the skateboard battery to 100% completely and maintain the recommended battery level.
  • You mustn’t put the battery on charge when it is too hot. After riding your electric skateboard, let it cool down properly. Then, plug in the battery for charging.
  • Always follow the suggested charging period of the battery. Usually, the battery of your electric skateboard will require 3 to 5 hours for charging. So, you mustn’t continue charging the battery after this period.

Once you can ensure these tips for the battery, you will see no performance degradation. Also, the battery will deliver optimal performance for the longest period.

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Tip 3: Maintaining The Wheels and The Bearings

When you ride your e-board on the road, the wheels and bearings undergo the most damage. So, it goes through wear and tears sooner than other components of your skateboard. Plus, dust and residues will frequently build up on the bearing and wheel. It emphasizes the significance of understanding how to clean an electric skateboard’s wheels.

Step 1: Removing the wheels and bearings

Use a ratchet or socket wrench to remove the axle of the wheel. Then, push the wheel and remove the bearings one by one. Finally, remove the wheel too. You should now repeat this procedure for all of the wheels and bearings.

Step 2: Take off the bearing shield

For the rubber shields, use a screwdriver to pry off the rubber. It will expose the bearing inside. If the bearing shield is made of metal, it will have a C-clip. You must also remove the C-clip to gain access and pry off the metal shield.

Step 3: Apply grease solvent to clean the bearing

You can access the bearing’s balls and cage after removing the shield. These parts will have grease and residual build-ups on them. So, apply a grease solvent on them to eliminate the grease. You may also use acetone, citrus liquid or mineral spirit.

If the grease and residual development are too much, you can remove some of it with a utility knife too. A degreaser spray will work best in this regard. After decreasing the bearings, you can clean them off using regular liquid detergent and lukewarm water.

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Step 4: Clean the wheels

e-board wheels

It is also necessary to clean the residues. For this, soak the wheels in a liquid detergent solution. Then, scrub the wheels with an old toothbrush to eliminate the dust. After that, you need to dry the bearings, wheels and put them back on.

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Step 5: Apply lubricant and remount the wheels with bearings

When the bearing and wheel have adequately dried, you must apply a proper lubricant. To lubricate them nicely, you may use skateboard oil or grease. Or else, you may also use professional bearing lubricants.

Finally, insert the wheels into the axle and push the bearings. Then, tighten the axle nut to finish off the cleaning process.

Tip 4: Replacing and tightening the wheel and its nuts

When the wheels of your skateboard wear out completely, you should replace them immediately. On average, skateboard wheels will last for 3 to 4 months. So, you have to replace the PU wheels after this period as their tread pattern will wear out, causing improper brakes.

On the other hand, the wheels may become loose. To ensure that the wheels are properly tight, tighten the axle nut. The axle nut is ½ inches long. For this, you will need a ratchet or socket wrench.

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Tip 5: Maintenance of Skateboard Truck and Bushings

Your skateboard’s truck must be balanced and properly tightened. As it gets loose, the truck will lose its stability. As a result, you will find it challenging to stay on the deck without wobbling. You may even tumble and fall from the deck. Conversely, the truck with too much tightness will be inflexible. So, your skateboard rides will be lifeless without fun.

electric skateboard trucks

The bushings are what make the truck tight. So To achieve the best truck adjustment, you must ensure proper bushing tightness.

At first, you need to flip over the skateboard to adjust the truck and its bushing. Also, put the skateboard on a flat surface to stop wobbling. Otherwise, the skateboard deck may damage.

  • Now, you must locate the kingpin bolt of the skateboard. It will be at the center of the truck. It is the biggest nut and bolt of your skateboard.
  • You will require a 9/16 wrench to work with the kingpin bolt. You need to turn it clockwise for tightening and anticlockwise for loosening.
  • When you adjust the kingpin bolt for the bushing, you shouldn’t tighten or loosen it too much. Adjust a little bit and ride the skateboard. It will help you know if it needs further adjustment for a smooth riding experience.

To better facilitate the learning process for novices, the truck and bushing should be tightened. It improves the steadiness of the truck and make their first few rides easy and comfy. As your skateboarding skills improve, you can loosen the bushing to have more fun.

Sometimes, you may require cleaning the trucks too. For this, disconnect the wheels. Then, find the nuts above the trucks and unscrew them. After that, remove the kingpin nut and detach the truck.

Dip a clean piece of cloth in a detergent solution and wipe off the debris using it. Then you can connect all of the truck’s parts.

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Tip 6: Maintaining The Grip Tape

The grip tape is the top layer on your skateboard. As you stand on the deck, the grip tape will provide better grips for your shoes. As a result, you’ll have more stability on the deck and won’t fall off.

The skateboard often becomes damaged over time as a result of normal wear and tear. Due to residual development, the grip tape will lose grittiness, which is detrimental. The grip tape on the skateboard deck is thin.

Due to the thinner grip tape, you can’t clean it with warm water and detergent. Or else the entire grip tape may wear out completely.

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grip tape
  • Get a sand-belt cleaner for around $10 to $15. Use the sanding belt cleaner to wipe off the residues from the thin grip tape. You must continue cleaning the grip tape with the sanding belt multiple times.
  • With the sanding belt, rub it on the grip tape with mild pressure. You may require additional force to eliminate the stubborn clouds of dust and residues.
  • After cleaning the grip tape, use a toothbrush to remove the dirt from its surroundings. Then, you may continue sand cleaning the grip tape and deck.
  • You should also clean the edges of the deck. Finally, smoothen the edges and the grip tape to finish maintenance.

Remember that this cleaning process of the grip tape is vital to hold grips on the deck. It is even more essential for beginners.

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Tip 7: Maintenance tips of the e-skateboard brakes

Last but not least, you must maintain the skateboard’s brakes. The maintenance will differ depending on the type of braking system it has. Usually, you should check the brake’s connection with the wheels. If it wears out, you should call a mechanic to fix it. We don’t recommend working with the e-skateboard brakes at home as it is a sensitive component.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, you shouldn’t overcharge the electric skateboard frequently. It will lower the battery capacity and performance. Thankfully, these days, e-skateboards come with overcharging protection.

An electric skateboard will last for 1 to 3 years with proper maintenance. Its wheels will last for 3 to 4 months. After that, you must replace them.

Manufacturers make the battery and motor housing the electric skateboard water-resistance. Some of them have an IP68 rating too. So, you can go over smaller puddles with these skateboards. However, it’s not right to wet the board in the rain.

Although not a usual lubricating agent, you may use olive oil on the bearings. But we don’t suggest it because the olive oil will soon dry out, leaving the bearings stiff.

Your electric skateboard’s battery will last between 300 and 1000 charging cycles. Once the charging cycle exceeds 500, the battery will slowly start losing its health.

You can make your electric skateboard last longer by maintaining its components properly. For this reason, you shouldn’t overcharge the battery, replace the wheels timely and clean the grip tape too.

Verdict On E-Board Maintenance

Here we will end our discussion on how to maintain an electric skateboard. The key maintenance tips for electric skateboards include proper battery management, lubricating and cleaning the bearings and wheels, and grip tapes.

We recommend that you maintain your electric skateboard on a weekly and monthly basis.