Why? Original AT wheels are 8 x 2inch, hub inside width is on only 31mm wide! The truck hangers are also narrow relative to the power and length of the board. In my opinion this is the only area the board is let down. I was going to sell it but then decided to fix the issue by designing some super wide hubs.
I designed an outer Deep-dish hub that can connect to the existing inner hub.
Total increase tyre width to take 2.5" or 3" inch wide tyres at 8"" diameter and not sacrifice top speed by using smaller fat tyres. This hub matches to the one-off wheels that 3D servisas made for the plutonium 1 All Terrain boards The new outer hub is 50mm wide so the total hub width is now 70mm. That makes them 5 mm wider than the Kaly Hellcat Wide wheels which take the 8 x 3 inch tyres. But these wheels are 30% lighter than the hellcats.
Uses all the existing bearings 8 x 22 x 7 608’s , spacers and bolts, no changes except for needing wider tyres. These bearing are quality NSK’s and design for very high loads. I would not use this design with any other bearings. The wheel also has a third bearing on the idler gear which is bolted to the wheel. This additional huge bearing supports the loads very well.
My next step is to get this prototype CNC’d 7075 Aluminum I will be ordering in the new year.
Yes, it is possible these hubs will place a higher load on the bearing, but that is needed to increase stability. The fact of matter is the original design does not place enough load on the bearings and they are rated to handle much higher loads. The original 8mm axles unfortunately mean to upgrade the plutonium 1 to 10 or even 12mm requires a completely new drive train and then you still need to get wider wheels, so wasteful and crazy expensive as in $2500+. The plutonium 2 parts do not crossover as Bioboards started manufacturing their own stuff with new design. So, I believe this is the only way to get the Plutonium 1 AT up to current standard for high performance boards and is likely the cheapest possible way to do it if we can get an order of 20 or more hubs made.
The design is simplified with the 5 holes ( access the gear drive bolts) and heavy duty to account for the extreme width and cantilevered flange design of the existing wheels. So, there is more meat in the inside which where those grooves are cut out of. The slot for the valve is extended and is almost the same as the Kaly Hellcat Wide design which i also have a spare wheel and I used to get some reference points off for the valve stem.
Here is my design, I am looking to see who may want to upgrade their wheels as the CNC costs are affordable at higher quantities, if anyone has a plutonium 1 with the AT wheels and you want to add a ton more grip, stability and width I would be happy to register the interest and provide updates on this process.
Good to see and thanks for the offer but i am going ahead with this much wider rim for the larger tyre. I think the axle can handle the extra inch. Nice rims and tyres BTW. Its funny how the board has such a big belly hanging down scraping on everything… reminds me off the Boeing Joint strike fighter they labeled the pregnant parrot and Fat Amy. ahha
UPDATE - THE prototype deep dish outer rims have been ordered and I will have them within 6 weeks. I will post the images of the 4x4 Plutonium with these insanely wide wheels and test and report.
They will be machined for 7075 Grade aluminium raw. A throwback to the Lamborghini Countach wheel with the 5 holes. Overall width on these hubs will be 70mm for a 3 inch wide x 8 inch tyre. This is maxed out.
The best part is they will just bolt onto the existing inner hub half and use all the same hardware and bearing / spacers with no changes to the existing spacers or bolts etc. The added width will be very welcome on the plutonium 1 as that was my only issue with it. A little narrow and not enough rubber for the speed /power capability.
For anyone interested they will about $100 each if can a get a few sets ordered together later on and maybe better with higher order qty. I will also take these to the esk8con with my 5 other builds if all goes well.
Certainly, this way outside norms and well understood. It will be a good outcome if I can fail the bearing through testing. However i suspect I may not be able to…we will see. At the end of the day its only one inch wider. I would not call that a massive lever but certainly at the absolute limits.
The bigger issue and reason i’m taking this risk is either rebuilding the entire drivetrain for 2.5K or seeing if these wheels can work. . Considering I am 300 pounds I will know pretty fast.
A further note Bioboards standard bearings I have are NSK industrial grade, they are damn good bearings.
Also there is a third bearing on the wheel in the 4x4 board due to the gears connecting plate to the slave gear which reinforces the axle with a sleeve around the shaft for the slave gear bearing.
One benefit and why this will likely work fine at least on the 4x4 only is that there is a third bearing on the wheel in the 4x4 board due to the gears connecting plate to the slave gear which reinforces the axle with a sleeve around the shaft for the slave gear bearing. This assembly is attached to the truck hanger so all the loads are distributed a lot better than just the two 608’s bearings alone where your comments are focused.
Additionally having the rim as wide as possible means the tyre wall can work optimally as opposed to squeezing the fat tyre on a narrower rim.
The face of the hub both sides overall 20mm thick solid aluminium so if anything as raised previously the question is the 8mm shaft up to the task, and I would say width gears reinforcing the whole assembly it will spread the loads. and relieve the torsional stress on the outer 608.
I may have to upgrade the slave gear bearings as I have found 3d servisas has used sloppy bearings for these in the past, maybe they are better but because they are such big bearings he gets away with it. some 5:1 E-toxx gears i bought a few years ago did not even have slave gear bearing so I may have to upgrade that bearing to an NSK, they are $18 each . WIll see.
good stuff. I will get some of those, but the NSk’ I was referring are the larger slave gears bearings 3d servisas uses , various sizes (i will post sizes when i assemble this thing). To be honest if some keen entrepreneur supplied NSK for those the originals i think are not that great (possible made in china) and worth upgrading for anyone with 3d servisas gears down the track.
Ordered FATTY GOLFA 200x73mm tyres for these from Trampa. I have these on two other builds and they are super nice and good quality. I can supply these wheels with the hubs for probably around $25 each if anyone wants to package up if this turns out successful after my testing report.
Fairly detailed assembly of one wheel in video - 10 mins .
Final assembly and Riding for another video probably in a week or so. See how everything holds up. As I am 300 pounds I am going to torture test pretty well over the next several weeks.
The performance was excellent after a test ride. Fixed every problem I had, and the bearings are loving it. The wheel balance was excellent , those 50mm kenda tyres wobbled quite noticeably , these new Fatty Golfa’s 4 ply, are smooth and solid. Also i think having the extra hub width and not squeezing the sidewalls of the tyres improves ride quality substantially. I’ll get into more details soon and more testing on some very long rides at speeds around 30mph. The ride as just beautiful and smooth and I was hitting higher speeds on corners much more confidently. I was going to sell the board but now its a keeper.
