I don't follow that, either...

I've played Speed King pedals for many years. The Speed King squeaks because of the design; there is metal to metal contact on the linkage - it has nothing to do with the spring tension or adjustment

Keeping it properly lubed is the solution.

i have the stand also.

Sure guys.

When you depress the pedal and take your foot off quickly the pedal should not return and stop, it should return so far and bounce up and down not come to a full stop. (float) If the springs are not adjusted, it will return and stop. There is tension on the return to stop your foot from lifting off the pedal when you pull up fast. This tension takes the pressure that`s on the pin and centers it. Helps a lot with squeaking from tension on the pin. Yes you must keep it lubed but friction from tension will cut the lube early.

You can do the same action to the HH by turning the horizontal wheel on the stand that most don`t know why it`s there. That pedal too should bounce up and down and not go all the way up till you hear the click that will record also. The hats will close before you can bottom it out.

This floating is why it`s a Speed King and not an as fast as you can go King. It really make a difference in the way you use your foot. You can feel the up tension on your foot and keep both pedals from topping off or bottoming out. They are not designed to do that.

If this does not help you understand, I can try to get one of the kids to show me how to do the video thing and upload it. That might cost me though.

The travel time of the beater and top hat is also adjusted with the same adjustments.

With the BD pedal, as you turn the bottom screws clockwise, the beater will get closer and closer to the head. do this until the pedal bounces and not go all the way back and stop. this is the range of the pedal.

Oh very important, adjust the HH with the clutch and top hat off. The shaft will bounce with the pedal but if the top hat is on you may not reach the range before they close.

All of my speed kings need work, I cant even turn the screws to adjust the tension. The other thing I dont like about them is the clamp, it wont tighten enough and the whole thing is to close to the drum head. Actually wore a hole in a brand new remo ps3 with the linkage. I have been using a cheep Tama Iron cobra, I mean the 70.00 one, and I love it. But I do want to get my speed kings restored and give them another chance.

As usual, great advice form Oddball.

Jeff, The SK has two different lengths of the tab at the bottom of the pole where the hoop goes, VM2K pointed this out to me once. One is short and one is long. The long tab keeps the knuckle further away from the head. There are also rubber shims to put on the hoop under the clamp to allow you to tighten it very tight.

Also , adjusting the travel time pull the knuckle away from the head, it wont return that far.

These are what he showed me. look at the inside corner on the bottom, the red shows you the difference between the long and short tabs. The longer one keeps the knuckle and clamp away from the hoop/head.

Sorry, had to change the pics. uploaded two the same.

jeff

turn the base upside down and spray some wd40 around those adjusting screws on the speed king. they should loosen up after soaking a bit.

mike