Thinking about opening my 'Hog up to fix the stiction

She's virtually brand new, and has loosened up a little since I got her, but sticky as hell on the pitch and a little sticky on the roll. I'm considering the 1/4" or 5/16" drill bit end in the peg holes solution as well as a scrape and sand of the gimbals if needed. I have a fresh unopened tube of Nyogel 767a I got just for this reason (and for my t16k throttle). Is there any more recent or better fixes for the 'Hog stiction?

Is there any more recent or better fixes for the 'Hog stiction?

Well, buy Baur, VKP or VirPil bases for that grip. :)

Don't tempt me! I'd heard about them before I got my 'Hog, but didn't really look into them... maybe should have gone with one of them.

I did the sanding thing and tried spring modding a bit before getting a VKB base. Unfortunately, I don't think VKB is selling the standalone base anymore, fwiw. The sanding definitely helped, but in spite of all my care I did cut the insulation on one of the wires putting it back together. Be warned. But, yes, the VKB base is smoother still.

An extension might help too, although the weight of the grip and leverage of the extension may mean you end up wanting more stiffness of the springs if you want to keep any centering tendency (I'm looking at you, helo trimming).

Wow! Just Wow... The difference is incredible. Gone is the stiction. Didn't really use the drill bits as the 15/64 was a fraction too small and the 1/4 was too tight. BUT I did notice that the pegs had some fairly severe faults in the cast which I fixed by trimming them with a knife and there were cast lines *inside* the holes where the pegs are supposed allow the inner gimbal to move freely... Except now it makes a sticky, squelchy noise when I move it 'cos that Nyogel is so sticky and thick :P

Except now it makes a sticky, squelchy noise when I move it 'cos that Nyogel is so sticky and thick :P

How much of that tube did you use?

I used bugger all, it's a 100g tube... but enough to cover the surfaces that had grease on them when I opened it sufficiently. Certainly less than some of the YouTube videos I've seen where they get as much grease a possible in there.

How much of that tube did you use?

It takes ~3-5g of Nyogel to grease up a Warthog, and should't make any noise when done. 10g tubes can be procured from Oveready https://www.oveready.com/flashlight/nyogel-767aa-damping-grease-10g-tube/

I bought a 50g tube a few years ago and have greased a lot of things with it and sent several folks small amounts to grease their Warthogs with and still have a bunch left in my tube.

Thanks, guys. I asked because I used about a third of my 10g tube and it seemed plenty. It works great for me.

So I opened it up again and found that the noise was coming from the outer gimbal/O-ring interaction as I moved the stick around. A touch too much grease. Wiped a smidgen off and no more noise as I moved it around.

I was also having problems getting into the corners without excessive force since I put it back together, and after rotating the spring and messing around without the black casing on to figure out why for a while (because despite how many people seem to have the problem, mine did fine before I took it apart,) I noticed that I could get into the corners fine when both the ends of the coil were off to the left (didn't test off to the right) AND the end of the wire the coil is made from had popped out a little so it was on the 'outside' of the coil.

Getting this to happen with the black case on was tricky, as before it had happened while rotating the coil with a screwdriver while it was compressed by the top, so I tried something a little drastic and just twisted the end at the top outwards till it stuck there and experimented a little before achieving success.

Now I can get into the corners no problem! I don't know if this means anything to anyone, but that 'lump' you feel as you move in a circle where it wont go into the corner was putting me off some.

So there was still a little bump in the corner with the method described above. Rotating the spring so the bottom end is at approx. 9 o'clock and the top end is at approx. 6 o'clock has an *almost* perfect result.

Hi,

I had the same problem with warthog base. I saw videos on YouTube. Plastic gimbal isn't perfectly round, So, the only way is to use sandpaper with very fine grit and use good grease. I did several tries. Even if the result is not bad, you never obtain a perfect smoothy movement whatever you do.

The only way I found was to replace it. I bought a new Virpil stick but you can only buy the base. Connectivity is the same as the Warthog stick, so you can use the Warthog stick on the Virpil base.

And now, it's really perfect. I never have such a precision on stick movement.

When I have more money, I will probably get one of those new VKB Gunfighter Sticks and a Warthog adaptor. I think the only thing now is the spring position for me... I reckon a little more fine tuning and my 'Hog will be all good.

I just did the stiction fix on my Warthog, including using fine/super fine sanding pads to really polish up the gimbal surfaces and pivots.

Found a really easy way to get the plastic rivets out. Slide the short end of a 2mm allen key into the hole , then slide an 8mm allen key into the gap and slowly push it towards the rivet using both hands. No need to hammer it !

Feels amazing that I can fly with the smallest of inputs, and it feels like my hand and joystick are really connected to the controls.

Ordered a VPC base but this is really a huge improvement.