Inside view of TM HOTAS Warthog

I find that interesting indeed. Wouldn't have thought of that.

However...I'm not sure I want to try it. I'm no Schwarzenegger by any stretch, but I can move the stick comfortably with my smallest finger, and if anything when trying to drag a formation around it feels a bit light to me as it is.

I tried what Feuerfalke proposed and i am very satisfied with this solution !

Thank you Feuerfalke !

Thats an Excellent HOTAS Warthog Mod without any extra costs or materials.

On my former HOTAS Cougar i had a hardware mod which made the stick as easy to move as this new mod does to the Warthog.

So i am very pleased about the Warthogs behaviour now.

Thumbs up !

Dammit, I just came back to post that I sprayed some WD40 and lithium grease on my WH balls and it really made a huge difference, and now to see that removing those 4 post springs are giving good results means I have to take it apart again!

Argghhh!!

^^ I wouldn't have done that for several reasons...

1: While WD40 does have some lubricant properties, it's not a great product for lubrication.

2: WD40 does contain petroleum products which will eat some kinds of plastics (polycarbonate and polystyrene). As I don't know specifically what that ball is made of, I wouldn't take the chance.

I tried Feuerfalke his spring trick but that doesn't do it for me. It didn't give me any extra smoothness and I bought the Warthog as a replacement for my X52Pro with the main reason to get something heavy.

Either way, it is good to know we can play around with different spring forces somewhat.

^^ I wouldn't have done that for several reasons...

 

1: While WD40 does have some lubricant properties, it's not a great product for lubrication.

2: WD40 does contain petroleum products which will eat some kinds of plastics (polycarbonate and polystyrene). As I don't know specifically what that ball is made of, I wouldn't take the chance.

I think you are right. It's just that WD40 and lithium grease has always been a great recipe for most things for me. I really think a heavy grease is the best thing you can use for the ball-socket.

Also, I just removed the 4 post springs and the only difference I think it made is that it increases this slapping sound when moving stick fastly, front back or left right from center. My guess is that those springs are for dampening only. I cannot discern a difference in tension or movement without them.

I'm going to put them back in so that they don't get lost.

Gotcha.

Just to make sure...you do realize that what you said there (removing the 4 springs) isn't what Feur suggested, right?

He removed the big one, and moved the 4 small ones up on top of that...ring...instead of damping it from underneath, so that those springs effectively took the place of the 1 big one.

You may have gotten that and just tried something different...wasn't clear from reading your post.

T

Well d'oh!

That is exactly what I thought I read, and exactly what I did, lol!

I feel a little 'toopid now :P

I cannot believe the 4 small springs are enough to hold the stick up but I am 'Going back in' now and will try it. LOL, this is actually kind of fun :-)

Thanks for that, Teej. I guess I was skimming instead of reading!

Well, I have removed the BIG spring and repositioned the 4 small springs and now my Hog almost feels like my NXT. Then center bump is almost completely gone, but enough is still there to let you still find it. This is almost perfect! The only reason I say almost is because I do like the way the NXT increases tension the further you move from center. This is a personal thing. Without the BIG spring, the WH just moves to where YOU want it to move. It doesn't fight back, nor anticipate your thought. I like it better this way.

Hats off to TM for using this design. Basically, it can never wear out. It is adjustable for tension, with some caveats, and requires little maintainence. I am sure I will at some point experiment with cutting the BIG spring, but for now I am very satisfied.

I ordered some DOW Corning MOLYKOTE EM-30L Synthetic Plastic Grease. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

That's why "slick 50" products are at best a waste of money and at worst counterproductive.

 

Oh, that is so wrong. I don't know about all the other engine additives, but 'Slick 50' works. I've rebuilt many engines from conventional to rotary. There was this one truck with almost 200,000 miles on the engine that the owner, a messenger and a regular customer, had brought in for an overhaul. Usually, the oil pan is the first indicator if the engine has been well maintained, and to date, I have never seen a cleaner oil pan. There was minimal wear on the cam lobes along with all the other moving parts. The owner and the other mechanics were shocked when I showed them the parts that would normally wear. That engine looked as if it had just rolled off the assembly line and I kid you not. Everything was just so clean. Unbelievable.

And no, you shouldn't use slick 50 and synthetic oil in rotary engines.

And no, I'm not sponsored by Slick 50. I don't even own a car. :D

And yes, I was a mechanic so feel free to pm me for help and whatnot. Though I have not worked on a car since 2005.

The vast majority of PTFE (teflon) in slick 50 ends up immediately trapped in the oil filter resulting in a larger restriction to flow. Independent tests on engines found some reduction in friction...but also increased iron in the oil, indicating increased engine wear.

I wouldn't touch the stuff at gunpoint.

Regardless, the subject of slick 50 is not appropriate to the Warthog topic, so if you want to continue this, let's take it elsewhere.

I would propose to make a new sticky "HOTAS Warthog MOD´s" Thread and to list Feuerfalke´s Modification with the 4 little Springs on Top of it, because it is a really good Mod.

Aint that sad ? You have to remove the spring and reverse the small for it to get better ? So much work wasted ...

Ho well i m still waiting mine it has landed and is taxiing absolutely crawling. I ll see how it fare.

Ohh, I'm glad that I've foud this thread... I thought that I'm the only one that have problem with WH, I thought that I'm the only unlucky who has several problem wiht a brand new 400EUR cost hardware...

I have the same problem, Frazer, and I did the same thing last weekend tha you've done: I've disassembled the stick. I'm totally crazy, I know... my throttle died and now is in France at the TM hg, RMA...

I cleaned the ball and all the plastic things and used only one lithium based grease. It is now much better, but the problem is still exist. In my oppinion that the only way to eliminate this problem is to producce a metal ball with metal pins.

By the way, the problem exist only in right positions, on the left it is smooth as a silk.

Do you guys think those four small springs will hold up over time with this mod and the big spring removed?

That's my concern as well.

Out of the box, those little springs don't get cycled much.

The one possible saving factor here is that I think it's less stressful on a spring to be used to resist tension than extension. But I'm not an M.E. so I can't say for sure.

Aint that sad ? You have to remove the spring and reverse the small for it to get better ? So much work wasted ...

Ho well i m still waiting mine it has landed and is taxiing absolutely crawling. I ll see how it fare.

Really, I won't call it a problem, but more a matter of preference. The WH right out of the box will feel just fine for most. Am I picky? Yes. Have I experienced better? Yes. Am I happy with my purchase? Yes.

Within a week or two of getting my first Cougar, I modified the springs to get less tension. It wasn't perfect, but it suited me better. Some really like the strong tension of an unmodified Cougar, but I felt the tension was a little over the top for me. After experiencing a Cougar Nxt, where you feel absoluty no mechanical influence at all other than spring tension that goes from almost no resistance at center, to just perfect resistance at extremes, using the WH requires some adjustment for me. It's nice that I can make those adjustments (for me) at zero cost but I do see a market for WH mods arising :-) Teflon coated balls anyone? Or maybe balls of steel!

Either way, I don't think the WH is flawed, nor is it perfect. For $500.00, I think it is a bargain and the fact that we can so easily mod it is pretty cool.

Do you guys think those four small springs will hold up over time with this mod and the big spring removed?

Well, they are not going to break, but they may become weaker and not support the stick. Mine must be on the weak side since my stick will not return to center without a little coaxing. They are strong enough that the stick will center if you release it anywhere near center though. It kind of reminds me of a weaker CH stick, though of course you get more inertia with the WH due to the heaviness.

Well, they are not going to break, but they may become weaker and not support the stick. Mine must be on the weak side since my stick will not return to center without a little coaxing. They are strong enough that the stick will center if you release it anywhere near center though. It kind of reminds me of a weaker CH stick, though of course you get more inertia with the WH due to the heaviness.

Have not pulled mine apart just yet, but do you think that a person would be able to get 'sturdier/stronger' springs that one can replace the default ones with? If so, might be worth a look. As it is I find I prefer the WH to my Nxt so I'd rather err on the side of stiffness at present.

I'd imagine it would be really easy to find various spring lengths/tensions that would be good to experiment with. If the 4 I have do get too weak, I will be doing exactly that.

By the way, the problem exist only in right positions, on the left it is smooth as a silk.

Wouldn t that a placebo effect, or wouldn t that be by the fact you apply less or more pressure with your right hand ?

Another thing i wonder is how you guys are using the stck ? Center or right ?

Do you feel a diference ?

I think teflon coated balls may be a way to go.

Diferent springs are also another way to go.

After standing one day stationary, my stick has the sticktion again........:(

I thought, it might be because the stick (grease) is cold, so I put it next to the heater for a while. When the stick was all warmed up, sadly, no better results.....

I will search and try different kinds of grease, see which one is the best. I hope that will solve the sticktion problem eventually, though something tells me it will not.

The real problem is probably the whole design and/or materials used.

Well, the surfaces of the ball and joint are very rough. I think this is probably by design, but it seems the heavier the grease, the better. I didn't have enough of the red goop in there to spread onto the ball, so I just cleaned up everything and applied some lithium based heavy grease to the ball. It's only been an hour or so but so far it feels great! I'll report back if anything changes.

Also, the grease felt so good that I put the springs back the way they were and also because it turns out that without enough spring tension, I get white knuckle really bad.

I would think a lighter/thinner not heavier/thicker lubricant would be called for. Hopefully this lithium soap product will arrive soon and I'll give her a test.