VKB-SIM

Hello VKB,

I own a GF mk2 upgraded to mk3. When I Upgraded a few months back I observed that the old cams on one of the axis was worn on one side not as the Y axis was evenly. I added some grease on the new cams, and now I observe that the x axis ball bearing is not aligned with the entire cam surface (see attached photo). The actual surface on which the ball bearing is stepping on the cam is marked by the grease line. I will add a photo of the y axis ball bearing which is actually stepping perfectly on the cam. I was wondering if this should be like this or there is something wrong with my stick that I need to address, might be that this was from when I bought the stick, since I only observed this when I upgraded to MKIII. Please tell me if I need to dismantle and see what is going on I really love my GF and don`t want to have it break on me.

Since I posted here I have another issue with the upgraded MKIII dust cover, which never sits right on my stick, I have to keep pulling it up so as to not affect my axis, was wondering if I can order a new one from the EU store. I installed it correctly as it was described in one of the forum posts, but the issue is it always drops below the connector, and the axis return is never perfect as it was with the old one. I have to keep puling it up to not affect my dead-zone, is there a fix for this issue ?

Thank you in advance for your help in this matter VKB, and I whish you all happy holidays !

So when you did the upgrade IIRC that involved removing the cams. Are you sure you put the washers back in the correct order? If not that would explain a misalignment. It's hard to see in your pics. You've effectively drowned the whole assembly in grease for sure! I'd lose some of that and focus on the face of the cam the bearing contacts.

It'd also be nice if VKB could post an exploded diagram of the cam assemblies showing exactly which washer goes where and make it a sticky at the top of the forum. It would certainly help avoid this issue.

I'm not sure that's your problem here but I strongly suspect it. The gimbal is very sturdily built. I can't imagine you'd be able to bend it unless you have some crazy ridiculous spring strength on it and yank on it like the Hulk! It's a precision instrument!

For the cams I'm sure I put them exactly the way I found them. Before doing the mk3 upgrade I had never removed the cams before, and the stock cam which I removed is worn out on the side the ball bearing is stepping. I put the grease on since I saw the worn out cam. But you can see exactly how much the ball bearing is stepping on the cam as it formed a line of grease

My eyes! Why did you did that? You're not supposed to grease the cams and the bearing that way! And I can see even with the bad angle that one of the cams is not tighten.

Please clean up all that grease and watch this video, it'll provide you all needed info. And please, feel free to ask here if you're not sure of what to do.

I will dismantle everything right now, and remove the grease. Will check if everything is tight and post some clean photos with the dismantled gimbal.

I want to start by thanking you for your support guys !
So dismantled and removed the grease, checked the cams if they are tight, and really they don`t budge I am afraid to tighten them further as to avoid stripping the bolt or worse breaking it. I will add better photo of the "misalignment" of the ball bearing on the left cam (as it is oriented in the photo). I also added photos of the old cam which i didn`t grease and you can see it is worn a little on the side. Just want to know if it is normal like this.

Try to put a spring washer behind the ball bearing in the last picture, so it would make 100% contact with the cam.

Solved, thank you fallout ! I will not drown my base in grease anymore
Was wondering since this is MK2 upgraded, for the dust cover, do you believe if I order a new one will it fit better on the big metal O-ring around the stick connector ? Mine never sits as in the forum post around the connector and falls below constantly requiring to be pulled up.

Thank you again for your help, and have happy holidays VKB!

I'm glad you've fixed it. The idea is that the cam moves along the ball bearing; if there's grease it'd only slide along it, which is completely changing the mechanics and it's against the intended design of the base.

About the dust cover - have you tried to install it this way?

I never actually turned the lip inside-out like in this photo, I installed it like in the photo and will test in the morning. Might have fixed this also, thank you again man for your help !

Anytime! And please don't hold back from asking any questions you might have in the future.