GF mk4 MCG Pro-L Questions

[noobwing]

Purchased a gf mk4 mcg pro w/ 200mm extension. New to using sticks in general and had some questions (apologies for the wall of text, trying to be thorough because I want to know that I have things set up properly in case I am doing something wrong. If there are any tests I can do to help you diagnose things then please let me know)

I play ww2 flight sims such as il2 and ww2online. I have previously used the nxt evo gladiator kg12.


1) When it arrived I tried it on the mount I had my nxt evo on (right side mounted) without the extension at first + stock springs. Calibrated it, adjusted spring/damps a bit. Felt pretty good, better than the nxt evo. Was able to hit air targets and ground targets quite easily despite not having much muscle memory with the new stick.

2) I tried it with the extension + two 50 springs on x and y. I mounted it with a proper mount, and followed the calibration instructions etc. I dont know what to expect since I am still new to flight sims/sticks but it felt extremely awkward to aim and make fast movements when trying to follow an enemy that is rolling/jinking etc. I read people saying nothing but good things about their extension but for me it was incredibly annoying/awkward having to whip the stick around for fast motions.
I kept thinking to myself while trying to strafe ground targets "This is awful compared to not having the extension" as I constantly struggled to hit things that would be trivial when not using the extension.
Is this a common issue that may indicate I am doing something wrong?

3) after a few days I got annoyed enough to take the time to remove the extension, re-install one 20 spring on each axis, re-adjust the height of the mount to be able to side mount the stick again. Recalibrated. Been tweaking the tension + dampen screws off and on over about 2 weeks of extremely heavy use (5+ hr a day). Still kind of feels awkward in some situations though and definitely not 'buttery smooth' like everyone says in reviews/vids

I think the avia s cams may be part of the issue, the 'bumpers' at the ends of the throw seem to e a hindrance as sometimes I feel like I am giving full deflection only to notice I am only at 88%-94%. In situations where I want to do a Split S maneuver am I wrong that it is best to give 100% deflection in X axis to roll as fast as possible until I am inverted? I am about to try the space s cams to see if that helps.

Lastly I noticed the dampers dont feel very smooth, when disassembling the unit I unscrewed the damper screws so that only a single thread was showing on the end of the screws, I then try to move the gimbal by hand and notice one half of the deflection feels completely undamped but the other half feels sticky/slow. Could this be an issue indicating that I need to disassemble and service+lube the clutches?

Thanks for your time.