VKB-SIM

I've had the Gladiator NXT since 2020 and have used it for well over 100 hours. An issue I've been dealing with the last couple of years involves the Y axis not fully centering after pushing forward or pulling back on the stick. It seems the two spring arms are sticking in a slightly "open" position causing there to be relatively significant wobble around the center point with no resistance. I notice this happens with both the #10 and #20 springs, the #30 springs seem to be stiff enough to overcome the dampening grease and return the stick to the center, however I really don't enjoy using springs that heavy. The X axis has worked flawlessly for me, so I'm curious if there could just be an issue with the grease used for the Y axis arms. Should I look into re-greasing the stick, or is there some other possible solution?

I've uploaded a couple clips of my issue. First one demonstrates the wobble issue, second shows the two spring arms not closing fully which is what causes the issue.

https://imgur.com/a/12yKYBb

We discussed this on Reddit, right?

fallout9 wrote:We discussed this on Reddit, right?

Yes we did! For anyone else who sees this post and needs help here was fallout9's suggestion:

Needs lubrication; here's a guide for you. Highly suggest using Nyogel PG-44A or at least 767A. 4 years is about the time for that, as the original NXT doesn't have ball bearings, like the EVO (and the Ursa ).

I purchased some PG-44A off Ebay and it arrived today. I used that linked video to re-grease my Y axis on the joystick. I can say that the 44a definitely feels very smooth and also has more dampening affect than the stock grease which I left on the X axis (for now). I'll play around with this a bit to see how I like it. I will say that I don't believe this completely resolved my original issue. Because this grease has more of a dampening affect I find that the #10 springs don't have enough power to bring the spring arms together quick enough when making faster back and forth motions, leaving that open/wobbling effect. This only lasts a moment though as I am finding that the spring arms do eventually close by themselves, it's just slightly too slow. Previously before I regreased I think they were getting stuck slightly open leaving that wobbling in place which was frustrating. I will likely try out regreasing with the 767A next to see how I like that.

I really appreciate the help and advice!