Greasing up the Warthog

[cichlidfan]

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/tamiya-grease

 

http://www.rcmart.com/tamiya-87099-ceramic-grease-p-28229.html?cPath=1555_124

[Lucky]

My stick had a lot of stiction and It required some force to move past some points causing some jerky motion. I greased it up today with the M-Kote EM-30L. When I disassembled the stick it was dry inside the ball and socket. There was not a lot of lube on the large spring or the smaller springs. I cleaned off what was there and gave the ball and socket and the springs a coating of the grease. What a difference. Absolutely no stiction at all. Makes the stick sooooo much smoother in all directions. Very inexpensive mod compared to what It cost me to get a smooth TM Cougar stick back in the day.

[_Dredd]

My stick had a lot of stiction and It required some force to move past some points causing some jerky motion. I greased it up today with the M-Kote EM-30L. When I disassembled the stick it was dry inside the ball and socket. There was not a lot of lube on the large spring or the smaller springs. I cleaned off what was there and gave the ball and socket and the springs a coating of the grease. What a difference. Absolutely no stiction at all. Makes the stick sooooo much smoother in all directions. Very inexpensive mod compared to what It cost me to get a smooth TM Cougar stick back in the day.

 

Im about to go trough the greasing process after acquiring a PTFE replacement ring for the inner rubber one.

 

Did you grease the ball gimbal and socket cup ? Or just the main spring and smaller springs?

Edited August 16, 2013 by _Dredd

[Lucky]

Im about to go trough the greasing process after acquiring a PTFE replacement ring for the inner rubber one.

 

Did you grease the ball gimbal and socket cup ? Or just the main spring and smaller springs?

 

I greased the ball, socket and the springs. Although I didn't disassemble the ball and socket completely (too chicken) I was able to pull the top part up a little and force grease in between the ball and socket. It made a difference.

[Chazz_BMF]

Hi

I got some of this stuff PARALIQ GTE 703

Does anybody know if this will work for greasing up the Warthog???

[Lucky]

Hi

I got some of this stuff PARALIQ GTE 703

Does anybody know if this will work for greasing up the Warthog???

 

Google is our friend.

 

http://www.atlanta.ro/fise-tehnice/Paraliq_GTE_703.pdf

 

Quote from the pdf.

 

"When applied properly, it does not impair the formation of froth or the taste of beer" :thumbup: Can't be all bad then.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Lucky

[Chazz_BMF]

Ha ha well thats always something. Was more concerned if it would ruin any of the components in the warthog. Maybe im just better of buying some of that molykote, seems like are sure thing! Thx anyways

[Sarge55]

I just tried the Tamiya ceramic grease Warhog recommended and it's working great (only a week so far) so it's another option.

 

Man I hate taking this thing apart... but the stock grease is substandard.

[jay43]

I used this stuff left over from my paintball days http://shop.dyepaintball.com/dye_am/dye-slick-lube.html

Its not sticky very smooth and doesn't eat away at any rubber o rings or plastic parts.

[bezzi]

Only after 4 months my Warthog started to feel "sticky", so i did open joystick to check it. Seriously it was really dry and kinda disappointed that this price range hardware had poor grease on it.

 

These small parts took some force to pop them out, but overall disassembling went smoothly. I used Dow corning dc4 grease (silicon based) and joystick feels better now. Thanks for the guide and tips!

 

[[DBS]TH0R]

Thank you OP for your instructions and comments. But the essential details on what to watch out for when disassembling the base and the ball joint itself are missing and have not been posted (they were only mentioned by others). I've used Tamiya Ceramic Grease. Worked wonders...

 

 

I've taken few images after disassembling. Here are my tips on how to do it and what this thread was missing:

 

---

 

The disassembly was simple up to the point where I had to disconnect the upper piece of the ball joint (white arrow). It just wouldn't budge.

 

This is what the end result should look like:

 

 

 

Having read how the inner wires are super thin and sensitive, I did not wish to try my luck with "using the force".

 

After closer inspection of the bottom side and removing the thick USB cable from its U joint, I was able to push in the wires (red arrow) that are connected to the upper ball joint electronics into the connecting hole (white arrow).

 

The upper part of the ball joint then popped out itself:

 

 

 

Next step was to push out the two stud bolts from the inside. Do not try to using flat screwdriver from the outside, it will only damage their heads!

 

This required a lot of force but 3mm Allan key did the job as advertised. Being careful not to touch the wires, I've used the other side of the square hole as a restraint and pushed in the opposite direction (red arrow):

 

 

 

The first step was to remove the old grease. With soap, paper towels and me being slightly OCD about it, this took about 2h.

 

Here you can see the two stud bolts. One cleaned and another still greasy.

 

 

 

Another thing worth mentioning is the position of the inner ball joint part.

 

Be careful with re-assembling it again, the white arrows point to the two holes that need to connect (for the wires to go through):

 

 

 

After removing grease from all 5 springs, 4 metal poles, different base cylinders and every ball joint piece (essentially everything), it was time to apply the ceramic grease.

 

I wasn't able to remove the old grease 100%, but I did get close enough. Be sure to clean up any left over soap. This is closest to "mat finish" that I got:

 

 

 

First I greased up the inner part of the lower ball joint piece:

 

 

 

After placing the inner ball piece back in, removing it out again and adding the same amount of grease once more it was time to grease up the whole lower ball joint sub-assembly:

 

 

 

Going crazy with the grease, and watching out for the contacting surfaces after initial greasing:

 

 

 

Plugged in again, to be or not to be:

 

 

 

The results:

 

I did immediately notice benefits of the new grease, even before plugging it in. At first it seemed a bit more smooth, the stickiness was gone and the overall force required to move the stick seemed lower. But only after I fired up the game did I experience what kind of difference this makes:

 

... I can't say WOW loud enough:clap_2:. It is so smooth I almost had an accident in my pants. ...

 

The stick feels totally different now. Long gone is the "Hog elbow", the amount of control you have over the plane is amazing. This became even more obvious when flying formation. Tiny micro adjustments are now possible and the high resolution sensor this thing has really comes to life. This will be my primary stick from now on, plain and simple (been using MS FF2 for prop sims).

 

Next step: hard mounting... :smartass:

Edited June 6, 2015 by T}{OR

[VampireNZ]

Just finished up greasing my Warthog stick with some Tamiya ceramic grease as per above (thanks for the great pics T}{OR :thumbup:), and have to agree with everyone - wow, much smoother....

 

BUT, the centre spring is still far too heavy, and there is still a lot of stiction, caused mainly it seems by the main centre plate riding on the four posts a little sideways.

I tried removing the big spring and putting the 4 little springs on top of the plate as suggested in here - no good, maybe with some washers as well? - no good. Tried it with 4 springs above and below the plate - no good.

 

Then I looked at the actual design - there is a large mismatch of pressure above and below the plate, with 4 weak springs under it opposing a large heavy-ish spring above, and this is throwing the plate out a little on the 4 posts when the stick is tilted adding to a lot of the stiction, and also resulting in a very heavy stick to deflect away from centre.....what if I increased the strength of the springs UNDER the plate, while leaving the big spring in?

 

Well - what a difference!:joystick:

 

I simply added 3x M6 stainless washers (approx 4mm thick total) under each of the 4 small springs under the plate. Stick is much smoother and lighter, and stiction is reduced greatly (but not entirely..yet. Teflon ring inbound!)

The plate is more evenly loaded from above and below both reducing stiction, and leaving a lower net force required to tilt the stick.

 

More or less washers may even improve things more...but as I am waiting for my 3" extension to show up before I finalise any setup I am just rolling with the 3 washers for now. Am thinking any more and the spring travel may be effected (currently still allows full spring compression at max tilt.

 

Anyway - just thought I would post here as in my searches for Warthog stick adjustments I have not seen anyone try this, it is VERY easy and works quite nicely :beer:

Edited November 6, 2013 by VampireNZ

[Milli]

Thanks VampireNZ, I shall try this tomorrow. Gotta get the washers first.

 

Regards,

Milli

[jay43]

I re-routed my wires unpluged them from the pcb then pulled them out through the top unscrewed the plug then de-soldered the wires, fitted a extension drilled a hole in the front of the extension where the wires will now pass through and outside of the base to the bottom where they re-connect with some slight extension to the wires.

No more chaffing and pinching of my wires as none pass up through the ball anymore.

[Succellus]

After many month and seeking a reasonable amount and waiting for the grease to come (only in 3kg pack here in Brazil - E-bay saves!) I finally did it and it seems to have made a big diference...

Dismantling and rebuilding is not hard.. just observe and take care and all will be fine.

[Crazyowl]

Can anyone do this to me controls :)? Live in miami. I dont want to damage a $500 controls. I try to fix one the ch rudder and when puting it back one of the screws got cut with a wire and cut it. Now I have 1 brake rudder :(.

 

Realy interested in this.

 

CO

[ronin516]

Best Complete Warthog fix

 

I Made a video with the BEST fix for the warthog. I have never felt anything smoother now. I have tried a few different things. And this fixes the issues with the hotas warthog. It goes into detail on complete disassembly.

here it is :D --->

[Frazer]

When i have some time i will certainly give this a go, thanks for sharing!

 

I Made a video with the BEST fix for the warthog. I have never felt anything smoother now. I have tried a few different things. And this fixes the issues with the hotas warthog. It goes into detail on complete disassembly.

here it is :D --->

[thor363]

Don't feel bad, mine came brand new with three severed wires. Still dealing with TM support on that one... just get them to send a new 5 pin micro DIN cable and DIN since it was probably already partially severed when you got it. They seem to destroy them during assembly on a regular basis. See other thread.

[Hans-Joachim Marseille]

Before I go out and buy any, has any consensus been reached on the type of grease to be used? What does TM prescribe?

[cichlidfan]

Before I go out and buy any, has any consensus been reached on the type of grease to be used? What does TM prescribe?

 

The stuff TM prescribes is what is already inside the stick. That is the thing you want to change.

[Hans-Joachim Marseille]

The stuff TM prescribes is what is already inside the stick. That is the thing you want to change.

Got that. It seems the newer Warthogs have a different type of grease, so they are less prone to sticking. And some comment that the Tamiya Cera-grease is too thin for a prolonged coating.

[cichlidfan]

Got that. It seems the newer Warthogs have a different type of grease, so they are less prone to sticking...

 

Interesting, I had not heard that.

[chicomick]

I Made a video with the BEST fix for the warthog. I have never felt anything smoother now. I have tried a few different things. And this fixes the issues with the hotas warthog. It goes into detail on complete disassembly.

here it is :D --->

 

 

Did exactly you demonstrated ronin, fantastic video, fantastic results, cheers mate !!

[marluk]

I Made a video with the BEST fix for the warthog. I have never felt anything smoother now. I have tried a few different things. And this fixes the issues with the hotas warthog. It goes into detail on complete disassembly.

here it is :D --->

 

Hello ronin, hello everybody!

 

I saw your video and it helped me to grease up mine. At this point I have done it few times so I can do it with my eyes closed. Anyhow I have problem with finding right grease.

 

Tried to buy Lewmar grease but in my marine local store it is very expensive and have to wait a few weeks for it. Tried on Lewmar internet store, but grease costs 27.74pounds + 47.49pounds (for shipping) = 75.23 pounds = 125 USD. I thought this is too expensive for grease.

 

First, I tried with Tamiya Cera-grease. That was almost no better at all. I thought that was too thin.

 

After that, I tried with Yacco Graisse Marine which looks very dense but stickness effect was even worse. (Green color)

 

Finally I tried with also Yacco grease but different type. This was high pressure, little thicker then marine version and red colored. This grease is the best I found but it is not perfect. I feel it can be a bit better.

 

So, I would like to ask whether someone found affordable grease that works well, similarly to Lewmar but with acceptable price in some internet store (at least under 100$).

 

Thanks.

Edited March 12, 2014 by marluk