This mod is a game-changer. I've only had my yoke a couple of days now and this thing was simply unusable so damn the warranty, I had to do something. I'm generally not handy with DIY stuff but this was really a snap (see what I did there). It took probably around 10 minutes or less all together, less than I expected. I guess I was lucky because the housing fit back on the first try with no effort at all. I am VERY HAPPY with the results...THANK YOU!
So I did the mod, and when I was dry-testing I have to say, it didnt feel great and I was a little concerned. But, I buttoned it up to give it a test run, and hot dang, I was buttering landings in moments! What a game changer. Thank you!
Wow, just wow. I was not very sure if i should really do this mod. I installed the mod and it is great. It is super easy to install, very cheap and improves the yoke MASSIVELY. I recommend everyone with a saitek Yoke to do this mod. Thank you for sharing.
Absolute fantastic mod. This combined with the roll mod has just my yoke 10x better. I was unsure about it not being able to centre correctly and have to keep trimming after every adjustment but it works perfect. Thank you
Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I created an online curriculum with many techniques for modifying flight sim controls and building DIY Flight Simulators. I call it the Builder Academy. You can enroll in Builder Academy for free and best of all... no advertisements! www.rogerdodger.net/builder-academy/ Again, I appreciate your message and I wish you many happy flight simulator adventures. Happy Landings! ~Matt Thomas Roger Dodger Aviation
Thanks for this video. You convinced me to finally give it a try. And all I can say is, Wow! What a difference it makes. Upon opening the yoke, I discovered there was no grease on the shaft at all, and that the bushings were plastic, not nylon. How cheap! Adding dry graphite powder was ineffective, white lithium grease was much better. It is fun to fly again!!
this may just be the mod that will make landing SO much easier for me… landing a 737 is easy with the default configuration cause it requires a lot of pitch… but small general aviation planes like a c172??? that middle detent GRABS you, especially landing small planes like that where it needs to be subtle… thanks for posting this, will have to try tomorrow!
Great video. I just did this mod but I didn’t remove any springs.... just added the bands and now the pitch now feels much better. Getting the bottom of the yoke back on was the tricky bit, took about 10mins.
Cheers for sharing this mod. My saitek yoke is out of warranty now and i can afford a new one if i break it. But what are the risks in this? How much damage could i cause?
+SmokingSpitfire If you've never disassembled a retail consumer product before, you might benefit by disassembling and re-assembling something else for practice before you try this mod.
+SmokingSpitfire the worst can happen is the rubber bands snap and i dont see what damage they can do? they're not going anywhere besides all there is inside is a circuit board which is far away from them if anything the worst they can do is you have to open it again and put new ones, i've been so happy now with this mod I wish I did it the day I bought it
How does the company know if you voided the warranty if let's say you sent it in to be fixed or replaced? What if you place all the original spring back in then send it back? Just curious. lol
Why not just answer the question? Lots of people have asked this one specifically and you just refer them to your website, which doesn't actually give the information they're after. Do the right thing.
The thing is that on the picture we can barely see the size of the rubber bands :) www.rogerdodger.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/rubber-bands-for-the-saitek-yoke-fix.jpg The size is 3" x 1/8" 7.62cm x 0.32 cm
I found a couple of issues, the band's kept snapping (only ones I had were stationary bands and they seemed to disintegrate). Also, I found the pitch didn't return to a centre point, rather a bit of play. Any ideas as to why?
Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I created an online curriculum full of techniques for building DIY Flight Simulators. I call it the Builder Academy. You can enroll in Builder Academy for free and view videos and instructions for improving your home flight simulator and modifying controls. www.rogerdodger.net/builder-academy/
I recently bought this yoke and I would recommend that you try it out for a bit. If you find the pitch axis hard to adjust then I would recommend only removing the top spring as that would loosen it up a bit. Doing this is easily reversible in the event that you have to put it back on for a warranty claim. If the one spring still causes problems I would only then result to the method in this video. Happy flying!!
But what about the "drivers" ..... are they correct ? Some friends of mine, told me they have problems. ...some other say, sometimes their configurations settings doesn't work, as they saved them in their simulators... I think, it is also important to have that in mind, right ?
Watched the mod video...did the procedure, put it back together.but no pitch control, not recognized by the pc? Do you have to put all the arms back in too? The video does NOT show that or tell you. Never mind, it worked, had to open it all up again, cause the (pitch arm with the metal pin pointing up wasn’t pushed up under the rod.) so no pitch motioncontrol.
I don't think it really matters? Rubberbands are so inexpensive that when you feel that it brakes you can simply just open it back up and replace them. I think it is worth it because how the joke comes default is rough.
Hi! I've done the rubber band mod....but when I plug the Saitek Yoke I lose roll movement...it doesn't recognize any roll movement....What may I do wrong? Thank you
Lol, I opened my Yoke and one of the tabs where you put the rubber bands around is missing. Seems like it broke off during assembly. I am very happy with the Saitek Pedals, but I am definitely not satisfied with the Yoke or the X52. Both seem very cheaply made. Buttons get lots of play after a few hrs of use.
Unfortunately I bought mine used and when I opened up to mod, the 2 horns were broken off. I have it sitting with gorilla glue right now. Hopefully it’ll hold 😢
+Roger Dodger Aviation I happen to receive a new one. I had a faulty throttle quadrant (Non-usb) that came with the Cessna yoke and since Saitek doesn't have the quadrant available as a spare part, they went ahead and sent me a new Cessna Yoke with a quadrant. Still waiting for it, but considering the old one still works well, I could try this modification on it.
+Jonas Becsan I'm trying to do this mod with the cessna yoke, it wont work since it doesnt have the horns in the middile and no slat in the front for the rubber band to wrap around it. So this one is a bit tricky.
another issue has came up. all of a sudden my yoke isnt sliding very smoothly and its almost sticky. i went back to how the yoke was originally. I tried using a little bit of lube (vaseline, WD40) but this hasnt helped. Ive also spent alot of time moving the yoke around seeing if it would work out the kinks but it isnt improving. Could it be something on the inside causing it not to slide correctly? Thanks for the help. Hopefully the yoke isnt ruined!
Don't use vaseline. I've seen people recommend against WD40 also. Take off the rubber bands so there is no resistance at all and see if it is still sticky.
![Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System - Rubber band Mod Fix | Replace roll and pitch springs [Attempt 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yZpIbT7gYqU/mqdefault.jpg)
This mod is a game-changer. I've only had my yoke a couple of days now and this thing was simply unusable so damn the warranty, I had to do something. I'm generally not handy with DIY stuff but this was really a snap (see what I did there). It took probably around 10 minutes or less all together, less than I expected. I guess I was lucky because the housing fit back on the first try with no effort at all. I am VERY HAPPY with the results...THANK YOU!
Same! Except I had just a little (a ton) more trouble with putting the housing back on. Game changer
So I did the mod, and when I was dry-testing I have to say, it didnt feel great and I was a little concerned. But, I buttoned it up to give it a test run, and hot dang, I was buttering landings in moments! What a game changer. Thank you!
I am absolutely amazed at how much more realistic this has made my flight sim experience!
Wow, just wow. I was not very sure if i should really do this mod. I installed the mod and it is great. It is super easy to install, very cheap and improves the yoke MASSIVELY. I recommend everyone with a saitek Yoke to do this mod. Thank you for sharing.
Absolute fantastic mod. This combined with the roll mod has just my yoke 10x better. I was unsure about it not being able to centre correctly and have to keep trimming after every adjustment but it works perfect.
Thank you
Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I created an online curriculum with many techniques for modifying flight sim controls and building DIY Flight Simulators. I call it the Builder Academy. You can enroll in Builder Academy for free and best of all... no advertisements!
www.rogerdodger.net/builder-academy/
Again, I appreciate your message and I wish you many happy flight simulator adventures.
Happy Landings!
~Matt Thomas
Roger Dodger Aviation
Just did this, HUGE difference! Take your time placing the cover back on :)
This is nothing short of amazing. Thank you sooo much!
This mod has transformed my yoke. Many, many thanks.
Thanks for posting this. Going to try it out
Thanks for this video. You convinced me to finally give it a try. And all I can say is, Wow! What a difference it makes. Upon opening the yoke, I discovered there was no grease on the shaft at all, and that the bushings were plastic, not nylon. How cheap! Adding dry graphite powder was ineffective, white lithium grease was much better. It is fun to fly again!!
So White Lithium grease is a good option? I'm looking up good greases for it.
I used a multi-purpose synthetic grease. Also used hair ties instead of rubber bands.
this may just be the mod that will make landing SO much easier for me… landing a 737 is easy with the default configuration cause it requires a lot of pitch… but small general aviation planes like a c172??? that middle detent GRABS you, especially landing small planes like that where it needs to be subtle… thanks for posting this, will have to try tomorrow!
this is fantastic, thankyou! buttery smooth landings
Great video. I just did this mod but I didn’t remove any springs.... just added the bands and now the pitch now feels much better. Getting the bottom of the yoke back on was the tricky bit, took about 10mins.
Does removing the swing arm make a big difference or will leaving it on have the same effect?
Thank you so much for this!!!!! I'm gonna do it tommorow and hopefully I will enjoy flying more!!!!!
Unbelievable, works perfect!!
I did this today, I love you.
Cool mod, thanks for sharing.
I’d suggest using silicone grease any where need rubber bands , petroleum based greases will attack the rubber bands
Is it a good idea to just remove one of the springs instead of both the springs and not put any rubber bands?
I tried this and you still get that clunky centering. Only without the arms will you get smooth movement.
So fucking helpful! Excuse my language, but I have been trying to fix the crappy pitch design of this yoke. Thank you so much!!!!!
Thank you
how is the difference of the feel, compared to the rubber band with zip-ties mod?
Why do you have to remove the pitch spring and swing arm? Couldn't you just put the rubber band on with it still attached?
Cheers for sharing this mod. My saitek yoke is out of warranty now and i can afford a new one if i break it. But what are the risks in this? How much damage could i cause?
+SmokingSpitfire If you've never disassembled a retail consumer product before, you might benefit by disassembling and re-assembling something else for practice before you try this mod.
+Roger Dodger Aviation No worries about it now anyway. I did it and it has improved a ton. would never go back
+SmokingSpitfire the worst can happen is the rubber bands snap and i dont see what damage they can do? they're not going anywhere besides all there is inside is a circuit board which is far away from them if anything the worst they can do is you have to open it again and put new ones, i've been so happy now with this mod I wish I did it the day I bought it
How does the company know if you voided the warranty if let's say you sent it in to be fixed or replaced? What if you place all the original spring back in then send it back? Just curious. lol
Is the pitch control supposed to center with the rubber bands or is it supposed to stay in the input you left it at? Thanks :)
For this simple hack, it just centers.
In a real airplane it will stay in the input you left it at if you trim properly.
Thank you, really =) ,liked and subscribed
Thanks for this video! Just did the mod and what a difference!
will the pitch axis still sit in the same place or will i have to recalibrate to yoke?
Which size are the rubber band? It work with 50mm rubber bands? Thanks
More information about the rubber band size and type at this blog post: www.rogerdodger.net/hacks-and-mods/saitek-pro-flight-yoke-fix-rubber-bands/
Why not just answer the question? Lots of people have asked this one specifically and you just refer them to your website, which doesn't actually give the information they're after. Do the right thing.
Because I'm showing you a picture of the actual package. A picture is worth 1000 words, but UA-cam will not allow me to post pictures here.
The thing is that on the picture we can barely see the size of the rubber bands :)
www.rogerdodger.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/rubber-bands-for-the-saitek-yoke-fix.jpg
The size is
3" x 1/8"
7.62cm x 0.32 cm
What oil/lubricants can i use for the white barrel and first ring?
What about making of modding withe steel springs? Possible?
Does this mess with the force feedback from the game?
No
I found a couple of issues, the band's kept snapping (only ones I had were stationary bands and they seemed to disintegrate).
Also, I found the pitch didn't return to a centre point, rather a bit of play. Any ideas as to why?
Where did you buy your rubber bands?
+Roger Dodger Aviation - Thank you for your reply, just at my local newsagents. It's those coloured, square profiled bands if you know what I mean.
Why did you use a different type of rubber band?
+Roger Dodger Aviation - They were the only ones I could find, no shop around me did anything else
WOW!!! THANK YOU!!!
Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I created an online curriculum full of techniques for building DIY Flight Simulators. I call it the Builder Academy. You can enroll in Builder Academy for free and view videos and instructions for improving your home flight simulator and modifying controls.
www.rogerdodger.net/builder-academy/
Hi, is it possible to make the shaft longer? it is way too short
I will be buying this yoke shortly, do you recommend I immediately do the mod or wait 1 year before doing it. Cheers
I recently bought this yoke and I would recommend that you try it out for a bit. If you find the pitch axis hard to adjust then I would recommend only removing the top spring as that would loosen it up a bit. Doing this is easily reversible in the event that you have to put it back on for a warranty claim. If the one spring still causes problems I would only then result to the method in this video. Happy flying!!
But what about the "drivers" ..... are they correct ? Some friends of mine, told me they have problems.
...some other say, sometimes their configurations settings doesn't work, as they saved them in their simulators...
I think, it is also important to have that in mind, right ?
You download drivers from the manufacturer. Keep in mind, Saitek was purchased by Logitech so you get the newest drivers from Logitech now.
Watched the mod video...did the procedure, put it back together.but no pitch control, not recognized by the pc?
Do you have to put all the arms back in too? The video does NOT show that or tell you. Never mind, it worked, had to open it all up again, cause the (pitch arm with the metal pin pointing up wasn’t pushed up under the rod.) so no pitch motioncontrol.
About how long would this last with daily use?
I don't think it really matters? Rubberbands are so inexpensive that when you feel that it brakes you can simply just open it back up and replace them. I think it is worth it because how the joke comes default is rough.
Hi! I've done the rubber band mod....but when I plug the Saitek Yoke I lose roll movement...it doesn't recognize any roll movement....What may I do wrong?
Thank you
Did you ever figure out the solution to this??
Lol, I opened my Yoke and one of the tabs where you put the rubber bands around is missing. Seems like it broke off during assembly. I am very happy with the Saitek Pedals, but I am definitely not satisfied with the Yoke or the X52. Both seem very cheaply made. Buttons get lots of play after a few hrs of use.
Unfortunately I bought mine used and when I opened up to mod, the 2 horns were broken off. I have it sitting with gorilla glue right now. Hopefully it’ll hold 😢
Would this work on the Cessna yoke considering it has 180 degrees of rotation? would that put too much tension on the rubber bands?
+Jonas Becsan I don't know, that's a great question. I would love to open up a Saitek Cessna yoke someday and see how it's different.
+Roger Dodger Aviation I happen to receive a new one. I had a faulty throttle quadrant (Non-usb) that came with the Cessna yoke and since Saitek doesn't have the quadrant available as a spare part, they went ahead and sent me a new Cessna Yoke with a quadrant. Still waiting for it, but considering the old one still works well, I could try this modification on it.
+Jonas Becsan I'm trying to do this mod with the cessna yoke, it wont work since it doesnt have the horns in the middile and no slat in the front for the rubber band to wrap around it. So this one is a bit tricky.
+Michael Kung That's a shame.
@@michaelkung1640 Yeah, the inside of the Cessna differs from the Pro. Still trying to find a fix for the Cessna beyond redistributing the grease.
Scare to do this can you made video how to unmodify it (return to original machanism) sorry for bad eng..
Have you tried this yet?
That was easier then I thought...
Oh saitek joysticks...
my yoke isn't getting more resistance
I did this and now the elevators don't work. Any help?!
Do you get a signal from the elevator potentiometer?
+Roger Dodger Aviation - I made a goof. The part that sends the elevator signal wasn't on the track. It works great. Thanx for the awesome tutorial!
Ricky Castrigano Ok cool, glad it worked out for you. Enjoy.
another issue has came up. all of a sudden my yoke isnt sliding very smoothly and its almost sticky. i went back to how the yoke was originally. I tried using a little bit of lube (vaseline, WD40) but this hasnt helped. Ive also spent alot of time moving the yoke around seeing if it would work out the kinks but it isnt improving. Could it be something on the inside causing it not to slide correctly? Thanks for the help. Hopefully the yoke isnt ruined!
Don't use vaseline. I've seen people recommend against WD40 also. Take off the rubber bands so there is no resistance at all and see if it is still sticky.
Nbjfk
Erster