Hardware & Technical Saitek X-55 Rhino - Broken Yaw/Twist on Joystick

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g.eoff

g.eoff
Help,
I have a Saitek X-55 Rhino Throttle and Joystick. Whilst flying, the twist on the joystick broke. Total twist movement is about 15deg, and it does not return to the neutral position. I have disabled the twist control in the x-55 control panel, and set alternative controls on the keyboard.
I have not found any solutions to my problem on this forum, or google.
The stick is about 2 years old, and has had extensive use, so I am not complaining about the quality.

My question is:- Does anyone know how to disassemble the actual stick and repair the yaw/twist mechanism?

I have looked on google, and all replacement X-55's are out of stock in the UK. Perhaps I will have to buy the new x-56.

Thanks in anticipation.
 

Knightshark

Knightshark
Quick answer: Rather not.
Long answer: If you have a soldering iron, and are a bit experienced with it maybe. But chances are that it will only hold for a few more sessions.
I had this issue a dozen times. It was always an issue with the wiring, the connection to the twist potentiometer. You can disassemble the stick, remove both plastic casings, and reassemble the remains with the potentiometer on your base. Then load the saitek calibration tool, which shows the twist axis, and lightly touch the soldering joints. Probably on touch of one of the joints it will recenter properly. This is the one you need to fix. But al least i was unable to do it in a way that is really robust, it always broke again after a few hours gameplay. Sorry, i'm at work now and don't have much time to elaborate more on this - i would probably start ranting at some point anyway. ;)
 

earache

E
I'm assuming your stick yaw feels completely loose? My X55 stick just died the same way. I took it apart and found that the torsion spring (which provides the tension/snap-back on the twist) had failed. One of the arms on the spring just broke. From the looks of it, it would be difficult to repair. Unfortunately for me my X5 is about a month out of warranty, so I bought a new X56 in its place. So far so good.
 

Zerocz

Z
I, too, had the yaw spring break on my X55. Mine was also about two years old. However I had an old Cyborg 3D USB stick kicking around, and I was able to use the spring from that to repair my X55. The Cyborg wasn't as easy to take apart, and the arms on the spring were just a tiny bit shorter, but it's close enough.

Say what you will about the X55's quality issues, it is a very repairable design. Everything comes apart easily, nothing's glued in, no fragile snaps that break. Even the label plates on the throttle are separate pieces held down with actual screws, not just molded into the plastic!
I hope I can continue to source parts for it, because I really like the design.
 

BillD

BillD
g.eoff said:
Help,
I have a Saitek X-55 Rhino Throttle and Joystick. Whilst flying, the twist on the joystick broke. Total twist movement is about 15deg, and it does not return to the neutral position. I have disabled the twist control in the x-55 control panel, and set alternative controls on the keyboard.
I have not found any solutions to my problem on this forum, or google.
The stick is about 2 years old, and has had extensive use, so I am not complaining about the quality.

My question is:- Does anyone know how to disassemble the actual stick and repair the yaw/twist mechanism?

I have looked on google, and all replacement X-55's are out of stock in the UK. Perhaps I will have to buy the new x-56.

Thanks in anticipation.
Click to expand...
I had the same thing happen. However I also has an old Saitek x-52 and pulled it apart to find it uses the same spring. If you can get a cheap second hand 52, you can use the spring from that to fix the 55.
 

mach1ne

mach1ne
Does anyone know where I could get a replacement potentiometer for a x-56? The part is a 50K B (linear) with a 32 degree turning arc. I've tried ebay, RS, Amazon and maplins...Whilst I can find the correct resistance, i am unable to find one with the turning arc that is required.
I've tried leaving a thread on Saitek community forum and i've also contacted Logitech support to see if I can source the part...Waiting to hear back from them, but their support team take days/weeks to get back to you.
I did get my X-56 replaced under warranty (i'm selling that on here...BNIB) but they didn't ask for the old one back, so I thought that I might be able to repair it if I can find the part.
maybe if I can find someone with a busted up x-52 etc I could acquire the part that way...
 

Insomnia

Insomnia
cheru2016 said:
Just bought a second hand x55 and I'm now too scared to ever use it.

Cheers lol.
Click to expand...

Bought a used X55 as well and it held for just about 2 years. Now the issues has starting to come, slowly but surely.
I paid about 100 euros so I thought it was worth it. :)
 

winterknight

W
cheru2016 said:
Just bought a second hand x55 and I'm now too scared to ever use it.

Cheers lol.
Click to expand...
Its probably going to depend on how old it is. We have two saitek HOTAS devices, the oldest is still working with no major problems. But the newest, bought about two years ago, after Madcatz got the license to build them, only lasted just over a year and that was after doing running repairs.
 

cheru2016

cheru2016
I grabbed mine for $200 AUD (app 140 Euro). They don't sell new anywhere here, but all the stores that still list it even though it's out of stock start at $369.
The X56 starts at $400 and goes up to $600 at some places.

I figured that seeing as I'm not generally interested in "flying" games and that ED is the first and only one that's managed to capture my interest in over 30 years of gaming, that it would be superfluous for me to invest in anything more than this for the time being.

I'm not sure how old it is, but it does have the Madcatz branding on it.
Everything seems to be perfect for now and none of the QC issues that others have reported are manifesting as of yet, but I'm worried now lol.

Should I sell it and go straight to the X56?
Let's be real though. If Madcatz has crappy QC then the X56 is going to be as likely to breakdown and even more costly.
 

winterknight

W
I'd just keep using it, at least until we can be sure that Logitech have addressed the quality issues at least. Hopefully they will address the design faults as well.
 

Hooplah

Hooplah
Add another X-55 broken yaw to the list. It lasted 3 years. Mine went out last night. Oh well time to break out the old Saitek Cyborg Evo until I decide what to replace it with. The X55 really dials in nicely with ED. Anything else would have less controls and I would miss that. The Thrustmaster Warthog would be OK except there is no yaw! Yaw is a major part of my flying and I don't think I could feel right using a second hand control to turn left/right in an SRV etc. This is what I call a real rebuy! :)

Update: Using the Cyborg Evo joystick with the X-55 throttle for now. Had to clear and rebind both with a new custom setup in the ED Options. Ship is setup. Off to a planet to reset the SRV controls.
 
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JetsonRING

JetsonRING
g.eoff said:
Help,
I have a Saitek X-55 Rhino Throttle and Joystick. Whilst flying, the twist on the joystick broke. Total twist movement is about 15deg, and it does not return to the neutral position. I have disabled the twist control in the x-55 control panel, and set alternative controls on the keyboard.
I have not found any solutions to my problem on this forum, or google.
The stick is about 2 years old, and has had extensive use, so I am not complaining about the quality.

My question is:- Does anyone know how to disassemble the actual stick and repair the yaw/twist mechanism?

I have looked on google, and all replacement X-55's are out of stock in the UK. Perhaps I will have to buy the new x-56.

Thanks in anticipation.
Click to expand...
Just had the exact same problem with the X-56. Flying along, hear a little "tick" of something breaking inside the grip and now the Z-axis will not center. If I remove the grip from the base and invert it I can hear a bit of something rattling around inside, I suspect some little plastic tab or another broke off. They built these things for American sized hands but for Chinese strength hands.
 
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Underhook

U
earache said:
I'm assuming your stick yaw feels completely loose? My X55 stick just died the same way. I took it apart and found that the torsion spring (which provides the tension/snap-back on the twist) had failed. One of the arms on the spring just broke. From the looks of it, it would be difficult to repair. Unfortunately for me my X5 is about a month out of warranty, so I bought a new X56 in its place. So far so good.
Click to expand...

This ecaxtg issue just happened to my X56, it was 3 months old, they repaired it under warrantee
 
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