Last summer I bought a used X45 HOTAS on Ebay for US$20. The joystick, as I suspected it would be, was badly off center, but I didn't care -- I wanted it for the throttle. That works quite well, except that the thumb wheel (which I like to use for elevator trim) is kind of spikey. Has anyone here ever repaired one of these, either by replacing a potentiometer (something I've never done with anything) or by cleaning contacts?

I opened up mine to clean the rudder rocker. I sprayed in some contact cleaner which helped some, but ultimately I got CH pedals which work much better than the rocker ever did. Haven't had any problems with the rotaries, but it's probably worth a try at going into it. Just take it slow and make sure you get all the bits in the right place when you reassemble it.scott s..