Due to this annoying thing called real life, I haven't been simming much for the past 2 years. My Saitek yoke has mostly been collecting dust over that time.

I just took it out of the closet yesterday, and the problem I have now is that it "creaks" and groans slightly when moving the yoke left-right (banking), especially if moving it slowly. It's not that bad, but definitely annoying. I've opened it up and applied some silicone spray grease to any moving parts I could find. This made the pitch response, which was already fine, even smoother, but for some reason I can't do anything about the creaking when banking.
The problem area seems to be both of the two "rings" which the spring is atached to. However even though I've tried to apply grease everywhere around them, they still creak and "grip" slightly. In fact it hasn't really made any difference at all, which makes me think there's some spot I'm missing. Or maybe the problem is the spring itself creaking, though it sounds like the plastic.

Not looking to "mod" the Yoke, it was working fine 2 years ago. Just wondering if anyone has encountered the same thing and how you fixed it. Perhaps just using it regularly will "loosen up" everything?

Hi Jimmi,

 

Had this happen to two of my Saitek Yokes & unfortunately I wasn't able to fix the problem. One went back for repair for a different issue but went "missing" in the mail. The other sits at the back of my desk with the throttle plugged into it.

 

Was one of the reasons I moved to a PFC SAAB Yoke. No more squeaks & smooth as butter. A lot more expensive of course!.