Is there  a way to increase the tension/stiffness on the three 'levers' of the Saitek Throttle Quadrant?

 

The reason I ask is that I've just bought replacement 'handles' to resemble the B737 but their weight pulls the levers down.

 

The quadrant is clamped on my desk and there is no room to mount it in a 'box' to make it more 'horizontal' (which would alleviate the problem).

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Toni.

The way I did it is by opening the quadrant housing and taking out the individual lever modules and opening them each.

I put 2 O rings  on each handle about mid way on the lever and closing the module on them. When you tighten the screws up there is a nice smooth and stiffer motion.  By the way, the rings were chosen to fit snuggly on the lever.

I suppose you could put more rings for more stiffness. Two worked fine for me.

 

I did mine about a year ago and they still have that high friction feel. I'm happy with the fix.

 

Paul

Hi Paul.

 

I'm a little confused - after opening each lever module, do the O-rings go around the lever itself (i.e. 'wrap around' the lever) or do larger ones go on each side of the lever so that they are 'sandwiching' the lever when the module is screwed together again around it?

 

Perhaps an idea of the thickness and diameter of the O-rings may help....?

 

Many thanks,

 

Toni.

The O-rings are rolled down over the lever, to about mid-point. They should be sized to fit fairly tight. 

The dimensions of the handle are 3/8" x 1/4" (10mm x 5mm) so a 5/16" ID and about .030" thickness O-ring could be a place to start. Sorry I didn't take note of the size I used. You may need to get an assortment and experiment.

 

Hope this will get you started,

Paul

www.cockpitphd.com

I have been having problems with the saitek throttles. A part of the plug (forgot name) broke off and now when i plug it in, the throttle works, but the fuel mixture, propeller angle and non of the buttons work. 

 

The plug broke a couple months ago but the problem has just come up lately. 

 

I have tried fixing the cord and tried multiple aircraft but it does still does not work. 

 

 

Would appreciate if someone could help.

 

 

Thanks

 

Luc

I was just about to ask about this myself.

 

What you describe sounds very interesting! Will have a look during the weekend opening my TQ and maybe try the same thing. Still not able to picture it perfectly but maybe it will be easier once I've opened the TQ.

 

Any of you guys have pictures to share what it looks like?

 

Another issue which to some part is related is I have my two rightmost levers assigned to engine 1 and 2 doing all my flying in the NGX. For the reversers I assigned the "buttons" found by moving the levers all the way back.

 

The problem though is it's very easy to enable the reversers by mistake when moving the levers to idle power. Would be great if there was some way to make the resistance bigger to move the levers that last bit where the buttons are activated. Was thinking if it would be possible to somehow mount a spring or something.

 

Anyone found a good way to fix this problem?

I was just about to ask about this myself.

 

What you describe sounds very interesting! Will have a look during the weekend opening my TQ and maybe try the same thing. Still not able to picture it perfectly but maybe it will be easier once I've opened the TQ.

 

Any of you guys have pictures to share what it looks like?

 

Another issue which to some part is related is I have my two rightmost levers assigned to engine 1 and 2 doing all my flying in the NGX. For the reversers I assigned the "buttons" found by moving the levers all the way back.

 

The problem though is it's very easy to enable the reversers by mistake when moving the levers to idle power. Would be great if there was some way to make the resistance bigger to move the levers that last bit where the buttons are activated. Was thinking if it would be possible to somehow mount a spring or something.

 

Anyone found a good way to fix this problem?

It is very easy to avoid this problem.

Just check it out here.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1612757192349700/

Video

 

 

I did 4th lever for Saitek throttle, flaps with mechanism and fully working engine handles (heavy one).

And I find the solution for fixing weakness of the levers.

The problem though is it's very easy to enable the reversers by mistake when moving the levers to idle power.

 

Is your idle point at the top of the red band?  That's the way I have set it up. There is a little notch that helps prevent getting into reverse accidentally. The switch activates a little bit below the notch.

Have you tried to calibrate with a small "idle" deadzone just above the notch?

Thanks for the input guys and that heavily modified Saitek TQ looks really great!

 

If you just want to fix the issue with the reversers kicking in by mistake I found this video which shows a rather easy way to fix it. Will start by giving this a go during the weekend.

 

https://youtu.be/QkgwokZgOHM