Saitek yoke mods?

[gavink42]

There are a few Saitek yoke mods floating around that reduce or get rid of the spring return and center detent. Just wondering if anyone here has done it and how it works for you after the mod.

I've never really been happy with how the Saitek yoke works and "feels". Now that I'm rebuilding my sim setup, this is the time to consider either mod'ing or replacing it.

[gavink42]

Judging by the crickets chirping on this thread, I may be the only one that's not satisfied with the Saitek yoke performance enough to want to mod it better.

So, I'm going to share my story anyway!

Here are the issues that drove me to the point of modding my Saitek yoke:
- Jerky (sticky) yoke movements.
- Centering being too aggressive, making it difficult for me to hold a slight aileron input while moving the elevator.
- My feeling that the spring tension was too great, especially the elevator.

So, I ran across a tutorial (http://www.sehlah.com/yoke.pdf) by Ken Weir that is a step-by-step of correcting the tensions.

I can't say that it took me 10 minutes, like Ken. But after about 30 minutes of tinkering, I now have what I consider to be a much smoother and better performing yoke.

One thing I did differently, was to remove both elevator springs. Ken only removed one. If you choose to remove the lower one as I did, you can use a thin screwdriver to pry it from under the screws that hold it in place. By doing it that way, I didn't have to disassemble the yoke any more than he did.

If you choose to do this also, his note in steps 3-2 and 3-3 are important to read and understand. I advise taking several well-lit photos from different angles. In case it doesn't seem to go back together properly in those steps, you'll know where things are supposed to go.

Gavin

[djrisc]

Honestly, I'm too freaked out to rip my yoke apart to do this mod.

I'm not the most mechanical person. Now give me some code, and I can handle it, but building a chair from Ikea? Not so much... (Unless you want a 3 legged chair with a lot of glue to screw up my mistakes.)

So yeah, I've seen the mods, but just kind of deal with what I have. lol

[gavink42]

Right there with you as far as the apprehension goes! I've been staring at Ken's PDF for at least the past year, trying to work up the courage to try it.

I've been off PE for some time, mostly out of frustration over the yoke. This evening I finally decided to give it a shot. Figured that if I ruined it, I'd have the perfect excuse to buy something "decent".

But it really wasn't a bad experience. Took it slow and was careful to make sure everything got back where it was supposed to. I honestly wish I had done it months ago!

If you want to have a "look-see" without any danger of things falling out, you can do step 1-2. Removing the 12 body and 2 yoke-collar screws allows you to take off the bottom to see inside without risk of damaging anything.

The photo below is after the mod. The blue rubber band is for the elevator and the tan one is for the aileron.

[Daddy O]

Actually I'd like to install bigger springs in my saitek yoke. Actually I'd love to build a speed sensitive system with setting templates for different classes of aircraft. In commercial airliners and most executive jets, the yoke gets stiff with speed. A lotta faster planes are actually driven you the trim tab, no way to muscle the controls so you are constantly adjusting the trim. I want a yoke than can give me the resistance of a Lear or a Cessna 152 or a King Air. There is no resistance change in resistance from takeoff roll to landing flare. In a real plane you can feel how stringly the air is gripping the wings, feel when the bottom is about to drop out from under you in a stall, but with the Saitek you dion;t get that. But then again, you don't get that in a pure FBW system.

PFC makes a pretty nice yoke, but I don;t think it is sensitive to speed. The nice thing about their yoke is that it has a longer carriage and neck so you can set the panel back farther when you build your sim. With a Saitek you have to put the panel about 25" away from the pilot because the yoke shaft is only about 6 inches.

[Keith Smith]

You're referring to 'control loading'. PFC now offers control loading in their newer units. It's a few thousand bucks for the control loading setup (at cost, not retail), independent of the yokes themselves. Not cheap.

I've flown with control loading setups and group them in with having full motion...it doesn't add much.

I still think that as long as you treat the sim as its own unique aircraft, as opposed to being a real 172, Piper or Cirrus, and fly it on its own merits, then all works out well. Rather than saying, "I'm going to exert 25 foot pounds of torque to initiate this turn, because that's how much I push in the plane a 160 knots," I simply fly it like the autopilot...adding pressure to the controls until I see the desired result. Never fails.

It's especially handy as a technique because the Lancair's pitch sensitivity changes quite a bit as the CG moves around. The pitch inputs required during takeoff and climb out with no passenger vs one passenger is considerable. The "no assumptions" model works well there, not just in sims.

I think control loading is a nice to have, but not worth the effort. And, just like motion, if it's not implemented perfectly, then it's actually distracting.

[gavink42]

I still think that as long as you treat the sim as its own unique aircraft, as opposed to being a real 172, Piper or Cirrus, and fly it on its own merits, then all works out well. Rather than saying, "I'm going to exert 25 foot pounds of torque to initiate this turn, because that's how much I push in the plane a 160 knots," I simply fly it like the autopilot...adding pressure to the controls until I see the desired result. Never fails.

Exactly, Keith! I finally accepted that it's not going to sim the real yoke. I tried to come up with a way to add a trim lever to my Saitek yoke that would neutralize the control pressure from my elevator axis.

The result of all that was to mod it to relieve most of the spring-return pressures which gave me a finer level of control. I still want to feel where the centers are, just not have the yoke move unpredictably into them.

In the end, I just accepted that it is what it is, and it's not ever going to feel like the real thing.

I almost have my system rebuilt to the point where I'll fly on-network again. My FSE plane has just been sitting at KVNY for months, and I'm looking forward to putting it back to work!

-Gavin

[Daddy O]

I am between books for a few months so as soon as i finish the HUD i will prolly be back on PE soon too. Just as soon as im not working 80 hour weeks...

I just think the saitek yoke is too pliable. A little more resistance would help. Id love to get a pfc, but i am notoriously cheap (and have 3 kids in college.) If i could afford a grand i could afford to fly real planes.

[Cyrus]

Last night, I tackeled Ken Weir's mod (that Gavin referenced above) and I just wanted to say that I LOVE it! It's better than the best thing since sliced bread

Brett, I know it's a year on, but if you're still struggling with the tension in roll and pitch, I would encourage you to give this a shot. It was easy and painless. Just take it slow. (I'm not a mechanically minded person either!).

Gavin, thank you for fighting through the chirping crickets and posting that link!

[twharrell]

I did something similar except I installed 2 springs on either side of the yoke shaft. Pitch axis is much better with the mod:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/351529-fin ... itch-axis/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj_HFeFRleU

Todd