After watching a couple of YouTubes on the matter I disassembled my new to me (ie: used) Warthog stick … cleaned internals, polished a few parts then re-lubricated … I used a synthetic grease that was safe for plastics of the proper NLGI 2 weight but it made the stick far more sticky that it originally was …
I took it apart again, cleaned everything then reassembled using dielectric grease … the stick is working great now … however I am sure there is a better product. One of the vids I watched recommended Lewmar Winch Grease (Calcium Sulphonate based) but I am wondering what other products others may have tried and which you found to provide the best result?
Today I lubed my Warthog. I had done this 3 times earlier, but after today’s ‘lube’ it’s the first time I’m really happy with my stick. Before today I really was thinking about replacing my base for the new Ava or another TM compatible base. I even regretted selling my Logitech X52-Pro stick. But not anymore! It now is smooth as butter and so are my landings
I have used different types of lube before:
Super Lube Multi-Purpose Synthetic Grease with Syncolon
Griffon Silicone Grease
Traxxas premium high performance grease
and today - the original Lewmar gear grease
The Lewmar grease is definitely more fluid than the Griffon or Traxxas greases. I still think it officially is a NLGI 2 grease. But it is the most ‘oily’ of the four types I’ve used and the least sticky. My first attempt was with the Super Lube. The grease was fine and I would recommend this if you can’t find the Nyogel 767a or the Lewmar. But it was my first attempt and I didn’t sand the gimbal enough and it also turned out that the ring that slides on the four steel bars was giving me a problem. I replaced the spring for the softer green one. Today I decided that it was going to be my final attempt so I even sanded some of the stick with a Dremel smoothening out every concievable problem. So some of the improvement might have come from that as well.
I do not recommend silicone grease. After a few weeks it got too sticky. Also the Traxxas grease was very sticky and worsened the problem. I also looked at other ‘marine type’ calcium sulphonate grease like Quicksilver Extreme Grease. That is a lot cheaper, but I later found the Lewmar in the same store and decided to not take the risk and buy the Lewmar instead. If you cannot find a calciumsulphate grease you could try a lithium based grease. However make sure it is plastic save and that it doesn’t conduct electricity. Also don’t go for NLGI 3 or higher. I would stick to 2 (and also not less than 2).
In the end the best I have found is the Lewmar, has held up for over a year now and still smooth as silk. Expensive yes but at least it does what it’s supposed to.
