Neo Geo X Stick Help

0Sorry if this is repetitive. I looked.
I got a Neo Geo X stick when they were cheap, and I’ve been trying to make it playable since. The lever is my main concern. When the actuator is against the gate, any extra pressure results in a grinding sensation and a lurch further out. It feels kind of like it’s jumping a curb. After much assembly and disassembly, switching parts out, and scratching my head, it appears the pivot is jumping out of “center” and causing this. I have tried an LS-56 spring. I’ve tried a small washer above the pivot. I’ve tried a JLF washer up against the body. So far, anything that tightens it up enough to avoid the “jump” makes it too tight to play at all.

Any advice? Anyone with a similar problem? I’m getting close to salvaging the PCB and scrapping this thing. I’ve even considered using industrial adhesive or epoxy to permanently mount the lever body out of my old T6 wireless (yes, an old white plastic Hori is better then this thing at present). Ideas?

Can stick be replaced with a new Sanwa or other, quality arcade stick?

Someone on the Neo Geo forums a while back manage to mount a JLF in a Neo Geo AES stick which the Neo Geo X stick a Clone of
Problem all the parts are clone parts including the joystick which is a bad clone of a older now discontinued Seimitsu joystick

The Joystick out of a Innovation brand Dreamcast stick is a direct drop in

24mm buttons fits fine but replacing the Joystick requires some ingenuity.
It can be done but it’s not a straight forwards mod.

As with an AES stick, if I had the DC stick, I’d keep it instead of cannibalizing it to fix the NGX. If I remember the JLF mod you’re referring to, it had exposed screw heads on the surface, which kind of destroys the aesthetic that makes this thing worth bothering with (for me personally). I might try gluing that old T6 wireless lever in there as a last resort. I don’t know if they are all like this, but the NGX stick I have seems to have a fatally flawed combination of spring and pivot/pivot seat. Trying to mod the lever is maddening due to the size of the shaft and the generally backwards nature of it’s construction.