Replacement N64 joystick gears and bowl


TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Introduction
  • Repair guide
  • Troubleshooting

INTRODUCTION

After heavy use, the Nintendo 64 joystick is guaranteed to wear out and fail. Not only the bowl but also the two gears and even (rarely) the thumbstick/joystick itself wear out. Repairing the bowl with epoxy resin and sanding it down with a dremel is difficult. Repairing the gears themselves is almost impossible and third party replacements are a necessity. This will bring your joystick back to its long lost brand new feeling.

These gears and bowl are made from high quality polyoxymethylene which is durable enough to last you for years to come (if greased up properly). Some of them have a bit of plastic flash that can easily be removed with a knife. Take note that only the insides (of the oval part) of the gears wear out due to rubbing against the thumbstick. Additionally, the bowl wears out due to the bottom of the thumbstick rubbing against it. These issues create a joystick that wobbles not only left/right/forwards/backwards (due to the gears), but also up and down (due to the bowl). 

  1. Important: If you want to avoid having to replace your joystick parts in the near future, then grease your bowl and gears with for instance thick white lithium grease.
  2. Important 2: If your joystick has noticeable wear you may want to consider buying a replacement thumbstick. Grey thumbsticks are available for an additional €2.95. Since eBay will not let me add a simple menu to the listing, you will have to contact me or pick the more expensive shipping option (adding €2.95 to the total per kit) to order a thumbstick.


REPAIR GUIDE


Image 1: (sorry for my ms.paint skills) this is the general layout and orientation you want to keep in mind when closing and reassembling your joystick. Pay attention to the gears, because the case will not close otherwise.

  1. Remove the screws holding your N64 together. Be sure to unscrew the 2 screws inside the rear socket.
  2. Remove the top half from the bottom half.
  3. There should be a small green circuit board on the joystick casing. Gently (!) bend one (left one if I remember correctly) of the two plastic pins holding it in place and try to remove the circuit board.
  4. There should be three screws holding the joystick casing in place, unscrew all of them.
  5. Remove the final black screw holding the top and bottom half of the joystick casing together and keep them pressed together with one hand.
  6. Turn the casing upside down so it is easier to complete step 7.
  7. There should be two small plastic tabs holding the bottom and lower half together. Try to gently bend both plastic pieces while slightly opening the joystick casing so they stay open. Be sure to prevent the casing from springing open.
  8. Gently open the casing (watch out for plastic dust) and remove the circuit board.
  9. There should be two gears, one spring, one donut-shaped piece of plastic (spacer), one bowl (with two wheels attached to it), one joystick and the top and bottom casing halves. Try to remove the white bowl and the two gears. The spring, the joystick and the spacer can stay there.
  10. Clean the thumbstick, the casing and (if they are dirty) the two small wheels.
  11. Transfer the two small wheels from the old bowl to the new one and place it in the lower half of the casing.

Optional recommended tip: try stretching the spring while making sure the two ends stay relatively unharmed. This will increase the tension on the thumbstick which makes it feel tighter and snappier.

  1. Slide the small gear over the tip of the thumbstick (‘cog’ bit should point downwards) and twist the gear so it cannot slide back. The small gear should be held in place by the spring and the spacer (donut-shaped piece of plastic).

Take a look at the image (1) above and place the pieces exactly as shown. Otherwise the casing will not close.

  1. Place the big gear into the bowl. The ‘cog’ bit should connect to the right (east) wheel.
  2. Place the circuit board (PCB) back into the bottom half of the casing.
  3. Again, be sure to turn the gear pieces until they are oriented correctly. Note: the ‘cog’ part of the small gear should point north and the ‘cog’ part of the big gear should point east.
  4. Close the casing, hold it closed with one hand and test the joystick with the other.
  5. If it feels fine then you can open it back up and apply some grease onto the bowl, the inside of the holes of the black gear parts and onto the joystick itself. Basically, the parts that grind against each other need to be greased. If it feels bad then take a look at the troubleshooting tips down below.
  6. Place everything back into place (take a look at the earlier steps if you are not sure how) and enjoy your repaired N64 controller. Do not forget the circuit board from step 8!
TROUBLESHOOTING

After using these repair parts myself, I occasionally encounter these problems and this is how I solve them:

- Controller movement feels 'coarse' as if moving on sandpaper. This can generally be caused due to either one of two things: the white bowl or the grey plastic thumbstick itself. Since I assume the white bowl is smooth and brand new, the thumbstick itself is at fault. I have encountered this issue a couple of times and every time it was the thumbstick causing the issue. The reason for this problem is that the area of the thumbstick that comes into contact with the bowl is not smooth anymore. The obvious solution is picking very fine sand paper and smoothing the contact area.  Be sure to feel with your finger for any irregularities and keep testing the thumbstick until the movement feels smooth. The reason is generally caused by wear and tear, but it will stop when the bowl is greased up properly. See image 2.



Image 2: (sorry) the contact area circled in red is the part that actually touches the white bowl. This is the part you need to pay attention to.

- The controller is very stiff and/or barely springs back to the centre. Generally the culprit is the bottom gear (the big one). Try removing the top half of the plastic casing including the thumb stick and the top gear (small). Now try to manually move that bottom gear and see if it scrapes against the bowl or not. If it doesn't feel smooth then you can conclude that the black gear is touching the white bowl. You will need to sand down the bottom of the big gear (don't forget the edges) until it moves smoothly again. The reason is generally caused by residual plastic from the mold. If the joystick is still stiff even after sanding, be sure to stretch the spring which I mentioned in the repair guide. This will help a lot. See image 3.


Image 3: (again, sorry) Move the big bottom gear left and right and feel if there is any significant resistance. 

If you have any other issues then feel free to ask for help.