If you are looking at this, you must be interested in how to modify the Thrustmaster (TM) Warthog joystick to make it more functional as a center mounted stick. It baffles me how TM could put so much time and effort into building such a high quality stick, and overlook this one key item. I looked around for awhile and couldn't find anyone else who had successfully done it, so I thought I would try it myself.
For those who may not be aware, if you fly with the stick in a side-stick arrangement, like how the F-16 is set up, having the stick aligned dead on with the middle of the base works just fine. However, if you fly with a center mounted stick, it is much more comfortable to offset the centerline of the grip on the stick about 15 degrees to the left. This allows your wrist to be in a much more comfortable position when flying. The problem is, you can't just rotate the entire stick assembly, because that takes the axis with it, meaning that if you wanted to nose the aircraft straight down, you would actually have to push the Warthog 15 degrees to the left of center . So, the solution is to somehow change the alignment of the grip while not moving the base that houses the sensors and stuff that control the input to the computer... are you following what I'm saying?
After fretting over messing with my new $500 controller, I finally got over it and took the joystick apart. Surprisingly, it only took about half a beer to figure out the solution... and for those of you who know me, that isn't much time at all!
So, if you aren't afraid to play with your joystick (all right, just get it out of your system now... geez), then read on and I will show you the way I figured out to do this. It only took about an hour to accomplish the whole project, including quite a bit of time spent working on liquid courage (beer). Hint: too much 'liquid courage' can start to hinder your ability to complete the project correctly, or at all, so please only muster enough courage to get the job done.
Disclaimer! By doing this, I am sure you are voiding your warranty on the stick, so do so at your own risk. It's not my fault if in 3 months a switch goes bad and TM refuses to honor the warranty, even though this mod would have no effect what so ever on any operation of the stick or it's components. Proceed at your own risk!
PARTS and TOOLS LIST
Two each #8-32 x 7/8" machine screws. I use hex head bolts as I like the look of them better. I get mine from Fastener Express. They have a great selection, offer quality products, and are very reasonable in price.
#29 drill bit
#8-32 tap
9/64 Allen wrench. This is for the two machine screws, so if you use something else, you just the need the corresponding driver for your particular screws.
2.5 mm Allen wrench
Small flat blade screwdriver or jeweler’s screwdriver
Hack saw or jig saw with a metal cutting blade
Small file. A hobby file or jewelers file works great. It has to be a metal file though, sandpaper won't work on metal.
Hand drill
For those of you not in the U.S., you can substitute your favorite metric machine screws with corresponding drill bit and tap. I would recommend an M3 size about 20 mm long.
A word of caution here: Be careful with the trigger. Once you remove the right half of the stick, it is only staying in place by one point of the left side, and if you touch it, it will pop off, sending at least one of the springs flying across the room. So either be real careful, or take it off in a controlled manner, setting it and the two springs aside.
At this point you can see that the stick is resting on a spindle held in place by two tabs, trapped between posts in the base of the stick. There is also one screw holding it in place, along with a ground wire. Take that screw out, clip the little zip tie holding the wiring harness in place, and remove that single wiring harness from the green circuit board. It should come loose with just a gentle pull. Don't yank on it, as you don't want to pull any of the wires loose from the connector!
I would recommend marking the spindle so you know which side should be facing up during reassembly. I forgot to do this until a while later, and had to do some unneeded checking to make sure I got it back in correctly later.
Once free, you can take the nut off of the spindle and set it aside. You can see in this photo where I point out the two tabs that hold the spindle in place. Now for the first really scary part; we are going to cut those off. Yes, cut them right off.
The metal is soft enough that you can use a hack saw if you need to, but I would use a jig saw with a metal cutting blade or better yet, a band saw if you have access to one. If using a hack saw or jig saw, make sure that you clamp the spindle into a vice first. You don't want it moving around on you as you cut those tabs off. One nick in those wires and you are in for trouble.
Try to save a least one of the tabs after you cut them off for use during reassembly.
Here is the spindle after the tabs have been cut off and the area filed smooth with a small file. Notice NOW I marked the spindle with an 'R' indicating which side was which. Better late than never I guess.
Okay, now on to the other scary part, drilling two holes into the grip itself. These will serve to hold the set screws in place once tapped accordingly. Drill them on opposite sides of the stick about 3/16" below the bottom of wide, flat part of the joystick. Mine had some round casting ejector marks right where I wanted to drill, so that gave me a nice reference point. Use your #29 drill bit, and drill all the way through the grip casing, staying as perpendicular to the grip as possible.
Once you drill both holes, then use the 8-32 tap, and thread the holes. I've had a lot of practice lately in tapping holes, so I do mine with a cordless drill rather than using a hand tap, but that choice is yours. If you haven't had much experience, I suggest practicing on some scrap metal before messing with your Warthog. Once tapped, start a screw into each hole turning it far enough until it just clears the inside wall of the grip. This not only ensures that you successfully tapped the hole, but also sets us up for reassembly. Make sure that you get all of the metal shavings left over from drilling and tapping out of the stick. I hand picked mine out. If you used compressed air or something like that, just make sure that they don't fly up and land on the circuit board. That could be bad...
This shows the other hole, along with another item marked by the yellow triangle. Remember that tab I said to save when you were having at the spindle with your saw? Well, this is it. In order for the screw to hold the ground wire in place, you need a spacer here. You might as well use the one designed for it. Just drop it in place as shown.
Alright, now for reassembly. Put the locking nut back on the spindle, then lay the spindle in the left side of the grip. It'll be just free floating for awhile, but that's okay. We'll tighten it up later. Put the ground wire in place on top of the spacer, and hold it in place using the original screw. No need to get all he-man and over tighten these things, hand snug is all that is required. Go ahead and plug in the wiring connector... green wire goes to the front of the stick. Don't worry about the exact alignment of the spindle at this point, we can adjust that later.
If you pulled the trigger and springs out, put them back in now. The lower spring is probably still attached to the trigger, but the bigger top spring will want to fight with you a bit. Just take your time and it will go back into place. If any of the other buttons have come loose, make sure that they are back into their correct locations. Now go ahead and put the right side of the grip in place fiddling with it top and bottom to get the trigger and pinky paddle switch in place. Make sure no wires are sticking out of the grip and just keep light constant pressure on it as you manipulate it and shortly you will be rewarded be hearing a faint click as the two halves snap together. While keeping pressure to keep both halves together, put one of the bolts in and snug it up. Now you can take a breather and double check that all of the parts are in place as they should be. Make sure you check the trigger and can feel it press the switch for both stage buttons. With all of that back in place, but back in all of the remaining side screws (remember that the one closest to the trigger is longer than the rest), and the top cover with its screws. Now you can snug up those two new set screws that hold the spindle in place using the 9/64 Allen wrench. No need to get it exact at this point, just snug them up so that the spindle stays inside the stick when you pick it up.
You can see in this picture that the original alignment line in yellow has now magically transformed into a glorious offset alignment line. Cool huh?
So, go ahead and mount the stick back onto the gimbal base. With the entire thing reassembled, now you can set it to that comfortable 15 degree (or whatever suits your fancy) offset and tighten the new set screws. The best part is that if you want it just a bit more or less turned, you can just loosen the set screws, turn the grip, and tighten them up again! HURRAH! And you didn't have to mess with any of the gimbals or sensors in the base. BIGGER HURRAH!
Here is a picture of the throttle installed in my pit.
And another shot. Well, that's it boys and girls. You now know everything you need to mod your Warthog into a center stick with the correct offset! If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line. I don't know what else I can add, but I'll be happy to try.
Thanks and happy simming!
Dud
Toast a pint to the next 
idea!
