1:18pm
For a while now the thumbstick on my left Joycon has been acting up, drifting up mainly but it can do other directions if it feels like it. I blasted it with some compressed air which fixed it for a couple of weeks but now it’s worse than ever. A few weeks back, thumbstick drift caused me to lose the final Smash Bros Ultimate Challenge, and even when I play Tetris 99 the drift can cause me to target other players are random. So I ordered a replacement thumbstick off ebay and found a guide on iFixit and thought I’d share my repair journey as I go. This would be a liveblog but we don’t have that WordPress plugin, also traffic to this site probably doesn’t warrant it, so instead you can follow my progress by looking at the timestamps I provide.
1:25pm
Ok, let’s see here. First I gotta get all my tools together. Where are my tools?
1:35pm
I got a bit distracted and put on a small load of washing when I went to search the laundry for my precision screwdrivers. They weren’t there, they were in my bookshelf. Anyway, bad news, the guide asks for a a Y00 Tripoint screwdriver and I only own Y0 and Y1 sizes. I might have to visit a nearby hardware store.
1:40pm
It seems I can just get the Y0 inside the screws but I’m worried that I’ll strip the head in the process making it impossible to put them back. Looking for my car keys now to drive to Jaycar.
2:40pm
Jaycar didn’t have any screwdrivers small enough so I have to search eBay or Amazon for the parts now. Bunnings was just as useless. This is just example of the persecution we gamers face everyday. I can’t think of a more oppressed identity group than gamers. It’s time to rise up from our couch and kick out the Pope. Also fuck it was hot outside.
Pietriots 
Is it a tri-wing or a Y-point you need? Those are different things – the tri-wing has the slots offset, while the Y-point has them all meeting in the middle (like a Philips). I think Nintendo stuff uses the Y-point which I found harder to get hold of – Robert Dyas only had tri-wing bits and only in larger sizes which just about worked in a pinch but were too big for the deeper screws on the Wii.
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Ahh yes, it’s a Y point I need. I had been using the terms interchangeably. I’ll fix that just in case someone mistakenly uses this to guide their repair.
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I had to get a Nintendo specific Triwing from ebay when I opened my Wii U gamepad up. The good thing is pretty much every piece of Nintendo hardware ever uses these same screws so now I’m pretty happy I got that.
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Amazingly the Tripoint Y00 screwdriver is smaller still. I have a Y0 and could jsut use it but was worried I’d damage the screws and not be able to reinsert them.
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I had a similar issue with my right JoyCon. I fixed it by blasting the base of the stick with WD40. I pretty much, by accident, filled the small cup area beneath it with the stuff and had to use a paper towel to soak it up. A little rolling the stick around after that and it worked perfectly again. That was months ago and I haven’t had any more issues with it.
That’s not to say that that will work for you or that it’s even really safe to begin with, but that was my experience. I went from my right stick flailing around and drifting like crazy to it working perfectly again. Who knows what’s going to happen with it tomorrow but for today it’s fine.
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