Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Joystick Module Replacement

Written By: Daniel Tagalog
  • Comments: 43
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Joystick Module Replacement

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

16

Time Required

35 - 40 minutes

Introduction

Use this guide to replace the joystick control modules on your Nintendo Switch Controller. To complete this project, you must be able to solder. Care should be taken in the removal of the plastic body pieces and the internal circuit board of the device to avoid damage that could render the device inoperable. This project also involves the removal of a lithium-ion battery, and if swollen, be sure to take appropriate precautions.

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    • Flip the controller over so the model stickers face the ceiling.

    • Use a JIS #00 screwdriver to remove the two black 8.4 mm screws that secure the handles, located at the ends of the handles.

    Be carefull, these screws are super easy to strip even with the right tools.

    Lukas Eberharter -

    I tried editing these instructions after I had trouble with stripping screws, but it doesn't seem to take. The issue is that these are JIS and not Phillips screws. They are VERY similar looking but a Phillips head screwdriver will strip the screws.

    Isaac Webb -

    I tried using a Philips #00 screwdriver but it didn’t work

    vincent ingrassia -

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    • Carefully remove the handle covers by pulling them away from the main body.

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    • Use a JIS #00 screwdriver to remove the four silver 6.8 mm screws that secure the clear back plastic cover.

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    • Carefully pry away the clear plastic cover using your fingernail.

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    • Remove the clear plastic cover.

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    • Remove the lithium-ion battery by using a fingernail or plastic opening tool to pry it up on the left side.

    • Only a small amount of force is needed.

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    • Use a Phillips #1 screwdriver to remove the five 5 mm screws from the back of the controller.

    • The two case screws above the handgrips and the single case screw below the battery bay have a shallow seat. These three screws can be easily removed.

    • The two case screws adjacent to the ZR and ZL shoulder buttons have a deep seat. Use an extension or a Phillips screwdriver with a longer shaft to reach these screws.

    the 2 screws up at the top are unreachable with the standard fixit kit just a heads up

    drew -

    Seconded. the screws are located too deep below the plastic slot, and the bit holding bulge is too wide for the small aperture (similarly with the flexible extension). the bit length is too shallow to reach.

    An alternative driver with a much narrower & longer shaft is required, which will likely not come with interchangeable bits.

    Douglas Selby -

    I would say it is possible to reach the top left screw, just not the top right - there is a gap in the top left that allows you to slightly bend the standard driver outward to turn it while still making adequate contact.

    El_Mechacontext -

    An update: I was actually able to remove the top right one in a really hacky way - inserting the Phillips #0 bit into the #4 hex bit, and then using that in the standard driver. This added just enough length to successfully reach and make full contact with the screw!

    El_Mechacontext -

    Using the #4 hex bit as an extension was the exact "hack" I needed to get rid of the drift finally. Thank you. You're a lifesaver.

    Das #4 Hex Bit als Verlängerung für das Kreuzschlitz Bit zu nutzen ist zwar etwas eng, aber es erspart einem wirklich einen zusätzlichen Schraubendreher.

    Techn0magier -

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    • Delicately take off the plastic cover from the controller.

    • Do not completely remove the front cover just yet, as it is still attached to the motherboard via a white ribbon cable.

    Didn't realize there is adhesive holding the front cover onto the unit. It's located inside of the handles. Just a bit of force there helped, just be careful of the cable.

    Roger Perez -

    this step is really hard

    XDchlapec -

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    • Use the tip of an opening pick to open the black flap of the ZIF connector by pushing it upwards.

    Having just completed this repair, I noted that this ribbon cable can disconnect on either side. It is easier to disconnect and reconnect from the other side than what is shown in my experience.

    acestronautical -

    @acestronautical is right! much easier to remove the ribbon cable from the button board, connect to the base board and then connect back to the button board. Thank you @acestronautical

    Joe Rickerby -

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    • Use your fingers or a pair of blunt nose tweezers to disconnect the interconnect cable from its connector.

    You don't need to disconnect this as long as you are fine with keeping it close by so as not to rip the ribbon cable.

    Caden Helm -

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    • Remove the front case.

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    • With light force pull the two joystick caps off of the controller.

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    • Use a Philipps screwdriver to remove the four 5 mm-long screws securing the motherboard.

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    • Use your fingernail or a pair of tweezers to pry the LED light away from its slot.

    • Set aside the LED light with its corresponding screw for reassembly.

    You are not removing the 4 LEDs here, they are soldered on the board. You are only removing the light transporting plastic piece.

    Uncle BenZ -

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    • Loosen the circuit board off the chassis by gently pulling at the bottom right corner.

    • Lift the circuit board up to expose its backside.

    • Avoid using too much force when lifting the circuit board to prevent damaging the wires.

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    • Turn to the backside of the circuit board for clear access to the solder joints.

    • Desolder all of the outlined solder joints.

    • Remove the joystick module from the circuit board.

    • Refer to the following solder guide if necessary: How To Solder and Desolder Connections

    Bonjour,pour dessouder les joysticks, qu’avez-vous utilisez comme outil: de la tresse ou une pompe à dessouder ?

    Par avance merci.

    Patrick

    le hellegouarch -

    J’ai utilisé une pompe, avec de bons résultats

    Brian -

    The most difficult part of this was desoldering. I used no-clean soldering braid and the original solder did not wick up. I heated each solder pad and added just a bit of 60/40 tin/lead solder. After that the braid worked much better and all solder wicked up to the braid allowing me to remove the component.

    paulshopping -

    I used this tutorial to replace one broken joystick after it took s heavy hit but now both of my joysticks drift and when I tried to calibrate them they looked to be moving on there own please help

    Jeroen Zomer -

    Where can I find the replacement joystick (with his module)?

    Anthony -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Daniel Tagalog

Member since: 10/10/19

1586 Reputation

24 comments

I managed to replace mine with much difficulty with the soldering but the stick does not seem to turn fully anymore, both with the replacement and the original. For reference, when I go to test it, it no longer registers as reaching the outer circle when pressed all the way down. Similarly when I go to calibrate it, it only reaches up til about the 2nd outer circle, not enough to actually trigger the green arrow. Since this seems to occur on both the replacement and original stick now, I’m guessing this must be some issue that arose while I was struggling with the desoldering process. Anybody have any ideas what might be causing my issue? Have I just damaged it beyond repair?

Tyler -

Without pictures it is impossible to tell, but there is the possibility that you strips the metal connection on the solder point. This is fixable by “bridging” the connection. You will want to find schematics of the wiring for the PCB and then solder the wire over to the next connection.

As a side note, I should mention that I have never tried this on a controller of any sort and that I have only used this method on keyboards with single wire connections. It is possible that the connection in a controller PCB have more going on and that this technique will not work.

Gavin A -

I have the same problem, I buy 2 joystick module from iFixit and the two gave me the same issue, the joystick module don't reach the green arrow.

I can't calibrate because of that issue.

Any ideas?

Piero Grasso -

I have also had the same issue with replacement, only reaches roughly 75%. I contacted ifixit and they sent me a replacement thinking it might be a faulty pot, I installed the new stick and have the same issue. Maybe different years used different resistance.

marcos aguilera -

See my answer a bit down. I think it has to do with the resistance of the module. I had the same issue with the part I received from iFixit, the original part has a resistance of 1150 ohm, but the replacement is 1600 ohm. And I have a different module which is about 500 ohm, and that works just fine.

Peter de Bruine -

Excellent guide. Thank you. Saved me from having to buy a $70 controller.

One comment though, all the screws are actually Phillips #0 except for the grip screws, which are Phillips #00

Brian -

I managed to repair a drifting stick input without any soldering by just replacing the potentiometer in the stick module. You can pry open the housing on the sides, swap it out (make sure it’s the right orientation), and snap it back into place. Potentiometers for Dualshock 4 analog sticks worked for me—apparently these parts are industry standard. Doing this from now on for all my drifty sticks.

Scott Baker -

Hi Scott —

.

So, first off, thanks for the tip! Now, I realize I may be asking a bit much of you here, but, is there any chance you could post/take/fwd any pics of the (sub)procedure you describe? It’d be really helpful to have a reference like that before I tear into a functioning joystick — even if it has a sporadic (though no less infuriating for that) issue.

.

If that’s not feasible, then perhaps you know of and can post a link to a decent guide for doing so on any of the platforms that use these (apparently standard) items?

.

Thanks in advance for any help on this! :oD

anatinus -

I would like to try it your way. Do you have any pictures or something like it. Maybe a video?

André Schenkels -

Do you know how to correctly reassemble the grey piece in the picture?

First thought was something had snapped but after popping off the same piece from the other (working) thumbstick they seem to be identical and neither the part nor the socket seems damaged. I also can’t see any evidence of glue.

The problem is I can’t get the part to clip back into place - it is supposed to sit flush and taught without any movement when the stick is rotated. But no matter how I reapply it I can’t clip it into place.

https://i.imgur.com/mFOQEUy.jpg

Casey -

After doing this. I lost charging capabilities and the capability to even plug it into a PC. Any advice will be beneficial.

Jose Godoi -

I think the grip screws are JIS #00 which would make sense since this is made in Japan.

jorach -

After replacing my analog with one from iFixIt I am only getting about half range on my analog and cannot complete recalibration. I tried 2 analogs from iFixIt with the same issue. I replaced with the original and have full range again

Peter Roach -

I destroyed some of the wiring, but measured connections on the other stick, and used a thin wire to re-wire the broken connection from top to bottom. Works great, even could calibrate it without issues. Unfortunately I broke the thick wires soldering that connects the battery, I’ll need some more delicate equipment to fix that one, until then it works fine when connected to power with cable.

Thraex Aquator -

I have a broken joystick cap, can I just replace it and stop at step 12?

Thank you

Daniel Cardenas -

Is this verified to be working with the replacement part from ifixit? I ordered 2 but don't want to do all the solder work if ppl are only getting 75% range of motion from the non oem parts

ALAN MITCHELL -

For anyone having problems with reduced stick movement, I ran into the same issue but was able to calibrate the stick in the Switch settings by being persistent and repeatedly trying to give the Switch the calibration input it wanted. I sometimes took short breaks in between inputs, not sure if that mattered. The rotation took the longest, maybe two minutes but eventually it completed and now my left stick is as precise as the right stick which I didn't touch. I hope this helps anyone else!

Luna -

When you say "repeatedly trying to give the Switch the calibration input it wanted" do you just mean, you keep pushing right on the joystick and eventually the triangle lit up? If so, how long did you have to hold it, or how many times did you repeatedly push the joystick to the right until the triangle lit up? Nothing is happening for me with either holding or repeating the input (the triangle remains unlit and I only make it half way to the edge of the circle).

Jonathan Leung-Nilsson -

I also had the problem with the reduced stick movement, which caused being unable to calibrate the (left) stick. Had my pro controller since 2018 and after about a year it got stick drift. I fixed that myself by replacing the joystick module with a one I bought for an Xbox 360 controller.

That one worked just fine, but after a couple of years the module broke and the stick would stay in one direction. So I bought a new part and replaced it but that gave me the reduced stick movement issue. So I ordered a replacement stick from iFixit but it had the same problem.

I think the issue lies in the amount of resistance the module has. The original (right) module has a resistence of about 1150 ohm, but the iFixit one has a resistance of about 1600 ohm and the Xbox 360 one has about 500 ohm resistance. So I took the resistance parts of the Xbox 360 module and placed them on the original part and soldered that back in place and now it works again.

So now I have 2 pro controllers :D

Peter de Bruine -

Forgot to mention, I also have a Wii U module from the gamepad which had drift and that does have 1600 ohm resistance.

Peter de Bruine -

ACHTUNG "problems with reduced stick movement" ... wenn man den Rand in der Kalibrierung nicht mehr erreicht:

ifixit verkauft die falschen Ersatzteile (jedenfals für meine Switch Pro Serie)

siehe

https://abload.de/img/61byj4dqlol._ac_sl...

und

https://abload.de/img/615ltr7fwyl._ac_sl...

die Falschen haben einen größeren Bewegungswinkel den man aber durch den Gehäuseanschlag nicht erreicht.

Die Richtigen haben einen kleineren Arbeitsbereichswinkel und zusätzlich eine kleine Markierung auf der linken Seite des inneren Ringes.

Deshalb : vor dem Tausch unbedingt nachsehen welche im Controller verbaut sind !!!!

jup -

I've bought this module and can confirm it doesn't work on a Pro controller purchased in either 2017 or 2018 (not sure if they changed manufacturing process at some point). I am only able to get half way to the edge of the calibration circle. As others have mentioned, it could be due to the resistance of the module being different, or the German response above hints that it could be due to a range of motion difference. I did try calibrating without the faceplate on the pro controller (it was dangling from the ribbon cable shown in step 9) and then I was able to reach the edge of the calibration circle to complete calibration. But replacing the faceplate limits the motion of the controller so that you can't use it effectively.

Any tips? Someone mentioned replacing a potentiometer, but I don't know what that is and would need a guide.

Can iFixIt confirm if they have the original 1150 ohm resistance joystick modules available under a different listing?

Jonathan Leung-Nilsson -

When you say "repeatedly trying to give the Switch the calibration input it wanted" do you just mean, you keep pushing right on the joystick and eventually the triangle lit up? If so, how long did you have to hold it, or how many times did you repeatedly push the joystick to the right until the triangle lit up? Nothing is happening for me with either holding or repeating the input (the triangle remains unlit and I only make it half way to the edge of the circle).

Jonathan Leung-Nilsson -

I messed up with the repair and broke off a contact pad so now when putting it back the joystick is registering constant downward movement

https://i.postimg.cc/GRq6Dj8N/IMG-202311...

Is there a way to fix this?

Afro Thunder -