A few days ago I'm perfecting my hairpin turns in New Zealand (Dirt Rally 2.0) and suddenly the gears (paddle shifters) stop working, I'm stuck in 4th. I assume the game is simulating gearbox failure so I restart the rally and it works fine for minute then happens again. Then I notice all the wheel buttons and the display aren't working but turning the wheel still works and FFB is still working. I took the wheel off and I see that one of the pins has snapped off (see picture) and disappeared into its hole in the wheelbase connector. I've been using this wheel and wheelbase (CSW2.5) daily since I bought them used 6 or 7 months ago with zero issues*. I can imagine the pin getting bent and snapping off when the wheel is being attached to/disconnected from the WB but I find it strange that it should fail in the middle of a session after working fine for an hour or two?
*Wheel and WB (along with CSL elite pedals) were all bought used off ebay shortly after covid lockdown hit my country (UK), I needed something to keep me occupied and ebay seemed the quickest way to get my hands on a sim racing setup as the fanatec website was already reporting delays due to high demand. When the wheel base arrived it was making an awful screeching/squeaking noise, turns out the belts were very loose, but thanks to an awesome design from fanatec I was able to tighten them with an allen key and no disassembly, fantastic! With a magnetic shifter addon and a large tactile transducer (BK Concert) I was having an epic racing experience and have done for the last 6 months.
Since the wheel is 2nd hand and likely out of warranty I'm not expecting an RMA from fanatec. Even if I had that option I probably wouldn't take it. I'd prefer to purchase the replacement part and change it myself. I'm expecting I can just buy the connector bit with the pins from fanatec instead of buying a whole new wheel? And that this part can be replaced with little/no soldering necessary?
In the meantime my DIY skillz came to the rescue, a short length of copper wire inserted into the WB hole (with a kink to hold it in place) has been working just fine for the last few days (see picture) but obviously not a permanent solution.
Any help appreciated.
*Wheel and WB (along with CSL elite pedals) were all bought used off ebay shortly after covid lockdown hit my country (UK), I needed something to keep me occupied and ebay seemed the quickest way to get my hands on a sim racing setup as the fanatec website was already reporting delays due to high demand. When the wheel base arrived it was making an awful screeching/squeaking noise, turns out the belts were very loose, but thanks to an awesome design from fanatec I was able to tighten them with an allen key and no disassembly, fantastic! With a magnetic shifter addon and a large tactile transducer (BK Concert) I was having an epic racing experience and have done for the last 6 months.
Since the wheel is 2nd hand and likely out of warranty I'm not expecting an RMA from fanatec. Even if I had that option I probably wouldn't take it. I'd prefer to purchase the replacement part and change it myself. I'm expecting I can just buy the connector bit with the pins from fanatec instead of buying a whole new wheel? And that this part can be replaced with little/no soldering necessary?
In the meantime my DIY skillz came to the rescue, a short length of copper wire inserted into the WB hole (with a kink to hold it in place) has been working just fine for the last few days (see picture) but obviously not a permanent solution.
Any help appreciated.
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