The X/Y sensors are much more durable hall effect sensors. The rudder is an old crappy-style potentiometer...it dies. Luckily a nice man on the BBS hooked me up with the stick portion of his, since he was only using the throttle, when mine died.
*sigh* I'd love a set of rudder pedals, but I'd be in tears of pain by the time I finished flying for a night. Thanky-you to hereditary problems. Whee.
Mine goes the other way, but not hereditary. I broke my radius & ulna, right above the wrist
I have a 6" S.S. plate in my stick arm, held in by 7 screws. It killed me to use the twisty. Pedals were a great relief.
But, Halo you can PM me with an address. I just blew up another X52, and I disassembled it to harvest some parts for a stick I'm trying to make. I don't think the twisty pot was even used on this one. I can cut the wires, close to the board, and just send the assembly, spring and all.
I would say there IS some patience involved when repairing these things.