Hey Arcade Controls, first off let me say that this is my first cabinet and my first time trying to repair one.
I bought a Playchoice 10 cabinet a few years and the P1 joystick has always been quite loose/has a lot of play in it. P2 isn't so bad. I decided it's about time I dig in and fix up the P1 joystick so it's fun to use again. I wasn't sure exactly what was wrong, so I learned how to take these completely apart and then I swapped out the spring, spring stopper, and switch collar from the P2 joystick to the P1 joystick and it was still equally as loose which made me rule those out as the issue. This has made me think that the bearing that the joystick shaft goes through may be the actual issue. Do these generally get worn down over time and cause the looseness issue I'm describing? After looking at everything, I believe the control panel is still the original one from when it was used by a business.
If it is the bearing, is there generally any way to fix that issue specifically or will I need to replace the whole joystick assembly?
Thanks in advance!