Fix Your Drifting Nintendo Switch Lite 

How did they not fix this for the Lite - it really is unbelievable...

I find it unreal that Nintendo knew about the drift issues with the regular joycons and then proceeded to use those same sticks on a device that can’t replace the joycons lol.

Bought a nintendo switch and now im an engineer

I can't wait for the Nintendo Switch pro! It's going to have a more powerful Drift!

Why is this our job

*How to fix drifting on the Nintendo Switch* Solution: buy another analog stick and hope you have enough experience to open it up and mess with it.

My daughter just opened her Switch Lite today for her birthday that we pre-ordered over the summer. Right out of the box the left stick has the drifting issue. Thank you for this video, very informative.

GameStop Employee: I've never experienced drifting issues with my Switch Lite Me: *plays animal crossing for a week* Left stick: RUNNING IN THE 90's

Literally received my Lite 3 days ago and it has already started drifting. How ridiculous!

Don't settle for less, fight for more

it’s honestly quite unbelievable that even the switch lite has drifting problems **running in the 90s**

This is why I buy all of my electronics from Best Buy and get their warranty plan. Anything that goes wrong with it I bring it back and they give me a brand new product of whatever it is I am bringing back.

I’m watching this because I just bought a switch lite and I’m having anxiety about joy con drift

Thanks for this. My son happened to snap of the left thumb stick of his new switch lite and I was very apprehensive of tearing it open and trying to replace it. Thanks to you he’s a happy camper again.

Replace the analog and then your good for another 2 weeks. Yay!!

Fast and the furious: joycon drift

What a lemon Nintendo are just pissing on their customers and telling them it's raining at this point

* saves up for switch lite * * Buys it * *It starts drifting when you turn it on*

When you realize Spawn tore down the Switch Lite, put it back together, only to realize the left analogue stick went bad... tore it down once more to remove the stick... then put it together AGAIN... only to then tear it down once more to finally replace the stick. Truly a mad lad.

Hey Spawn! I'm a father of two young boys that love their Nintendo. One of my sons' broke off their left joy con and I thought I was going to have to buy a new Switch Lite. I found your video on RU-vid and found it very informative and I want to thank you for helping me make my sons' day by fixing his Nintendo! Thank you for your video!

Jon, you’re the real deal. Always look forward to your daily news and weekly Spawncast.

Woohoo! Successful left analogue stick replacement here! Thanks so much for the video! (And newswave, and spawncast etc etc). One corner of the shell feels less than a mm off, like a clip didn't go back in quite right - but all the buttons work, all the screws went in, and everything else is golden, so i'm not too worried about it. Thanks again! My left analogue stick had started not only drifting, but also poorly registering, and making a physical click noise, when I pushed it to the right, hence the replacement need.

I liked the 3ds sticks I never had problems with them

Just followed along and changed out my broken left joystick on my lite. Thank you so much for the tutorial! Worked perfectly!

I highly reccomend buying an ice cube tray and placing the screws in one ice cube hole for every layer. Works a charm!

For my 2 Year Anniversary, my girlfriend surprised me with a Switch Lite because she has a Switch already and we love Animal Crossing. I got my Switch January 13th and its so cute and fun, and i maybe used it 15% of the time i had it up to this comment. Animal crossing comes out and i'm having a blast. Literally 2 days into using it everyday my left stick starts acting weird. Every so often i would be using it and walking to the right or at an angle to the right and i would slow down or just stop moving altogether. I am avid gaming for the last 18 years, and i KNEW this was a manufacturing problem. I open my settings to pull up my Joy Con calibrator and boom. I can see exactly what i thought was happening with my eyes. ALMOST EVERY TIME i would move exactly to the right with the left stick it, it would go right, and with my finger pushing the stick and it not moving at all, you could see the stick on screen pull back to the middle slowly. So absolutely bummed out over this. It went from only happening just sometimes in game to almost every time i go right now, sometimes even left, but hardly ever. I can't even get on the phone with Nintendo because they're so backed up. My love for Nintendo was hurt today. FIX YOUR JOYSTICKS NINTENDO!!!

I finally started getting drift on my left analog stick. I used a syringe with 99.99% IPA and shot a little under the grommet and started moving it around in circles. I then blasted canned air in there a few times and then left it powered off for a day to make sure it all dried up. It completely fixed it.

Good tutorial. Much more didactic than your usual tear downs (which is good!)

Ok here’s my rant on joycon drift- My joycon drift: Literally doesn’t let me move sometimes. I could have the stick all the way to the left and my character is moving right or standing still, it makes it so hard to play games and I hate it! Nintendo, why is this our job? To fix it? We paid so much money and yet we still have this problem. It’s ridiculous, I wish they would do something about it (Also, thanks for the video, I’ll try to fix it soon)

I don't even have the switch lite why am I watching this..

Just replaced the joycon following your video. Easy and a perfect fix, thank you x

I recently bought that exact tool kit. It's working well for me.

I literally watching this before it even starts happening because i have bad luck lol

Bless you for this, I dropped my switch lite which broke the clicking on my left joystick but thanks to this and a repair kit it's now completely fixed! Thanks so much!

Huge thanks for this, SW. I just recently started replacing my regular switch joy con thumbsticks and now I noticed my Switch Lite is drifting. Well I ordered new thumbsticks today and I'll get to replacing them.

Nintendo appears to be handling the drifting issues in the same way Apple handled the butterfly-switch keyboards. “Let’s just wait till we get sued, guys!” I love both companies and their products, but ffs, man.

Nintendo: So instead of selling replacement joy cons, we can just sell replacement consoles? Hmmm.... Make it happen!

And nintendo thought itd be a good idea to use the same materials from the normal joycons on the lite for some reason. Smh

Thank you for this. Two days after purchasing my Lite, and there is an annoying dead zone on the left stick. (And this Lite is to replace my bricked Switch until everything re-opens to get it repaired). Awaiting my replacement stick in the mail.

I dropped my switch last week and completely busted the left stick. Thanks to this video, I, a complete amateur, fixed it. Thank you so much!

The fact that this is even a big enough issue to make a video on is an absurd. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate that Spawn Wave did this to show us, but how Nintendo used the exact same thumb sticks as the joy cons knowing they are prone to issues and can’t be separated from the system is completely irresponsible. A pox on ur house Nintendo

My daughter snapped the cap off of her left thumb stick and I was able to fix it thanks to this video. Did it for $10 Nintendo wanted $90. Thanks for the video.

Your videos are some of the greatest on RU-vid. I love SpawnWave. Thank you for showing so many tutorials on things like this. Love!❤

I just found this video and wanted to say thank you! I have absolutely nil experience with this stuff, but after watching your walkthrough 9 or 10 times, I was able to successfully change out a joystick on my Switch Lite 🙏

I might have to try this. My left stick is hardly working at all. Especially the up direction. Thanks for the tutorial and tips

I got my switch lite about a month ago and it started drifting very noticeably last week 😂 granted, it's seen heavy use due to the pandemic... since repair centres are also closed, I'll probably have to fix it myself. thanks for the video, it's super helpful.

the fact that you did this for me im thankful

Thank you so so much! This video helped me with my Switch Lite. I'm very grateful.

How long until Nintendo just messes with the dead zone and sensitivity software settings?

Just fixed my switch lite with this tutorial, thank you!!!!

this is awesome!! my switch lite's left stick has been drifting terribly lately, this was exactly what i needed!! i cant believe i was able to fix it, thanks for the vid

Love it! Good looking

THANK GOD i saw this video, i almost bought a switch lite...if they havent fixed drift they dont intend to

If you’re following this video, might want to reapply the new thermal paste to your heat sink and panel after opening it, especially if you’re a few years in. Won’t hurt and takes only a moment and ensures you’ll keep the device running smooth and alive a while longer. Thanks for the vid!

Damn not even the light is safe from this mess, but glad you showed how to fix it.

Instalike for speedrunning LA with no joystick. You're the best gaming journalist at brutal sarcasm and you really save it for the best moments. Kudos.

Joycon drift, Nintendo: I slep Nintendo switch hacked, Nintendo : 👀

9:38 Or you could also keep a magnetic parts tray on your fridge door all the time and make use of it when you need to deal with tiny screws.

Really helpful information! 👍

Managed to fix my switch lite with the help of this vid! thanks man!

Getting drift especially on non detachable joycons must feel like hell

Damn it Nintendo! Sort your consoles and controllers out

Top Quality tech wave video Jon(SW). Great job replacing the left Analogue Stick on the Switch Lite, I don't trust myself not too mess it up tho lol.

I bought two year warranty with my switch light for the fact that maybe before the two years they will come out with a revised not messed up Joy con drift switch light. Anyways thank you spawn wave you always have great knowledge on video game news

This is why nintendo has a repair service, this is also why they shouldn't have made the switch lite with the same joycon controller joysticks

1:45 whenever I hear "tweezers" it makes me think about the 'TheVerge' video "How to build a 2000$ custom gaming pc" where the guy called zip ties "tweezers" 🤣

Just replaced the analog stick using this video. Thank you man

Awesome vid. I had snapped my joystick. With this vid I was able to SWITCH it out ;)

the drifting feature never left, thank you nintendo

meanwhile, nintendo's gamecube controllers rerelease still felt cheap (IMO) and has no drift

My left joy stick on my lite started to drift during AC. It made it hard to play it anymore as that is an important piece to play. After watching your video and mentioning calibrate the stick, I calibrated my left stick completely and it fixed the issue! I didn't have to tear the system apart or anything. I just recalibrated the stick completely and drifting is gone!

$7 on Amazon prime and a few days for shipping, and the Switch Lite is working like new again. Thank you for the breakdown. if i can give one tip to others when reassembling, on the top, close the case on right to left, popping the headphone jack over last. This is because there is a lip in the center, near the vents, that needs to go under first before the top will close, and i found it more difficult to try to push that lip under when closing the case left to right.

i have fixed many joycons for the normal switch, so I offered to fix my friend's switch lite that had a left joycon drift after watching this video...ended up breaking the power button/volume cable in the process...but the joycon's fixed! (i paid for a new ribbon cable and i let them borrow my switch until i can fix theirs, i felt bad :( hopefully everything will go well! ) Edit: fix went well, switch is back to normal, but unfortunately both replacement joysticks were duds (drifted right out of the box). Note to self and others fixing lites: test the joystick on a normal switch joycon before putting it into a switch lite, it's much easier to do and saves the tears when it ends up being a dud in the lite 😆

I'm not buy switch lite until nintendo fix the joycon drift.

This is great. Thank you!

Thank you so much! I was able to fix my son's console fast and easy 😄

Nintendrew also made a video about fixing the joysticks. I think you should watch that video before replacing your old joysticks.

Okay, was I just lucky with my Switch Lite? I have been playing on mine a ton since I got it on release day (I have 65+ hours in FETH alone) and I had no issues with the sticks. I have had no problems with my Switch at all in fact and I am still very happy that I got it.

Excellent teardown

I have yet to experience it on my switch but wanted the lite because I heard it’s much more easier to play handheld. Now this makes me change my mind about getting the lite

My right side drift after a few weeks of use. Even with light press on the sticks. It didn't matter. The sticks drift. Big disappointment.

I thought the drift was caused by dust getting under the rubber cap at the base of the stick. I’ve seen videos of people cleaning under them and fixing the drifting that way. Wouldn’t that be easier than replacing it entirely?

This helped much appreciated 🙏🏾

Just fixed my switch lite, thank you so much!

Wtf I got the new pokemon Nintendo switch lite version and they still have the drifting on them

I don’t have a mini screwdriver what else can I use

Very informative. The main thing that I took away from this is to just get the regular Switch.

I might actually buy that toolkit that you linked in the description, it has really good reviews. I have one but from kobalt

I have some experience with electronics playing Spiderman PS4. So I'm not too worried.

Drift is normally caused by dirt/dust getting into the mechanism, or by the conductive pads being worn (and debris from them contaminating the interior). This isn't something that happens in a few days, it's more of a long term problem. I wonder if the Switch Lite drifting is caused by something else, or if some of the sticks are just defective, because this is way too soon for it to be happening due to wear. Speaking for myself, my Switch that was bought in Oct 2017 does not have any drifting problems, and I haven't replaced the joycons.

Completely agree on trying to rebuild the joystick. They just don't go back together right. Plus you can buy a new one for $3.50 now on ebay. Thanks for the tutorial

I was able to follow the video and successfully replaced and back up and running in 30 minutes!

Good job but at 13:44 I don't know why everyone stops at that point when they check their sticks. That screen is very misleading to how your stick dot really look like. You need to manually go into the second manual test to see if the dot can touch the last circle & not have a pull back bounce when going in a circle. If you do see a bounce back near the last circle your sticks are no good. Trust me as this has been a major factor in finding out you will get drifts sooner.

Wow Nintendo...just wow. Can’t get a f*cking joystick right. And with a 2nd attempt at that.

I just bought the Lite today not knowing about this issue. I just returned to a Nintendo systems after so long. I started experiencing this problem TODAY where my character either doesn’t move when moving the left joystick to the left or walks the opposite way. Can’t believe what I’ve been reading about this issue lol. Wow.

Had mine less than two months and got it and didn’t want to wait since Nintendo is backlogged due to Covid according to their site. Replaced and working.

TLDW: He buys another analog stick.

Nintendrew has a video that shows you how to fix joy con drift with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip. I tried it and it worked.

I recommend replacing the thermal paste too when you open your switch lite.

Thanks i was scared about it