so i had a pretty minor tip-over on landing last week, nothing violent, the drone just rolled onto its side in some tall grass and the gimbal hit the ground. visually everything looks fine, no cracked arms or anything obvious. but ever since then the pitch axis keeps slowly drifting upward during flight. like it'll stabilize for a few seconds then just creep up maybe 5-10 degrees and stay there until i cycle the power.

ive recalibrated through the app like four times now and it corrects itself for maybe the first 30 seconds then starts drifting again. im running a zenmuse x5s on an inspire 2 if that matters. not sure if this is a software thing or if i actually bent something in the gimbal mechanics. the footage is obviously unusable right now which is a problem because i have a job next weekend.

anyone dealt with something like this before? wondering if its worth trying to take the gimbal apart or just send it to DJI.

had almost the exact same issue on my x4s after a nose-in hover correction went wrong. the drift on one axis after recal is almost always a bent gimbal arm or a partially damaged motor coil ? the calibration compensates for it temporarily but the feedback loop cant hold position when the motor isnt producing even torque across its range. you can usually tell if you manually move the axis by hand with power off, if theres any grittiness or uneven resistance in the rotation thats your culprit.

DJI repair is honestly not terrible for the zenmuse units if you send it through their official service, came back better than new last time. given you have a job next weekend id just send it now for expedited and rent or borrow something for the gig rather than risk making it worse trying to open the gimbal housing yourself. those ribbon cables are fragile.

might also be worth checking the IMU on the gimbal specifically, not just the aircraft IMU. i think in the DJI assistant app theres a separate gimbal IMU calibration that a lot of people skip. its different from the basic calibration in the fly app. probably wont fix a mechanical issue but worth ruling out before you crack anything open