Hey Jason,

you can clean the trackball pickups pretty easily.

See the tutorial here

 I did it to mine and it's worked great ever since then. I'll probably be doing it again pretty soon. The "feel" of it is back to being smooth again. That's a pretty good indication that its time to tear it open and clean it up.

 Beware: VERY small moving parts!

Good eyesight and a steady hand are needed.

 Good luck,

Casey