Bent trolling motor shaft

[jtcarter]

I took the prop off my minn kota all terrain 70 lb trolling motor today. I hit the foot pedal to watch the shaft spin and its bent. The front seal of the bearing had come off. So i hammer it back in and the motor makes a awful noise hitting the metal bearing seal. Anyway anyone know what this is probably going to cost me to fix? If its ridiculous, i might just have to bite it and get a new one somehow.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Bent trolling motor shaft

Disassemble the motor and have an electric motor shop straighten the shaft. It is relatively soft and can be straightened. You can do it yourself if you have a big vice. Block the armature in the vice using a couple blocks of wood. Don't squeeze it so hard you distort the armature. Place it in the vice so the direction you need to bend the shaft is toward the jaws of the vice. Using a piece of galvanized pipe about two feet long, slip it over the shaft and gently tweek the shaft. Don't go nuts here. It doesn't take much force to bend it back. You may never get it perfect but you can get it close enough that it won't bother anything. I've straightend slightly bent shafts without disassembling the motor. You should add a new seal though.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Bent trolling motor shaft

Is it "BENT" or just tweeked a bit?

I straightened the shaft on my MotorGuide by placing a nut on the shaft, mounting a dial indicator on the shaft and tapping the nut with a hammer until the shaft was 100% straight, no runout. If you get too aggressive with the hammer you could mess up the bearing, but mine has run fine for 10 years since I straightened it, runs much quieter too... If it's "BENT", I don't think this procedure is going to work.

At any rate, it sounds like the bearing and seal needs to be replaced, $10-20.

 

[jtcarter]

Re: Bent trolling motor shaft

Thanks guys, i'd say its slightly bent. I had it in lock down position turned the wrong way (doh), i sent my fishing partner to catch us at the dock, he hit the foot pedal and it banged off the front of my boat a few turns. I thought about it and figured he had either bent the pin that holds the prop in place or he had bent the shaft itself. It was the later unforunately. I have a bench vice and i'll go get a new seal today, hopefully i can get it back to straight again. :redface: