Broken Minn Kota fortrex trolling motor

[wsdv135]

Came home after a trip to the lake. Big T-storm last night, boat hit against dock pretty bad. Checked on boat, some scraped paint, I thought nothing a little touch up can't fix. Trolling motor looked ok. Got home and clicked the button to see if I had turned my guest switch off and prop started humming very loudly, and then just stopped moving completely. I removed the prop, found some fishing line wrapped around the prop shaft, cut it off and it is still stuck. When I moved the prop with my hand it feels like something is catching inside the trolling motor head. Any ideas what this could be? Repair guy says $100/hr to fix plus parts...thinking I just file a claim with boat insurance at this point.

[munchie]

Probably knocked the magnets loose from the side of housing.shouldn't be a very costly fix for repair shop.

[billnorman1]

Probably knocked the magnets loose from the side of housing.shouldn't be a very costly fix for repair shop.

Might cost more than that, new shaft, housing, labor. Your diagnosis is probable.

[wsdv135]

Shaft is fine...unless you mean prop shaft/pin.

[wsdv135]

100/hr....not that it would take 1 hr to fix LOL

[billnorman1]

Shaft is fine...unless you mean prop shaft/pin.

A certified repair shop will change the magnet housing which requires a new shaft. If I did it, and the magnet wasn't appreciably broken, just dislodged, I'd epoxy the magnet back in after cleaning the epoxy contact area, but I'm a cheap guy.

[wsdv135]

Figured it out...took the trolling motor apart and found one of the brushes to be loose causing the motor to stop turning. Put it back in place and everything seems to be working fine. Anyone else have this happen to them....should I have refastened it with epoxy or some other adhesive?

[billnorman1]

If you mean loose, that indicates to me not in its brush holder. Somehow either the brush is worn down too low allowing it to come out of the brush holder, or the brush holder assembly got knocked askew with the collision.
Whick ever you need to check the brush length against minimum specification or check the brush holder for security of mounting. I suppose it's possible the motor housing bolts were too loose and allowed the housing to shift drastically when it was hit or the bolts pulled out. Was there any water at all inside the motor?

[Jonestrollingmotor]

Figured it out...took the trolling motor apart and found one of the brushes to be loose causing the motor to stop turning. Put it back in place and everything seems to be working fine. Anyone else have this happen to them....should I have refastened it with epoxy or some other adhesive?

I guess anything can happen, but in my 20yrs of doing this, I've never seen a brush come out of the brush holder, jamming the armature to keep it from turning. The brushes are not that strong. I'm sure you do know that the brushes are suppose to be loose in the brush holder to allow them to maintain contact with the armature com while they wear down.
John

[Paul Jeffcoat]

Beginning to wish I had my Fortexx back... Ordered a new Ultrex and it doesn't work right out of the box. Still waiting for three weeks for replacement motor or circuit board for foot pedal. Horrible QA and supplier oversight by MK.

[billnorman1]

I guess anything can happen, but in my 20yrs of doing this, I've never seen a brush come out of the brush holder, jamming the armature to keep it from turning. The brushes are not that strong. I'm sure you do know that the brushes are suppose to be loose in the brush holder to allow them to maintain contact with the armature com while they wear down.
John

John, perhaps the "loose" brush was not the issue. Perhaps the other "not loose" brush was stuck in the brush holder and not contacting the armature and when he reassembled the motor the other brush slid down to where it belonged.

[Jonestrollingmotor]

John, perhaps the "loose" brush was not the issue. Perhaps the other "not loose" brush was stuck in the brush holder and not contacting the armature and when he reassembled the motor the other brush slid down to where it belonged.

If that be the case, and he didn't unstick the other brush (thinking they both should be stuck), the other brush would make contact long enough to test, but as soon as it wears down, it will lose contact and the motor quit again. Must help to know what you're looking for/at when you disassemble an electric motor.

[wsdv135]

John,

No I didn't know that. This is my first bass boat, so I am learning on the fly. I took the motor apart just to have a peek. I was having trouble getting everything back together when I noticed the brush was not in the place it was supposed to be. I popped it back in its place and screwed everything back together. Maybe something else was out of place in the housing...but I turned on the motor and to my astonishment everything was turning and it was about 90-95% as quiet as it was before. I'm sure it's something more complicated than that but I am holding out hope that something just got knocked out of place when it banged against the dock during the storm. Thanks for the input.

-Dave

[wsdv135]

No water inside of motor. Everything seemed normal, but I don't really know what normal is because I've never had a trolling motor of this type before.

[billnorman1]

John,

No I didn't know that. This is my first bass boat, so I am learning on the fly. I took the motor apart just to have a peek. I was having trouble getting everything back together when I noticed the brush was not in the place it was supposed to be. I popped it back in its place and screwed everything back together. Maybe something else was out of place in the housing...but I turned on the motor and to my astonishment everything was turning and it was about 90-95% as quiet as it was before. I'm sure it's something more complicated than that but I am holding out hope that something just got knocked out of place when it banged against the dock during the storm. Thanks for the input.

-Dave

The motor assembly is pretty straightforward but simple things can destroy the assembly. There are two magnets "glued" to the inside of the housing. These can fracture and fall into the moving parts or pieces can be broken off and jam up the works. There are rubber O-rings and seals that can leak, and I'm glad yours haven't. You must have pretty good mechanical skills to get the armature past the magnets and successfully slip the brushes on.
I do not intend to describe all the things to check and techniques to work on it, just a hint or two. I hope it continues to perform for you.

[wsdv135]

I'll found out Friday when I put it back in the water.

[munchie]

A certified repair shop will change the magnet housing which requires a new shaft. If I did it, and the magnet wasn't appreciably broken, just dislodged, I'd epoxy the magnet back in after cleaning the epoxy contact area, but I'm a cheap guy.

I dont work on tm , i just break them, but i am wondering why a new magnet housing would require a new shaft

[billnorman1]

I dont work on tm , i just break them, but i am wondering why a new magnet housing would require a new shaft

Generally to the best of my knowledge the shaft screws into the magnet housing on newer M/K motors. It is composite, i.e. made of graphite. You have to carefully heat the magnet housing with a torch to melt the red loctite that was used to assemble the two parts and then, after removing the shaft, pick out the debris (pieces of Loctite and shaft) left in the magnet housing threads. It is a semi-destructive process, bits of the shaft can/will come off the threads when you wrench it out.
This juncture is critical to the sealing the motor. You do not have to change the shaft but it should be perfect to reinstall or the likelyhood of leakage is high.
Time for Jones to come along. I'd change the shaft if I had to disassemble it.

[western angler]

I am an old Navy electrician/ electrical engineer. Take it to some one who know what they are doing. You are just wasting your time and money. I know how to take those things apart and no one has told you yet how to fix it. Except one person, and he is in the business. But you keep wasting your time to save a few dollars. Sorry for being so frank.

[wsdv135]

Took it apart...now I can't get the damn thing back together....the armature will not go all the way when i put the nose cone back on. This seriously sucks...western angler I don't have a$1,000 bucks lying around sorry bro.