Lots of posts on this lately, so I figured it coudn't hurt to share what I've done. This is the second trolling motor I've done this on. Prices are rounded up and links to the items at Menards are embedded in each item's text since this is where I bought everything. Having grown up back East I'm well aware that Menard's isn't nationwide - all of these items should be readily available at your retailer of choice. The handle is really the only "iffy" thing, and I can confirm it's available at Lowe's and on Amazon.
Handle that's remarkably similar to those found in the high priced kits: $9
Dog tie out for the cable (with enough extra for at least 3 more handles): $5
Wire rope clip for making closed loop inside trolling motor mount: $0.40
Wire rope sleeves for creating a stopper that will hide inside the handle (I had to buy a thimble kit as they didn't sell sleeves on their own): $0.60
- After removing the old pull rope, cut the wire rope (dog tie out) to length and fish it through the trolling motor mount along the same path that your rope took. The toughest part on mine was fishing the (comparatively) stiff wire rope through the place where it needs to loop inside the mount. Some needle nose pliers, bending the end of the wire rope to angle it in the right direction, and a small screw driver to coax the wire along and I had it in 5 minutes or less. A small amount of grease on the mount to allow the rope to slide easily past may help.
- Use the cable clip to close the loop inside the mount; technically the vinyl should be stripped off the wire rope at the points where the clip contacts it for maximum strength when using one of these, but we're not putting this thing anywhere near its maximum capacity or hanging a heavy load. I passed on stripping back the vinyl so that it could provide shielding between the wire rope and the metal on my mount.
- Strip some vinyl off the handle end of the wire rope and feed it into handle. Strip back some extra if you want to apply two sleeves in the next step. 1/2" should suffice for 1 sleeve, maybe 3/4" for 2 sleeves. Stack them together and see how much you need to strip to be sure. This need not be exact unless you are extremely concerned with the precise length of your pull cord.
- Apply the aluminum sleeve from the thimble kit to the end of the wire rope where the vinyl has been stripped back. If you have a swaging tool or a strong grip and high quality linesmen pliers or vise grips, congratulations. If not, I used a brick and a 3 lb hammer to flatten it. Go ahead and crimp (flatten) two sleeves onto the end if you want some insurance; I can confirm that two sleeves stacked together will hide inside the handle.
- Pull the handle tight, hiding the end of the cable and the sleeve(s) you just applied inside. You may have to shove the end of the cable/sleeve into the cavity in the bottom of the handle; it has a heavyish rubber flap that stops the end from coming back out during use.
- Go fishing feeling satisfied with all the money you've saved and never worry about breaking a trolling motor rope again.
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Originally Posted by Aries 181
