Need help with trolling motor

[East TN Basser]

So I was in a hurry the other day and forgot to put the trolling motor up before getting the boat back on the trailer.....yeah....so any way, it got banged around pretty good but not too bad...it still works and doesn't have much physical damage at all, just some scratches. Anyway I tested it out pretty good before getting out of the water and everything seems ok except that it wants to go the right, I have to really put pressure on the foot control uniit to keep it from swinging around to the right.

Does anyone have any thoughts? It's a typicall MG trolling motor. Thanks for any info.

[svtlightning93]

The shaft is most likely bent, I had similar problems, replaced the shaft and all good.

[missingbama]

I bent the shaft on my MG a couple of years ago pretty bad about 8 or 9 inches off center. I took it apart a took the shaft with the motor still attached, to a neighbor that is a retired aircraft machinist and still does machine work out of his shop at home. He put the shaft in a press that had blocks that were shaped in a V, so that the shaft kind of rests in a cradle. He would lower the press in the middle of the bend and force the shaft just a little past straight to compensate for flex. He kept doing this for about 15 minutes spinning the shaft each time afterwards with the upper press lightly touching down on the shaft. When he turned the shaft and felt more resistance, he said that shows him where the apex or top of the bend is and he would use the press to straigten it more. You couldn't tell that it had ever been damaged after about 20 minutes.