Trolling Motor problems
About 2.5 years ago, I bought a new 5/3 speed 70 Lb Minn Kota Riptide trolling motor.
For the first year, it worked great. Then the 4 & 5 speeds stopped working.
A trip to DHP on Common street and installing a new switch and I was fixed up in a few minutes.
Then a couple months later, the trolling motor just stopped working. This time a wire broke that was suppose to connect to the switch. Also by this time the TM shaft had a 6+ inch long crack. I was told that when the crack got a little worse, they would replace if free.
A month or 2 later.....again the trolling motor stopped working. This time one of the metal connectors on the end of a wire had broken.
Are you seeing a pattern.
IMO..... the problem was that the head of the TM was vibrating too much. After the second wire broke, I started using a bungee cord to help reduce the vibration.
When the metal connector broke, I decided it was time to make some "improvements". The "head" vibrated a lot because it stuck out beyond the metal bracked that bolts to the boat. For my boat, the shaft is longer than need so I cut off 9". I also installed an eye bolt under the head to provide a better anchoring point. The lower half of the TM head mounts to the shaft, but due to the vibration the plastic housing had cracked. The TM was now out of warranty, so I order a new housing.
These improvements greatly reduced the head vibration, and the TM worked great for 3 or 4 months..... until 2 days ago, when I was getting to boat ready to go fishing.
After loading up my fishing gear, I decided to check the TM. Speeds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 all worked. I started to walk away and went back to try the reverse..... nothing. I tried the forward again and nothing worked.
I was getting upset. I checked to see if maybe the circuit breakers has tripped...no. I was getting power to the TM, but the prop would not turn.
The sheer pin was good, so I decided to take off the prop. The motor shaft turned freely by hand. I turned the TM handle again, and saw the motor shaft start turning. I turned it off and back on, but nothing this time.
I took a rubber hammer and hit on the motor and it started turning. Humm....there is a problem in the motor.
I took the motor cover off and all I could see is that it was kind of dirty. I then pulled the motor winding out, and it was fairly dirty down near where the brushes touch the coil. But there was no real damage to cause it to not run.
I then pulled the sleeve off so I could see the brushes. Again, they look ok and not damaged.
But when I looked inside the sleeve, I saw the problem. Inside the sleeve is a magnet [2 pieces] that are attached to sleeve. The corner of one of the magnets had broken off and a triangle piece about 1" x 1" x 1" was loose inside the motor. This loose piece of metal must have been keeping the motor from turning.
I cleaned up all the parts inside the motor and put it back together..... minus the broken piece. It is now working.
With this missing piece the TM probably is not back to 100% power. Does anyone have experience with running with a damaged magnet? I could glue the broke off piece back, but this could come off in the future.
When I examined the broken piece, the "break" appeared to be old like it had broken off a long time ago. I am now wondering if this broken piece could have been rubbing on the motor and causing higher amperage in the switch and causing the switch failures.
Here are a couple of pictures. The 3 rd pic is after I cleaned it up. I hope this can help someone if they are having a TM problem.
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