Trolling motor tension, revisited

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Rich Stern

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The trolling motor on my 700 (Tracker model 50 48lb/12v) took a fair amount of abuse at the hands of the previous owner, including a bent shaft that was straightened. Overall, it works well, with one exception: A couple of years ago, the tension control knob snapped off as I was trying to tighten it. No matter how much I tightened it, the shaft still rotated very easily in response to the pedal. No tension was being added. Hence, I applied too much torque and snap she went.



I managed to get the bolt portion of the knob out, and have since used a 1/4" stainless bolt to serve the same function. Unfortunately, it doesn't work and I don't know why. The bolt seems tp bottom out in the hole and doesn't apply any friction to the shaft.



For those of you unfamiliar with the tension control knob...instead of adjusting tension at the pedal like on a a pull-pull pedal setup, you tighten a bolt on the column that applies friction to the shaft.



The trolling motor is not long for this world. Planning on getting a new one, but I am puzzled by this seemingly simple problem that I can't solve.
 
The tension control knob only holds the shaft in place within the bracket,...it controls the up and down movement of the whole shaft so you can set your depth of the motor for shallow water. Only the bottom half of the shaft below the mid-shaft coupling turns right or left with the foot pedal movements....NOT the entire shaft! Check it out again!

I don't think you can adjust the tension of the right/left movements.....ONLY the up/down with that knob!

Mac

PS....if the whole shaft is turning with the foot pedal movements,..then try wrapping a layer of duct tape around the shaft where it lies inside the bracket,...maybe the extra dia. will be enough for the bolt to "grab" and hold!
 
Mac, according to the owners manual, the tension control knob on this model TM is for adjusting the pedal/turning resistance of the motor.



The upper shaft doesn't turn. The lower shaft, which goes through the upper shaft, does. If you remove the tension knob and look through the tension knob hole, you can see the inner shaft turning inside the outer shaft.

 
Rich,Is it a stainless shaft?

May be that the stainless shaft,and stainless bolt are too hard to grab(no friction).

Maybe try a softer grade #2 bolt.

Steve
 
Rich

I think that book may be a typo. i have owned a few motorguide motors and mac is right that knob is just for holding it inthe bracket. there is a process to make the steering tighter you just need to do some surgery. I will list it out for you.

1) take off the top over of the tm where the pointer dial is

2) remove the steering rack gear, its held in by 6 or 8 screws

3) you will be left with the pinion gear, on this gear there is a set screw. what you need to do is loosten the set screw and then tighten the pinion gear a little bit, its threaded onto the shaft.

4) retighten the set screw and replace the rack gear assy

5) replace the cover and realign the pointer.



its pretty easy to do, one thing is dont overtighten it. the motor should steer pretty fluid and shouldnt feel hard to steer. it is a push pull setup and if you overtighten it you will break the cable.
 
From page 13 of the MotorGuide Tracker series manual:



"To Adjust motor depth - The depth fo the motor can be adjusted up and down by simply loosening the depth collar tension knob located on the column."



"To Adjust steering tension - To adjust the steering resistance of your motor, simply tighten or loosen the tension knob on the front of the mount."



The depth adjustment collar is a completely seperate control. That one works; I can adjust the motor's depth. The second knob is the steering tension knob...matches the diagram in the manual, where it is clearly labelled.



I guess this particular Tracker series TM is not very common.

 
can you take a picture of the knob? the only knobs i have ever seen on any motorguide motor( and ive seen a few) were for the height control and breakaway. the tour edition may be different but i dont believe you have a tour motor.
 
I just had a thought is your manual mabye refering to a hand control motor? they do have a knob to adjust steering tension.
 
Mac and Jim...you were right. I had the breakaway knob confused with the depth knob. The diagram in the manual is mislabelled, and the text is wrong.



Jim, thanks for the detailed instructions. I found the set screw for the pinion gear and tightened the pinion; that was a little strange because the pinion doesn't move much. But I've got a little more tension on the shaft now, enough so that the motor should hold a course on the low power settings without a foot on the pedal.



I'm not impressed with the quality of the rack and pinion assembly. For another couple of bucks in parts, they could have used decent fasteners (instead of self-threading screws into soft plastic) to hold the rack in place. The plastic is stripping and some of the screws won't hold tight anymore.



Hope to get a new TM at BPS' upcoming sale. I won't miss this one.

 
So, Rich..... While we're on the subject..... What's happening with the dinghy?
 
Scott, now that good weather is here, I'll will soon take the skiff down from the celing rack I built in the basement last fall and start sanding again.
 
Rich, for the screws that are stripping try putting a prop of super glue in the holes before you put the screw in. it will help then stay. you are right about the cheapness of the parts but minnkota does the same thing( the standoffs are much beefier). I personalyl dont like the rack and pinion setup at all. when i had a motorgide i must have stripped about 5 of those pinion gears, they are made of very cheap pot metal and bust easily. i also had cable problems too. If and when you replace that motor get a minnkota, its so much better built, im going on my 5th year on my maxxum without a single problem.
 

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