[rachels706]

I have a Minn Kota edge 55 foot steer that I run with a sexy stick. A few nights ago, I noticed that the steering got stiff, and wasn't turning smooth like it normally did. After fishing a few hours like this, something finally broke/came loose and it wouldn't steer. I took the top of the head off and saw that the cables had came off track, so I got them back on and it will steer, but the shaft is free spinning some. When the foot pedal bottoms out in either direction, the shaft spins past where it would normally stop. After spinning it around a few times, the cables will come off track again. Everything looks right in the head and foot pedal. I did find a screw and plastic washer inside of the head, but I don't see anywhere for it to go in the head. Has anyone had this problem or have any suggestions on how to fix it? Thanks.

 

[CarpCowboy]

Just below the cables coming into the foot pedal there is a tension screw. This will tighten up the slack in the turning. You will loosen this to give you slack to adjust the cables and put them back on the post as well if you need to adjust things. Sounds like you should check the bottom shroud of the trolling motor head (bottom plastic half of head) may be cracked from people lifting it by the head or hitting things. Its a $10 part and easy to fix.

 

[rachels706]

Just below the cables coming into the foot pedal there is a tension screw. This will tighten up the slack in the turning. You will loosen this to give you slack to adjust the cables and put them back on the post as well if you need to adjust things. Sounds like you should check the bottom shroud of the trolling motor head (bottom plastic half of head) may be cracked from people lifting it by the head or hitting things. Its a $10 part and easy to fix.

I have tried moving the tension screw all the way in and all the way out, and it doesn't change anything. The housing isn't cracked. It seems like there should be some sort of "stop" that keeps the shaft from spinning past a certain point when the pedal bottoms out, but instead the shaft just keeps spinning.

 

[rachels706]

Anybody else have any suggestions? The piece that I thought was a plastic washer is actually a piece of broke plastic where a screw holds the top and bottom of the head together, but that isn't causing the steering problem. I'm still not sure where the screw came from that was laying inside the head.

 

[CarpCowboy]

One of the cables should be wrapped around that piece they connect to. Did you not loop one so there is extra play in it causing it to not tighten up?

 

[rachels706]

One of the cables should be wrapped around that piece they connect to. Did you not loop one so there is extra play in it causing it to not tighten up?

I was pretty sure that I had them connected right, but I may not have had one wrapped around to get rid of the slack. I'm going to mess with it some more next weekend and if I can't get it fixed I am going to call Minn Kota.