Motorguide sucks...

[nofearengineer]

Man, I don't know how Minn Kota's are built, but I'm serisouly considering finding out the next time I buy a trolling motor.

Since I've been experiencing random "no starts" on my Motorguide 67, I decided to take apart my lower unit today to see if there were any signs of overheating. I'm getting pretty tired of running aground on rocky banks when my trolling motor just decides not to work, and I don't have time to get the outboard running. Now JB and Woody might understand why I shut off so far from my fishing spot, and go electric the last 100 yards.

Well, I must say, the motorguide design is the most intentionally obnoxious deisgn I've seen. They attach the board that holds the brushes to the cap where the prop is mounted, rather than the main part where the armature is housed. The net result? It's like a frigging cruel puzzle, where you try to hold about 5 things in place to get it to fit back together. And you have to keep holding on to them while you close the housing around them, which totally gets in the way. I'm sure you've encountered something like this before.

As an Engineer who has designed machines, I can only conclude they did this on purpose, so as to require special tools, i.e, their techs to work on the stuff. It shouldn't be rocket science...it's a frigging DC motor. I about ripped my brushes apart getting them back onto the commutator. Now the motor has a little more noise to it, and will continue to, until the brushes wear back down totally smooth. At least I didn't see any sign of overheating, and no water leaks. Grrrrr. The problem remains undiagnosed.