minnkota foot pedal

[largemarge]

I just recently experienced the footpedal of my 5-6 yr old minnkota bowmount doesn't turn the motor counterclockwise. it does fine with clockwise. I have plugged and unplugged and I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this. and what was the fix? a new footpedal?

[Sorgy]

swing on over to Fish Electronics on University Ave and pick yourself up a new pedal. They are reasonably priced. Clean up the old one and stow it away for an emergency.

[CaptainMusky]

Do yourself a favor and ditch the pedal altogether. Get a copilot whether new or used you will save yourself lots of frustration later.

[loadmaster]

They are junk. Non repairable. Have taken mine apart, and tried to clean it. The contacts get worn out. was told by minnkota rep they are not designed to get really wet and to make sure no sand gets into the unit. Good luck with that. even the cheap units are not cheap to buy. I would think Minn. would come up with a better unit as they have not changed the style for a number of years. The engineer must have had small feet as the foot controls are easy to go to moment and still hit the turn controller. I think that is how they make their money as the drive portion does not go bad

[fishinorfarmin]

Have had the same issue and am on my third pedal in 5 years. At a 100 bucks a pop seems like they could figure out how to make them last. Was looking on the internet the other day for some MK replacement parts and saw that you can buy just the control board assembly that has the contacts (which I am assuming is usually the problem) but seems like it was around 60 bucks just for that. Might as well just get the whole new pedal at that price.

[CigarGuy]

Mine doing the same thing...plus, when the turning part works sometimes the motor won't work. I jiggle the power wires where it runs into the base of the unit and it works. Also, clean the contacts on both ends of the plug.

Question for you guys with the auto pilot. I have one but haven't used it in years. I replaced the battery and plugged it in and it just spins......any ideas on what's causing that? Thanks

[CaptainMusky]

Autopilot or copilot? Autopilot doesn't require batteries. If you are talking about the copilot and its spinning I'm thinking a button is stuck or maybe it needs to be synched or something. Never had that happen. I've had autopilot get the spins before and it was an older model. They would lose compass heading and search. The newer ones they put some memory in there so it would revert back to last known heading.

[CigarGuy]

It's an older motor, it's the copilot-remote.

[ClownColor]

Have the samd issud with mine. I was hoping i could clean the contacts but after reading this i'm tjinking i am screwed. I will try some contact spray or else replace it with motorguide since minnkota seems to have a trend here.

[Sorgy]

Fishlectronics carries them new for like $65.00 I end up buying a new pedal every couple of years. My motor is a 2002 model.

They have been very helpful over the years.

Good luck

Steve

[h8go4s]

I took mine apart and cleaned it, re-lubed the white plastic slides that actuate the left-right switch. That worked for a while. Then I did the same thing and also carved off some of the bottom of the actual pedal piece on the left side. That fixed it for 2 years so far. If you look at the slides, you'll see that to actuate the switch on the left side requires more travel than the right side. So modifying the bottom of the pedal to give it more travel works, at least it did in my case.

[herm]

Do yourself a favor and ditch the pedal altogether. Get a copilot whether new or used you will save yourself lots of frustration later.

+1

I took that advice (possibly even from Capt.Musky via this board) a few years ago and it's been great. If you do, I found it easier to put the copilot control on a wrist strap instead of the lanyard provided.

[BobT]

There is one possible thing to try. Open it up and make sure to thoroughly clean the inside moving parts and surfaces. Sand and grit easily get in there from sitting in your boat. Lubricate the plastic slides and reassemble. I'm on my 9th year with mine and it's still working fine.

[SkunkedAgain]

was told by minnkota rep they are not designed to get really wet

Interesting that a rep told you that. I'm not disputing it per se, but when my foot pedal had problems about 6-7 years ago a repair guy at the Motor Clinic told me to just dunk the pedal into the lake every so often to clean out all of the junk. By gone it, 6-7 years have gone by and I haven't had a problem with this original pedal which is now a decade old.

When not in use, the pedal is stored in the bow compartment. Once or maybe twice per season, usually towards the end I will dunk it and then let it dry in the air/sun for a bit.

That's my story.

[BobT]

Interesting that a rep told you that. I'm not disputing it per se, but when my foot pedal had problems about 6-7 years ago a repair guy at the Motor Clinic told me to just dunk the pedal into the lake every so often to clean out all of the junk. By gone it, 6-7 years have gone by and I haven't had a problem with this original pedal which is now a decade old.

When not in use, the pedal is stored in the bow compartment. Once or maybe twice per season, usually towards the end I will dunk it and then let it dry in the air/sun for a bit.

That's my story.

This might do roughly the same thing as taking apart to clean it except for the lubrication thing. I also agree that "it can't get wet" would be a strange thing for a boating accessory.

[h8go4s]

"This might do roughly the same thing as taking apart to clean it except for the lubrication thing. I also agree that "it can't get wet" would be a strange thing for a boating accessory."

More than once I've run into a rep whose knowledge was suspect. One at the sportshow this spring was doing a seminar on batteries and chargers and knew nothing about the MinnKota onboard alternator chargers. Some guys seem to give you a made-up answer rather than admit they don't know.

[largemarge]

I took it apart and cleaned it as best I could. still failed. It was time for a new one. Went to Motor clinic. great people there. they gave we a few goodies along with a new shiny pedal. Sometimes things just need to be replaced. Back in business!!

[BobT]

It was worth a shot.