fixing an old Minnkota Powerdrive unit?

[bucketmouth]

Just bought an old boat with a Powerdrive unit on the front and was warned by the seller that it didnt work correctly. Hooked it up to find i had thrust but no steering. Im trying to get thru this season with it, there seems to be alot of info online to work around known problems with the control board. Has anyone attempted a fix like this? Im wondering if buying a replacement foot pedal might be an easy way around it all.

[Wallyboss]

Don , if you take the pedal unit apart you'll see that the reason is probably because the plastic has rubbed off a bit and doesn't make good contact on the switches . What I have done in the past is put a small spacer between the contacts and the plastic tabs. I've been doing this for 4 years now, be careful there is a couple of springs. As soon as you open it you'll see what I mean. I find that the pedal units are quite expensive for the value of the whole motor. MinnKota should fix up their issues instead of selling pedal units that will do the same thing in a few years.

[badbass72]

If and when you do decide to upgrade would you send me a message with your plans for the old motor? I have a friend looking for a mount without some new prices

[bucketmouth]

Thanks Dan, I'm going to take it apart this weekend and check the contacts and give it a good cleaning. You still have a powerdrive unit?

[Wallyboss]

Yes I do, I still use it. There's no need for contact cleaning, the actual contacts are not reachable( they are waterproofed) it's just the plastic tabs that push down on some kind of nipple ( switch) so it's just pressure from the plastic tabs that make the contacts work. So I just cut small pieces of plastic to use as spacers so that when the plastic tab presses down on the contact switch it makes good contact.

My explanation might not make much sense until you take the pedal apart and you will see how it works. It was well engineered, I just think that they used the wrong material.

[bucketmouth]

All good info Dan. Ill tear it down and if i have probs your only 10 minutes down Boundary...

[Wallyboss]

yeah I'm not far!

[Bass Addict]

Ha!....i,m on my fourth pedal control
Like Dan said, Minnkota has had issues with thier foot control for years now.....the problem is the circuit board itself.POOR QUALITY !!!!!!!!!

[bucketmouth]

I found them new on ebay for $70 plus shipping. Might look at that option down the road if the fix doesnt pan out.

[Haulin Bass]

I have had this issue with mine..This is what I did. To verify it was a contact initiation problem I took the foot pedal off and pressed the contacts manually and everything worked as it should(left and right turn). The pedal comes off by unhooking three springs. keep track of where they are attached at both ends as when unhooked they will probably unhook at the other end also.
Next I removed the long plastic bar that hits the contacts Simply done by prying the end up and pulling backward away from contacts with pliers through the retaining bracket. it will take a good pull to get it back though the retaining bracket
Notice between the bar you are pulling put and the underside of the retaining bracket there is a metal piece that sit between the bar and the bracket and it will likely fall out when you remove the bar.If it does not fall out take it out and reinstall with apiece of tinfoil between it and the retaining bracket I only had to use a single thickness of tin foil and all is working well Just reinstall the parts and test. Note I found it much easier to install the springs on the foot pedal first and let them hang downwards. bring the base up to the pedal aligning the holes withe the springs once in its position you will be able to attach the spring to the base with needle nose pliers holding it up so you can grab them from underneath
All in all not too difficult and takes about 15 mins tops Mine is the powerdriveV2

[Wallyboss]

Don, if you decide to order one let me know and might be able to split the shipping charge if you order 2. 70 is a good price they're usually around 130.

[FishToLive]

Same problem with my pedal. I'm in my boat 2-3 times a day. Was going through pedals quite a bit. Contacted MK to try and get a free pedal or something, even the circuit board with the cable would have been acceptable. They didn't even want to do that. I told them they should offer the circuit board and cable to everyone at a reasonable price (ie 20$) to make up for the garbage design. Still couldn't get that out of them.

I understand your motor is short term but the solution is to buy the co-pilot and be done with the pedals. With the co-pilot, you don't need the pedal plugged in at all. I leave mine in the boat as a backup.

This is what I bought....mine is the 1st gen of PowerDrive....
http://www.minnkotamotors.com/Products/ ... OWERDRIVE/

I have had my co-pilot for 4-5 years...

[Wallyboss]

Good point Fish to live. I have co-pilot also but I haven't even used it maybe I should!!!!

[jjcanoe]

So I was browsing through Proctors Marine in Simcoe today while picking up some stuff for my boat, and happened across a shelf in their 'clearance section' there were about 9 or so co-pilot kits with remote for $20 each. They were for the older (post 1991 I think) flat plug style power drive units. Didn't look to hard at the particulars since my PD has the round plug.
Might be worth it to give them a call, to see if they are compatible with your motors, and get away from the foot pedal altogether. I'm sure they could probably ship them up that way for you, as they have INCREDIBLE customer service.
Hope this helps.

[jjcanoe]

Ooooo looks like this topic is a bit old lol, I was in Proctors Marine today 03 March 2016!