Minn Kota Power Drive difficult to deploy, any help??

[The Rooster]

I have a Minn Kota Power Drive PD55 and it's a wonderful motor when I'm using it, but whenever I have to stow it to run to the next stop and then deploy it again it is nearly impossible to get it out of the cradle and into the water again. Is there anything I can use on the cradle to make it slide easier?? Or file it down some maybe (this motor was expensive, I'd hate to do that)?? Today while on the water, out of pure frustration, I used Berkley Powerbait from a bottle, just poured it right onto the cradle. It made it slick and slimy for a bit but didn't seem to help any at all. My wife suggested wax or soap to make it come out easier. I've never seen anything so hard to get out of the stow position before. I mean outright HEAVING against it to make it budge and then it gives all at once and you nearly go overboard with it!!!

[cart7t]

That's always been one of the many problems with the power drives. The stow and deploy system, especially the deploy part.

Next time you're at the lake, try this tip I wished I would've found much sooner in the 6-7 years I owned one.. make sure you're offshore far enough.

1. Disconnect the power cable from the foot control to the unit.

2. Unbolt all bolts/screws holding the TM to the deck.

3. Now attempt to deploy the TM, really put everything you've got into it.

4. Resist the urge to grab the TM as it's sliding off the deck and into the water.

5. Mark the spot with a waypoint on your GPS as a fish attractor.

6. Re-trailer boat, go home and then buy one of these.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2197086

problem solved.

[Jim_H]

The new powerdrive V2 deploys very easily. You just push down on the lever and it pops out of the cradle. The best tip I can give you is to spray the shaft occasionally with Armor All and wipe it down. This helps, especially on the old powerdrives.

[sage]

I have a power drive and mine can be a bear also. I've found if I use a liquid car wax on the shaft before a trip it really seems to help. I know before i did this i would have my partner take turns putting the motor in. By the end of the day my shoulder was killing me.

[Tpayneful]

I had a power drive motor for many years and had the same problem but I figured it out.  Right above the motor is threads with a ring on it.  The deploy system hooks onto this ring.  Grab the ring and spin it until it is as high up the shaft as it will go.  This will move the motor further out on the deploy system and easier to deploy.  

The other thing that you need to do is push down on the shaft at the same time you try to deploy the motor.

[Tpayneful]

Here is a picture of how to press down on the shaft when you slide it out.  

[The Rooster]

WOW!! Thanks for that advice. I'll look at that immediately. My ring might be way to close too the motor cause I do notice that when I pull it up into stow position that I have to pull on it quite forcefully to make it latch into place. And even though the hook will freely lift off of it, it won't budge when pushing it to deploy it. I was afraid to push down too much on the shaft. I had tried that but it just seemed to bend and not really help to "pry" the motor up any. But thanks for the advice, I'll try it all and see what works.

[Micro]

Slap the head with the palm of your hand.  It's tough enough, it can take it.  

[The Rooster]

I did that a couple of times and hurt my hand some but never budged the motor so I quit before I hurt it to the point that I couldn't fish. Maybe I'm just weak. That motor is the hardest thing to move I've ever seen. I might have been able to put enough power into it to have moved it but the bad thing is the shaft on mine is so long that in order to hold up the hooking mechanism and still hit the head like you say I have to really stretch so I'm unable to hit it with enough force to move it. I think the shaft on mine is about as long as they come (can't remember actual length). When it's in the yard here at home and I have it in the deploy position, the head is equal in height to me and the motor is only off the ground less than a foot. I'm 6'1" tall. It's a long shaft for sure. Got a good deal on it and it was the only length available when I bought it so I took it despite it being so long. It's probably made for a pontoon but I have it on a V-hull boat.

[simplejoe]

WD- 40 along the shaft works every time.

[Tpayneful]

The Minnkota website recommends the correct depth to run the motor.  I used that information to determine how much to cut my shaft.  I used a tubing cutter and a hacksaw.  Just remove the head, cut the shaft (making sure you don't cut the wires inside), slide off the excess, drill a new hole to mount the head and reassemble.  It is really easy to do.

You can bend a Minnkota shaft as far as you want and it will not hurt it.