Thread: Motorguide X3 Digital Steering & Wiring Cable Replacement

I have 3 of these trolling motors and although cheaper in build & price than Minn Kota comparable trolling motors they are lighter, provide more thrust per amp, and overall fill a now void in the trolling motor business. The trolling motor manufacturers have made a mistake eliminating these smaller digital TM's. I am building up my spare parts to keep these running for years & years. If the TM manufacturers don't want to build Digital trolling motors for the smaller boats they won't ever sell me another.



First I clamped wood to the welding table to hold the TM shaft securely while the work was happening. I have the TM resting on a 8x8 to get the TM head up to a more comfortable height. The direction indicator has a gear that meshes with the shaft gear so care must be used to point it in the proper direction during reassembly. The service manual recommends using pliers to open the connectors and not cut the wires but I cut thru the connector itself so only loosing 1/4in of wire length. You can see the steering cable is loose around the Cam, this is because the cable broke at the foot pedal. A single small red conductor supplies power to the power on indicator light and a single small black conductor which simply plugs into the indicator light board lead.



A single screw in the center of the steering cable sheath holder bracket allows the old bracket to be removed.



Four #2 phillips screws retains the baseplate where the control board is mounted on the opposite side. Make a note of how the wires are routed in relation to the steering cable before totally removing, be careful not to bend the ON/OFF switch while removing you have to roll the switch out of its location, unplug the lead going to the control switch & speed rheostat.



Both ends of the steering cables terminate in the foot pedal itself. You have to push the cable end holders out from underneath to unhook. Now the cable bosses will not just pull back thru you have to pull the pulley pins holding the pulleys in place first so the bosses will clear.



Releasing the steering cable/cable tensioning/wiring assembly from the foot pedal happens by removing the wiring clamp and opposite side Tab clamp allowing the wires and pads that hold the outside grommet or boot to the foot pedal. Sliding the tensioning bracket and boot tabs free from the center rearward lets the whole assemble come free. The cables must be free before this can be done. When installing the new assembly slide the battery power wire thru the grommet hole provided before routing into foot pedal. Tighten the tension screw in the last picture till the cables just have a little slack in the head when the foot pedal is pressed in either direction. You do not want the cables so tight absolutely no slack can be seen around the cam but not loose enough to jump out of the cam groves either.



Reconnecting the control board in the reverse you took the wiring off, make sure you have adequate slack in the wires before rotating the ON/OFF switch back in its hole, be very careful the switch bends very, very, easy. Make sure to protect all electrical connections here with Di-Electric Grease. Secure the bottom plate back in place with the 4 screws. The old steering cable assembly is on the floor, this is what you want to order not just the individual steering cables in one breaks.



Pay very close attention on how your wires were routed before totally removing everything, I wish took a picture. Holding the wires in the correct position to add the termination grease and compression cap was difficult for me, my thumbs don't work so great anymore. A small tie wrap was very handy to hold the wires in perfect position to terminate the wires properly. The Kopr-Shield prevents and weak connections & corrosion. The supply wires are routed outside in the wire tray but the motor wires are not. It was such a pain to get the wires perfectly routed so no binding of the motor wires while rotating I forgot to take any more pictures. Once the wires were routed properly I replaced the cover meshing the direction pointer gear in the right direction before replacing the cover. 3 #2 phillips screws hold the top on from the bottom up.