*@#&* Trolling Motor

[flyflinger]

Trolling motor worked fine yesterday, but today it was as dead as it could be. The direction indicator worked and turned the motor in all directions, but the blade would not engage. When I turn the blade by hand, it appears to be a little stiff, where before you could spin it freely. I have to admit that I did get some line hung in it yesterday, but I thought I got it all out and it did work afterward. It is getting voltage because it will change direction fine, but won't run. Spoiled my whole day on the lake. Any ideas what could be wrong, or do you think I have to take it to a mechanic? BTW the water temp at Bull Shoals was up nearly 2 degrees from yesterday from 45 to 46.8, so I think another week of these temps and the action should pick up on Bull Shoals and other deep water lakes.

[Roughneck]

If it worked before you gat the line in it then I would say remove the blade and see if the line is in the seal or something.

[flyflinger]

Can you take the blade off without the special wrench?

[Jerry Blake]

Can you take the blade off without the special wrench?

Mine comes off by removing the prop nut with a half-inch deep socket and a ratchet. Be carefull not to drop the shear pin. Any time you get fishing line behind your prop you should take the prop off to make sure you get all the line out. Besides causing extra strain on your motor and drawing excess current from your batteries fishing line can aslo damage your shaft seal, which can let water into your motor and destroy it.

[flyflinger]

My clamp mount tm has a small nut to remove prop, however this tm is a 24v, and has a big plastic nut with indentations in it for a special wrench, like a spud type wrench. I can likely get one at W.Mart or Bass Pro, but I was hoping to be able to just take it off. Nothing comes easy to the mechanacilly challenged.

[barn dog]

Try sticking a rair of needle nose pliers in the holes this worked for me before

[barn dog]

that is a PAIR not rair needle nose pliers. sorry for the spelling errors fat fingers

[flyflinger]

Good idea, I'll give it a try. Thanks

[flyflinger]

OK, got the nut off, and prop and inside seal is ok. I took a battery jumper box and hooked it to the tm plug and guess what, it runs. So, if the batteries are not dead, I must have a short in the recepticle. I put the charger on the batteries and it indicated they were fully charged. But, there are two batteries wired in series so the tm gets 24 v. Is there any special way to hook up the charger so both batteries charge at the same time. I thought hooking the + to the first battery and - to the second battery was the way to do it. Is that not correct. Or should I disconnect both batteries and charge them individually?

[Polebender]

Unless you have a 2 bank charger, I believe you will have to charge each battery separately. I've recently changed to a 24v trolling motor with 70# thrust. Man, that dude will hold in the wind! I had concerns that my charger wasn't working---the indicator lights aren't working properly, but I've got 26.4 volts, so I guess I'm good to go!