Dislike Minn Kota Power Drive V2

[Gansett]

I believe I made a mistake 18 months ago when I purchased a MK Power Drive V2. Should have bought the Terrova. It takes too much effort to deploy and retrieve the motor. More effort to take in than to deploy. Bend way over, push a lever, pull the motor up by its head and pull in place until it latches in. Yep, I do keep it lubed up.

Also, when I push on the foot pedal it gets very touchy. More often than not I have to move my foot all over the place until it finally makes a "connection" and moves. Lastly, when the motor is deployed and I want to "turn" there is a delay of up to 4 or 5 seconds until a round sleeve finally turns enough to allow the motor's head to drop into a slot.

The whole thing is aggravating. My next purchase is a Terrova, but that's not for at least another year.

Does anyone agree or disagree with my observations?

[wannabe fisherman]

here's a little help
when you deploy turn the motor until it drops in the slot before you try to use it eliminates the delay
when you go to retrieve it turn straight ahead and with the motor running release the latch and the motor will drive itself up. you just have to remember to stop it when it's up where you can reach it. also you can drill a small hole in the latch handle and tie a small rope to it to make it easier to pull.
this works on my older V1

[ATM]

The Terrova you are wanting has the same issues with deploying, retrieving, and delaying. But, I wouldn't trade it for nothing.

[olduckhunter]

i sent him a pm how to fix his foot pedal problem.

[SCOTTY1094]

I feel the same way. I have had mine since march 2007. When i bought it i thought it was a neat idea but the more i use the more i dislike it. The best thing about it is the copilot i put on it. I have found that if i use pledge on the shaft it is easier to pull back up. Oldduckhunter i would like to see your fix for foot pedal.

[trollman]

I would also like to see foot pedal fix. Thanks

[crappiedoc]

Me 3, when I purchased my tm from the refurb list at the repair shop, the tech told me avg pedal life was 15 months. His shop was full of the V2's, whether it was auto, co, or straight those were the only motors in there for repair. Sure am glad I got the Maxxum, I can run it 60% power for 7hrs and only use 25% of my 29's.

[olduckhunter]

ok. i'm not real good at describing things is because i sent his in a pm. i'll try. now it depends if yours was doing the same thing mine was. i had to push hard on the button to get it to finally hit a spot to conect or go. i put up with it like that for a while then decided to do something even if it was wrong. i knew the pedal button wasnt' making contact easy. i popped it, the button, out of the pedal and there's a square stem on the button that sticks down and is supposed to hit the switch when pressed with your foot. that, on mine, was too short. i thought a while what i could use to make it longer and got a ball point pen and cut the ink tube that fits hard into the square hole in the stem and cut it off a little longer than the stem. put it back together and it was then too long. i kept cutting the ball point pen tube off little by little till i got it where when i stepped on the button what i thought should be normal to connect i left it like that. it has worked perfectly for over a year. hope this helps you with yours.

[crappiedoc]

ok. i'm not real good at describing things is because i sent his in a pm. i'll try. now it depends if yours was doing the same thing mine was. i had to push hard on the button to get it to finally hit a spot to conect or go. i put up with it like that for a while then decided to do something even if it was wrong. i knew the pedal button wasnt' making contact easy. i popped it, the button, out of the pedal and there's a square stem on the button that sticks down and is supposed to hit the switch when pressed with your foot. that, on mine, was too short. i thought a while what i could use to make it longer and got a ball point pen and cut the ink tube that fits hard into the square hole in the stem and cut it off a little longer than the stem. put it back together and it was then too long. i kept cutting the ball point pen tube off little by little till i got it where when i stepped on the button what i thought should be normal to connect i left it like that. it has worked perfectly for over a year. hope this helps you with yours.

We've done something similar on the GO pad on the pedal. The contact doesn't really wear out usually, we use furniture felts over the contact pin. Sounds very similar, or the rubber "bushing" cap thing wears through a tire patch kit will work along with other things. Good post.

[Ranger R61]

I use ArmorAll on the shaft of my PD V2 and do not have any trouble deploying it. I also put it on the cradle.