Thread: Minn Kota PD v2 w/ I-Pilot

Originally Posted by feelay

Cut the shaft. Talked to a Minnkota engineer a while back, he recommended to buy the motor that you want, and cut the shaft down ( all Terrovas that come with i-pilot are 60" shafts). There are some guys on here who have done it, they have said it was easy to do.

Mr. CN cut the shaft on his MK with a hacksaw. He inserted a butter knife into the shaft on the side he was cutting just in case he sawed through the shaft. Kept moving the knife till he had the entire thing cut off. Worked like a charm, though he was sweating bullets while sawing. LOL

Everything works just fine.

Minn Kota® 55 PowerDrive™ V2 Bow-Mount Trolling Motor with i-Pilot 54" shaft

Cabela's -- Minn Kota® 55 PowerDrive™ V2 Bow-Mount Trolling Motor with i-Pilot

No US2. You'd have to use your own transducer.

Crappie 123
I have a used PD2, bought Jan. 2011, 12 volt. 55# w/ 54" shaft, I-piolt and sonar2 Asking $800.00. Cost me $1031.00 new at Bass Pro.
Glenn 918-355-0835

I think this is it.
1358752 Minn Kota Powerdrive V2 55 PD/US2 12V 54" w/iPilot no Foot Pedal

Originally Posted by creekslick

Could you not buy it without the I-pilot then add it yourself.
Minn Kota Powerdrive V2 Bow-Mount Trolling Motors

Thats what i did , only takes about 45 min.

When purchasing a PDV2 and I-Pilot, take care. I bought my boat last March from Cowbellas in Dundee MI and had them install the I-Pilot on my PD V2. The first time out on the water I used the spot lock (which was working fantastic) and after about 20 minutes, the trolling motor spun around 540 degrees and crimped the transducer cable on my brand new fish finder, making it useless. The marine service manager at Cowbellas in Dundee MI was no help at all. When I told him about the problem, he said "Gee sorry about your luck, I haven't heard of that problem before." It was like "we got your 15 grand, so screw you." After a couple of months of argueing, I got Cabellas to replace the PDV2 with the PDV2 US, with the built in transducer. After driving all the way to Dundee (7 hour round trip) and having it installed, the spot lock on the I-pilot didn't work worth a hoot. I would turn it on at a dead stop and the trolling motor would spin around and push me 30 foot off my mark. Nothing else on the I-Pilot worked as advertised either. Until I had it switched, everything on it worked as advertised. Minn Kota kept saying that it was a voltage drop from my battery, but I didn't believe it. (Brand new battery that was less than 3 months old, and on a fresh charge). I think somebody screwed something up on the install. I put up with it all year long not wanting to loose time on the water fishing. This winter, I took my trolling motor to a Minn Kota ASC and had the mechanic run it throught it's paces. Of course he couldn't duplicate the problems I was having (spot lock not holding, auto pilot not working properly, trolling motor shutting off etc..) since he was on dry land. I finally convinced him to just order a new I-pilot and install it. MOst things seems to work just fine now, but I'm still having some problems. I was out a while ago battling a little bit of wind (15 MPH) and a bit of wave and my trolling motor kept shutting off again. After the 4th time, it popped the circuit breaker to my battery. I reached into the compartment to reset the breaker and it was extremely hot there and the red cover on my + cable had melted a little bit onto my post. I immediately shut everything down. I posed the question about what might have caused this on a couple of message boards and the most common answer was a possible bad battery. I purchased a new battery, but haven't had the chance to test it out again. Now I don't know if I am the only one that has had this problem, but I haven't seen anything on it on any message board. Most of the people have a terrova with the I-pilot, not a PDV2, and just absolutely love it. Does anybody know of someone with the PDV2 and I-Pilot that have been having the same issues as me or is it just a fluke?

Originally Posted by minnowtime

Crappie 123
I have a used PD2, bought Jan. 2011, 12 volt. 55# w/ 54" shaft, I-piolt and sonar2 Asking $800.00. Cost me $1031.00 new at Bass Pro.
Glenn 918-355-0835

Why are you getting rid of it?

C123, I recently purchased a Terrova 101/US2/I-pilot 36V 60" shaft. I was not real crazy about the long shaft but after having it professionally installed by E-Z Poleholder and Majflyboy, I have gotten used to it and won't think about cutting the shaft.