Trolling motor choice?

[bassboogieman]

My MinnKota Maxxum 101# is about 6 years old and I don't know if it's true of all their models but I HATE THEIR DANG PLASTIC HEADS. The lower half is so weak I carry a spare. I've busted mine (actually I just think they are so weak it failed, nothing I did) twice and am on my third lower half in those six years.

The problem IS the "post" the main gears sit on are actully plastic rings, they are not that heavy and crack relatively easily. After the first one broke I replaced it and after the second one broke IN THE SAME PLACE, I filled the hollow ring the gear sits on (on bottom half #3) with JB WELD to make it a REAL (solid) POST. That may have solved the issue, it's still holding up. That said the top half cracked at Dale Hollow last year and I didn't have a spare top half and I don't have a corrective action to fix that.


Not the greates picture (and NO it isn't mine) but the post I'm talking about is the one that the white plastic gear is sitting on. It is a ring not a solid piece of plasitc and why it's made this way I have no clue. It could just as easily be a solid plastic post rather than a ring. But this is the point of failure in two lower halves of the power head.

Bottom line, their plastic heads are not very durable. So if you decide on a MK, take the head apart and check the "post" the main drive gear sits on - if it's a plastic ring, either give it the JB WELD treatment and make it a POST or get a spare lower half. An ounce of prevention my friend...