I got my Ultrex from the shop today and took it out for its maiden voyage. Sorry to say, the pedal was incredibly difficult to operate, having to put all my body weight standing up to move it. It loosened up a bit after turning the pedal tensioning screw, but it still takes a huge amount of foot pressure to move the power head, and only by standing up and putting weight on it, and I prefer to sit. I then loosened the pedal tensioning screw quite a few turns for some, though not a great deal, of improvement.

After loosening the tension screw, what I found is that there's resistance on the downward heel pressure, then a low-pressure slack mid-travel, and then increased pedal pressure when engaging the toe pressure. Again, having to stand and put body weight with straight leg pressure into it.

Minnkota's service representative was real nice over the phone and yet was clueless for an answer and told me basically to take it to my local MK service station, which of course is 60 miles away. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery here?

I installed mine myself herb but have never experienced that problem. Is there a chance of a kink or twist in the cable? I fish mostly sitting and have on occasion operated the foot pedal barefooted with ease so your problem is a mystery to me. You might try talking with David at Shut Up and Fish, he installs these things all the time and might have an answer for you. 972-822-9285

I had the same problem cant recall what is was exactly but it was a quick fix at sartin marine and under warranty or maybe recall either way it was free.
you said you got it from the shop so it was being repaired for something else?

Nope, a brand new TM and a new install by a Skeeter/Minn Kota dealer in South Austin. The MK service center is in Hutto TX, however, and that's 52 miles from home. I was hoping for a quicker fix than a 100 mile round trip to drop it off and another 100 mile round trip to get it home again. It goes back to South Austin Marine tomorrow morning for a discussion.

Weird, mine is the opposite problem. Can’t tighten it enough. Barely touch it and the head is spinning.

I had the same problem. It was a foot control sensor that went bad. Took mine to Boris marine and was in and out in 30 minutes and covered under warranty. Do not mash down on it. You will break other stuff. It should work like power steering on your truck.

Foot control sensor

loosen the cable adjustment screw under where the cable goes into your foot control, it will tighten or loosen the foot pedal. You can youtube it if you want.

Welcome to the Ultrex club. You will get to know the people at your nearest service center like they are family. Great TM when they work, but they break alot. Agree with those above. Sounds like foot control sensor. Replaced mine about a month ago.

So true !

Great when they work. It’s funny, I treated mine like it was indestructible ...then it started breaking. Now, every little odd noise, and it’s in my head the rest of the tourney.

I haven’t had the “dead pedal” issue. Maybe mine immune to that one. I’ve had quite a few little issues that were easy to fix on my own. I have also had one catastrophic failure that required almost the entire unit to be replaced. Oh well. Sadly, it’s the best money spent, even with the issues. Judging by the costs of the other new to market units, it must cost a LOT to build a better mousetrap. Guess we’ll see !?

Yep, mine has been bulletproof since I bought. Then this weekend in a tournament, the foot pedal froze up out of the blue. Dug around in glove box and found the remote. Steered with the remote for an hour and then the foot pedal started working again. Headed to the service center to get the circuit board replaced in the next day or two. It's a 6 hour round trip drive for me. Hope I don't start seeing issues now.

The mnnkota guy in hutto is very good. I've been going to him for several years.

Just about the time I talk myself into maybe pulling the trigger on an Ultrex……………..these threads pop up.

Pretty sure I'll just stay with my Fortrex. Thank you.

Honestly, most of the repairs are not hard to do yourself in less than 20 minutes. The exception may be cable replacement. That isn't fun to do, especially the first time. I have a service center close and it's under warranty so why pay? However, if I had to drive that far I would fix it myself.

That is South Austin for you... I have heard to many horror stories any too many issues.