�I have a MK Maxxum 80 that is about 3 years old. It flops around in the bracket so much I am afraid it is spooking fish. Is there anything I can do to make it a little less loose in the bracket?

Something must be broke or a bolt has fallen out. Never seen a Minn Kota Maxxum bracket wear out.

Gary, you still do a little work on trolling motors?

Coy

The trolling motor itself or does the actual mount move around?

There is a pin on the end of the rope that you pull to raise the motor that sometimes will not latch in all the way when the motor is in the down position. This pin is spring loaded, mine sometimes does not catch and I have to tug on the rope to get it to seat, if I do not the motor will try to rise up when I put power to it,is this the problem you are having or is it just loose in the bracket??

The bracket doesn't move. The trolling motor seems to move vertically more than I would like when I hit the power button. The motor shaft deflects a little when giving it the gas and then deflects back when I get off the power.

And yes, the latch pin is catching. Mine will fly up in the bracket at times if the pin does not catch.

you can try some old innertube wrapped around the shaft in the mount, 1 or 2 layers should be enough.

I assume that your bracket came with the tm when bought new? If not, you may need to get something in between the tm shaft and the bracket housing. I just bought a "friction tube" from www.trollingmotorparts.com (near Fork) for my Motorguide. It was made to adapt a 1" shaft to 2" housing. Search the Internet for that and see what you find. Otherwise, you could use pvc pipe (cut and modified to fit).

I have the same TM and its just five months old and is doing the same thing. At first it was real tight but now its like the bracket is worn out. Its very noisy like you mentioned.