Ultrex Problems???

Is anyone else having a problem with their Ultrex. Mine I guess was made early Monday morning or late Friday afternoon. It is not sealed and as a result I have water in my motor. I noticed that there was a rust looking stain on my TM mount right under the motor and the shaft. Upon inspection it had water dripping from that point. It has so much water in it that there is water dripping out of the head also. WTF, also my pedal sticks ever once in a while but that's a easy fix.

it a mechanical bunch of parts put together by people there will be some failures once in a while the good news it under warranty.

Water in head they will repair. Call minnkota and take it to a repair center.

Mine has had steering issues 2 time in the 18 months I have had it, first time they shipped me a new unit, this time it's been in the shop for 3 weeks waiting on parts.


It's part of the game, lots of technology means lots of moving parts.


The best bet for low probability of issues is a hand controlled with a couple of Big Foot stomp switches.

I had a mother board go out last month, 4 mother boards later we got one that worked. Still the best piece of equiptment Ive owned

My only problem so far is I had it installed while boat was in for some fiberglass work and the boats not done yet! Can't wait to give it a run.

Broke a steering cable on mine Sunday.

They said warranty would cover it, but I'd have to be without the TM or the boat. And pay shipping. ...cost of both cables and shipping was $44. So I just decided to not make it a warranty claim and bought them. Looks like a 1 to 1-1/2 hour job. No gas money spent. And no huge shipping bill. No time without the boat.

And they are easy to replace.

Mine did this the first day on the water with it...Sartins fixed me up right away. this is a warranty fix for sure.

Robert did an awesome job and there were no questions asked....I can tell you that you are not alone...others are seeing this as well. I was super happy with how they dealt with this.

So the cable replacement... Is there a fix for the failing cables or are they giving you another cable that will have the same problem and it's just a bandaid?

I had to have my steering cable replaced about 4 months ago. I was told the new cable has been improved. I took it to an ASC one day and it was ready the next. They also replaced the board that was causing the foot pedal to freeze as a preventive measure.

Improved cable is what I was told.

Zero problems with mine so far except my boat is in for repairs for a fuel problem so I can't use it and I'm told it's may be 2 more weeks before it's ready.

I fish 3-4 days a week and have had an ultrex for the last 8 months with zero issues

Keep a fortrex as a backup. Same mount

Maybe the cable is improved. Maybe not....don't know ....

What I do know is the cable on mine is over a year old and I caused it to break. I jammed the trolling motor up against some rip rap trying to get my partners bait unhung. Then, when wedged between rocks, I tried to turn the trolling motor around to drive away. The head wasn't moving, but that didn't keep my foot from trying to turn it. Lol.

Cool thing? I explained exactly what I did to the unit to MK. They were still gonna warranty it. I didn't want a warranty....I just wanted to get it back to 100% asap. I hate using the remote. The remote worked fine, even with busted cables, allowing me to fish the rest of the tourney.

One more reason to have an Ultrex vs a Fortrex. With a Fortrex, tourney would have been done.....no 5 fish....no big bass money.....

The remote for the ultrex is like that chick at the bar you scramble to find at closing time. She ain’t what you want, but by god she she’ll be there for ya. Then you never have to see her again until you need her

What?

Right!

Another thing ..... I charged the remote to a full charge over a year ago. I've used it around once a month to save a spot lock or return to one. And then all day Sunday. It was charged and ready.

Finally found the charger cord for it last night. It was behind my night stand...covered in dust. Now I have the remote charged up and ready for another year.

Think I popped a cable today myself. Don't wanna hijack thread so if of you more knowledgeable guys would PM(reassure me and explain fix). Scared it's gonna happen again(did not "bind" mine). I do have Fortrex backup. Wish I would have known remote would have worked it Thanks fellas

check pm.

only thing I have encountered is the off/on switch not turning the unit off after removing foot from pedal.. I found that I can adjust the switch to remedy this.
other is my HDS 8 will not work effectively with the US2 ducer. It takes a long time for the unit to reset/identify a depth and read the sonar signals correctly. I have heard that MK knows this is a problem and has admitted the 8 is the only one that does this.

mine works really well with my HDS7. I wonder why the 8 is having communication issues?

I wish I knew. I love the unit and don't want to run an external ducer. hate having an extra cord hanging off a $2000 trolling motor. I can usually just unplug the us2 and plug it back in and wait about 5 minutes and it will reset.

Any of you all install the external plug? Thinking about doing this so it won't be such an A$$ Ache to pull the TM if it goes down. Mine is hardwired( like most)

My steering cable broke and MK is having it repaired under the warranty. I had another steering issue when it was 3 or 4 months old and they actually replaced it with a new one because they wanted it back to try and figure out the issue. So this is actually a different unit than I initially purchased. The shop I am using (All Star) called me and said they are also replacing the entire foot pedal and a few other things with newer parts they have upgraded.

I was told they did have an issue with some steering cables and they have made improvements to rectify those issues.

MK has been great as well as All Star through the whole process. I kept my Fortrex, so I am just using it until mine is fixed.

Not cheap, but the best plug I have found and using it on my Ultrex.

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-Co...ling+motor+plug

Reading some of the comments about getting their Ultrex to shallow and breaking the cable, just like the Fortrex you can manually lift the Ultrex up and power your way out of shallow water or over the obstruction. Assuming the nothing else on the boat is touching the bottom.

There's a lot of misinformation on the internet about the Ultrex only working when fully deployed. Not true. You can spin the prop almost unitl the head touches the rails.

One thing I noticed about the Ultrex is it doesn't have that break away feature the Fortrex does, or am I missing something?

It sure looks like without the ability to give under a hard collision, that shaft is in trouble.

I've heard it is "indestructible" and has a lifetime guarantee. But...I wouldn't want to be the one to test it.

I broke one but I don't know of a trolling motor alive that would have lived through that one. I was on full 10 speed and wasn't paying attention and squared up a Monticello hammer. If you don't fish Monti then you don't know what I am talking about. The stumps in that lake are petrified. Minnkota replaced it no questions asked and the great guys at Sartin Marine had me back on the water in less than a week.

That's probably what it takes too! Yikes. Worse than the shaft breaking would have been my butt going overboard. Ha

Ultrex is the way to go

Mother board in mine and it was bought on Black Friday