Anybody ever had this happen to their Minn Kota Fortrex?

Has anybody had one of these bushing come out of hinge on their trolling motor mount?



the aluminum arm is real sloppy now when i put my motor down. Easy Fix?

Just had that happen a few months ago. I sent my entire mount assembly back to minn kota. They replaced everything. Quickly too.

just take it to on site repair by lake fork Marina. If its under warranty they should fix u right up. if not their rates and work is the best I've seen

thanks bass johnson. I apologize for not getting back to you on the humminbird. I posted it up in the for sale/trade section w/ pics

Seen it happen a bunch, mine did it once and my partner has had it happen twice.

Just had mine repaired by lake fork on site repair. Warranty covered it. Exact same thing happened to mine. Fixed for now but don't see what would stop from happening again.

kind of frustrating for such a good motor...im not the original owner on mine...so i guess ill fork money, you think you could DIY

Yes... had to use steel stick to repair my old one since repair center did not have this WEAK item in stock... Supposed to have some in soon...

Foretrex is pretty easy to tear apart and repair yourself and once you do it I have learned to buy 2 of everything that breaks.

there is one on either side. I hope the other one doesnt fail as well!

Change them both out at same time...

Talked with Minn lots and they sent both sides on mine along with new hardware u need a kick stand on yours! I didn't have one but got one & haven't had a problem since

Make sure to tighten all of the screws and nuts on them from time to time, they like to come loose.

minnkota replaced the hole arm. fast

Forgive my ignorance I have 101# fortrex and do not know where that part came from but if you can install it your self I will buy some spares. thanks Roger

thats what happens to a troll motor thats 75% plastic, i kick myself everyday for going with a fortrex on this boat

ok toledo, i'll bite.

i'm about as hard on a trolling motor as a person can be. my fortrex has been put to the test the last year. when i beach my boat, i drop the tm on the bank as my anchor, use it as a tie off when pulled up on a boat ramp as well, have banged into numerous stumps, laydowns, concrete and all kinds of rocks, have ground up grass, limbs and gravel. it has pulled me into and out of solid matted hydrilla on hubbard creek. i have not had one single problem. the flexible shaft and the breakaway system works perfect when running into things.

on the other hand, i've owned mg before too and never will have another. between the broken cable ends, burned up boards in the head and the foot, and of course, can't forget about bent shafts, the mg does not even come close to meeting my needs for a tm. i could see mg being ok for clear lakes with no timber, but for the lakes i fish, it's minn kota hands down.

more plastic to ya

I agree with bigfishtx. I fished MG for 35 years and the last 4 I had were total pieces of [censored]. I talked to MG several times and was told that that was as good as it was going to get. I am on my second Fortrex now and have not had the first problem out of them. I only wish that I had changed years ago!

I just don't get where you guys get that Minn Kota is the best thing since sliced bread?? First of all, I wanna know if y'all are comparing a fortrex to a MG Tour Edition 109? If so, then I don't see how you can even say they are comparable. My last boat had a 109 Tour Edition and my new one has the 101 Fortrex and I HATE it. First of all it sits damn near 2' off the front of the deck like a bridge truss. Quiet?? Yeah right, that thing makes a popping and squeaking sound everytime you turn. Powerful? Negative, that 109 Tour Edition will leave that fortrex in the wind. Don't believe me, GPS it!!! I live in south Louisiana, there is no harsher environment than these stump filled bayous and flats. Not to mention the almighty Red River and Toledo Bend. In 3 years with my Tour Edition I can count on one hand I jammed it so hard I had to crank up the outboard to get it to release. In 4 months with this Fortrex I've already done it 4 times. It hits a stump and pretty much just locks up. That MG would hit it, fold under and the strength of the shaft would pretty much bounce it off the stump. I don't see this thing taking the beating over the years like my MG did. I know everybody has an opinion so that's my take on the Fortrex. If we all liked the same thing the world would be a boring place.

cajun, no, haven't seen a mg te tested yet, been in boats with them but not in rough conditions to compare to the mk 101.

my mg view was settled years ago with 2 bad experiences.

first one, hung up in the back of kickapoo on palestine, burnt up the board (2nd time) trying to get out of the shallow water. couldn't put the big motor down and ended up having to toss the anchor out and pull the boat until i got to where i could put the big motor down.

second one sealed the deal. brand new boat, first tournament in it on rayburn. get to a hump that was holding fish, drop the tm hit the switch and dang near fall in when it spins about 180 degrees on full throttle. cable end broke. no problem, just toss the anchor right? i toss it, tie it off, throw my c-rig out, get bit go to set the hook and the boat moves up and sideways (big wind blowing). miss the fish and notice rope hanging off the boat, pull it up and no more anchor, lol. came undone.

not once since i've gone to minn kota has my anchor rope come undone.

I have three tour editions sitting in my garage right now 2 109s and an 82. I won't even spend the money to get them repaired to sale because I don't want someone to end up with the problems that I had with them. I have fished all over La and if you want to see some tough stumps come over to Lake Fork. I will put them up against anything you have, however, I do my best not hit stumps with my trolling motor. As you said everyone has an opinion and ours do not have to be the same.

I use mine for a living, and I will never own another fourtrex mount. I still love minnkota, but I had so.many bushings.go out and broken bolt heads on that mount, that I bought a plain mount.

Where does that piece go? I havent had mine fall out, but do they wear out? My Fortrex mount just started making some noise.

I really like my Fortrex but that same bushing has broke 4 times on mine in two years. Im so tired of getting it fixed every six months. I dont know if its a design flaw or what but is a common problem on the Fortrex. I am going to contact Minn Kota and see what they will do about it. My warranty will run out soon and i shouldnt have to fix this every six months. There are 2 of these bushings and its always the one one on the outside edge closest to the water, that breaks.

A pack of lies I tell ya! Everyone I've ever talked to says MK's never break!!

if you don't get any satisfaction from MK.. stop by my shop next time your in the area, and we'll take a look at the problem for you.

Me too.

Their just a $100 bucks are so higher than a Tour ,just buy another one.It should break while under warranty in a year or so. Have run the tour and never ,I mean never had a problem with them and have cut more wood than a Echo chain saw, I'll sick with MG.

Call Minn Kota, they will send you replacement parts for FREE most likely. I've had it happen twice now. they are making the screws out of harder steel now and hopefully will eliminate this issue.

it's an easy fix. 10-15 minutes

This happened to me at the lewisville open. The minn Kota guys put on a brand new mount for me.

Design flaw I have replaced mine many many many times

The guy I know that repairs trolling motors says the majority of his business is Minn Kota. Basically, if it works for you, that's all that matters. We burn down 2 sets of batteries on MG routinely in the spring each day on Rayburn and Toledo. Stumps, grass, etc and have have zero issues with Tour model.

I have a fortrex, what is this part called, where does it go? I want to make sure I am not sol because I don't have replacements.

this

Of course he repairs more Minn Kota stuff....it's what EVERYONE is using. Lol. That, and they are WORTH fixing.

Do y'all realize Jake Shannon dredged this up from 2012???

Hardest thing on that mount is rough water and trailering.

Invest $100 and get a T-H Marine Troll-Tamer, it will cut down on the stress on that pivot point while running the lake and trailering.

Happened to me. When you see little pieces of that bushing laying around your boat it's hard to figure what they are.:-) Guy with little trolling motor shop on 515 @ Fork fixed me up pretty quick & cheap.

I bought a Fortrex from a guy from Falcon. Guy said it was in excellent condition. Had a guy pick it up for me. Mounted the TM, pulled the rope and had a full 1 inch play in the bracket. One of the bushings was gone, the other was 1/2 gone. I love Fortrex, not MinnKota's fault I bought it sight unseen from a liar.

Does the entire rear pivot bracket(s) need to be replaced or just these bushings?

Thanks

I agree mount sucks . Think I’m going back to MG when the tour pro gets released.
J D

It takes about 30 minutes to change both pivot bushings. Definitely not an "end of the world" failure.

Hey Bryan, does it just require replacing this whole kit or just the bushings in the kit?

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcREu7ln7QAMpYZAvhvc2Z-hk6Lgn1uDRgwd2lblywjHNE5IpUBdQMiCURELiAm7Ga2ezgIgbPQuP2bubyqLKR7Djzj_SslepIgrvC5And0PrALdCbBCQlL8EA&usqp=CAc

I replaced mine once , they are a buck twenty-five apiece.
fifteen minutes to replace

I’ve done this to my Ultrex twice...and found a chunck of bushing on the carpet again this past weekend. Time for set number three. It’s almost like an annual maintenance.

You can usually get by with just the bushings. When I do mine I order the kit since I'm going to be in that far anyway. Some of the guys that are saying their bushings are going out constantly should probably replace their pivots too. You can get the kit from these guys and they ship pretty fast. https://northlandmarine.com/collect...n-kota-pivot-bracket-repair-kit-pbrepkit

I fished MG for years and tried an MK since the repair shops said both brands had about the same repair rate. Never had a problem with an MG except a steering cable broke once after 12 years. My MK burned up circuit boards annually, Bushings wore out frequently. Lower unit leaked and had to be replaced. I use a 20 year old MG now and have never repaired anything. As the repair shops advised me, they have about the same repair record. Some units just perform better than others.

How in the world is this thread still alive!

OP posted this 8 years ago, then it was bumped 3 years ago and now its back!

Thank you Sir.

This is a good topic! I ended up having good luck ordering parts from Minn Kota and fixing it myself. It was a relatively Easy fix.

Mine was mounted on a champion, and it stuck out over the gunnel, which didn’t allow the “kickstand” to be used. The metal frame on the mount really took a beating over time, Eventually bending slightly, which would shred those Bushing...

I have a fortrex, where is this part in the mount? You happen to have a pic of where it goes?

Here you go... https://www.fhcoutdoors.com/how-to-replace-minn-kota-fortrex-pivot-bushings-and-brackets/