Chris Bellin
04-02-2000, 10:06 AM
a friend of mine has a motorguide trolling motor and he broke the prop. he called me yesterday to see if i knew how to remove the broken prop. i tried for almost an hour to get it off but couldn't. Any help would be appreciated.
Chris
neil hammargren
04-02-2000, 11:42 AM
your trolling should have come with a prop wench . it fits in the plastic nut in the middle of the prop. the head of my trolling motor has a spot to store it.i have used a needle nose pliers to take it off also
On that motor, there is a prop nut that is oval in shape with a couple of notches. Installed in the trolling motor base, will be a prop nut wrench that will fit the notches. Use it to remove the prop. If the wrench is gone or lost, you can get buy with a needle nose pliar or possibly a blunt chisel and hammer to loosen the nut.
Once the nut is off -- the fun begans. Because the prop is broken, it is more than likely that the shear pin is badly bent. When the pin gets bent the prop can get so badly wedged that is almost impossible to remove.
Often, an easy way to remove it is to use a hard wood block of wood, and while your prop is pulling on the prop in an attempt to remove it - you hammer very heavily -- through the block of wood (so that you don't screw up the shaft threads) -- on the prop shaft.
The idea here is that the sudden impact of the hammer is enough to knock the prop shaft through the prop, if the prop is being held up.
If is also a good idea to do this with the motor removed from any brackets. You don't want the brackets to be broken or to impede the potential swing of the motor head, on hammer impact.
This technique is used by mechanics the world around to removed pullys, props and other things from shafts. Generally one or two taps will clear it and you will be home.
If there has been a very severe bend of the shear pin -- take the motor to your near by machine shop and have the motor shaft pressed out of the broken prop with a press. Many shops will do this one or two minute operation for no charge.
Take care
REW