Cutting shaft on minn kota maxxum

[goose925]

Has anyone cut down the shaft of a minn kota maxxum bow mount motor? I would like to cut a 62in shaft to 52in.I think you can cut the shaft its self but what about the extra cable?

[REW]

I think that the recommendation would be to get a new shorter shaft.

As far as the cable is concerned - simply cut off the extra -- if you are absolutely sure that you are never going to put a longer shaft back on and new connectors and you will be good to go.

Take care
REW

[goose925]

Have you heard of someone trying it?I need a shaft about 52in or so.I found a 62in in cabela's at a close out price. I could save over a hundred bucks. Didn't know if it would be worth it or not.

[SLIPKNOT]

Just curious, why don't you want the other 10". The longer shaft does no harm in any way, and I think there is no disadvantage to having a long shaft.


SLIPKNOT

[goose925]

I don't know.I fished for years in 16ft deep v's with a casting deck but not as high as a bass boat.I had the shaft as far down as I could set it and I would just miss it side-arm casting. My new boat is a deep v to and the bow hieght is 30in. I would assume that it would stick up to far.I never used a 62in motor though.So I'm not sure.

[REW]

Goose,
If you haven't used the motor much on your boat -- I would certainly use the motor before cutting any of the shaft off.
If you have a v bottom boat - with a relatively high bow -- the 62 inch shaft is actually a very nice length. You can keep the motor nice and deep - as long as you are in decent depth water, and not running the shallows for spring spawning fish -- and you don't have to worry about the motor blowing out if you get out in the wind.

I am not familiar with the particular mounting on that motor - so don't know if you have to lift and lower mounts to adjust the height of the motor when you are putting it in and taking it out- or if you can leave it fully down, when pulling it up and taking it out. If you can leave it fully down - I would use it like this for a bit and see if you are comfortable with it.

I do agree with your comment about a high trolling motor can get in the way of casting. I do have a long shaft trolling motor - that is left full down most of the time.

However, I will sometime run very shallow water to find those early spring fish. When I do this -- the height of the trolling motor does get in the way of some casts. When this does happen, I simply move to a different spot, or use a different kind of cast.

Take care

REW

[Phil T.]

I was in Reed's Tackle a few years ago and witnessed a man buy a trolling motor with a "too-long" shaft. Jeff only stocked the long ones.
The customer was told by Jeff to take the troller to a local factory-authorized service shop and have the shaft cut to length. No charge to the customer. The customer was also told not to do the job himself, because it would invalidate the warranty on the new troller.

[goose925]

ok thanks maybe I'll try that.