Minn Kota Fortrex Bow Guard Spring Fix

[easternshore]

Had to share this with you all because searching for related information on repairing or replacing the bow guard to a Minn Kota Fortrex, well, there just wasn't much to be found. Anyway...

Over the weekend, I took on a serious boat wake without my trolling motor strapped down. Needless to stay, it popped off the deck mount and into the water as I was slowing down and the entire trolling motor arm snapped out of the bow guard housing. Thankfully my day was over before that.

Searching for ways to fix this found none, but one suggested it could be taken to service center and would probably cost around $100. I was pretty sure I could fix myself if I had the right tools. The spring on the arm of the motor is strong and requires a lot of force to compress in order to get the housing back together once its disassembled. I used a pair of c-clamps to evenly squeeze both ends of the housing together so that I could get the hex head machine screws to bite into the housing and close it up.

It took some time and patience, but if you close the c-clamps slowly and evenly on the top and bottom of the bow guard housing you can get her closed up and bolted in. I apologize for not taking pictures of what it looked like before repairing this, but if you take one lesson away from this, NEVER remove those screws just because you are curious! I guess the another lesson is to strap down your motor!

As you can tell from the pics, my Fortrex has taken a beating from the shallow water mud flats and stumps to boats bumping her at the dock. She has her fair share of wounds but is one tough SOB!
When repairing/replacing, remember the screws should be tightened much like lug nuts on a tire, alternating between the three to get a snug, level fit.

I hope this helps someone down the road! Saved me a ton of dough and missed time on the water!


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[Mike Cork]

Great post, thank you for sharing. Smart thinking on the compression. Most of us just fight it, break knuckles and learn new cuss words along the way

[easternshore]

Most of us just fight it, break knuckles and learn new cuss words along the way

I left that part out intentionally!