I have the same trolling motor and the same problem. It seems the factory grease gets hard inside the motor where the shaft spins and acts like glue. I removed the long screws, carefully pulled the case apart, cleaned out the old grease (which was more like hard plastic) and packed the bearing area with lithium grease. I also lubricated the "O" rings and they were not damaged or brittle so I re-used them and put the unit back together being careful to tighten the screws properly. I have had no problems since. Also be sure to check the connections to the battery, for some reason that motor is very sensitive and wants a really good connection to the battery posts and sometimes all you need to do is re-tighten the connection if the motor does not run at all. By the way, I contacted Minn Kota regarding the 3Hp and was told "hp" stands for high performance and the motor is not 3 Horsepower.
Answers & Comments
I have the same trolling motor and the same problem.
It seems the factory grease gets hard inside the motor where the shaft spins and acts like glue. I removed the long screws, carefully pulled the case apart, cleaned out the old grease (which was more like hard plastic) and packed the bearing area with lithium grease. I also lubricated the "O" rings and they were not damaged or brittle so I re-used them and put the unit back together being careful to tighten the screws properly. I have had no problems since. Also be sure to check the connections to the battery, for some reason that motor is very sensitive and wants a really good connection to the battery posts and sometimes all you need to do is re-tighten the connection if the motor does not run at all.
By the way, I contacted Minn Kota regarding the 3Hp and was told "hp" stands for high performance and the motor is not 3 Horsepower.