New Minnkota Ulterra help

A fishing buddy purchased a new Minnkota Ultera Trolling motor. Him and I managed to Get it mounted and hooked up. The first few times we deployed it it worked fine. About the 4th time it would not deploy. It just beeped and the remote read motor error. We managed to get a call into Minnkota Customer service from the lake ( Got thru rater quickly as well ) The tech person who helped us said to try and give it a gentle nudge. That seemed to work. He said they often need a little lubrication until it wears in a little. They said to use a silicone not a oil based lube. All we had with was a can of oil based WD40 so we held off for now. We have managed to use it for a few outing with simply giving it a gentle nudge sometime to get it to deploy. What is a good brand of silicon based lube to use on it? The Tech said Pledge works well. Pledge seems a little strange to use. I was thinking maybe some Remenington Teflon lube may be good but not sure if teflon and silicone are interchangeable. Anyone else have this issue with the Ulterra? What did you do/use ?

Water base silicone spray,some use Armor all or Pledge.Do not use anything with petroleum distillates in it.The trim/stow belt will not like it.

Maybe try tightening the belt. There is a spot to adjust the belt tension under the trolling motor head with an Allen key. You don’t want the belt to be too tight or too loose.

I have had two catastrophic failures with my ulterra, and many other smaller issues I was able to fix on my own. I am thinking about buying a terrova for a backup when I go out of town. My ulterra is really problematic in the cold. I love the thing when it works, but for me it has been a POS more often than not. It is out of warranty now so I really hope it doesn’t fail again anytime soon. I have a friend that had his die for the first time in three years. His is a first generation I believe mine is a second. I bought it in April 2019. I hope your friend good luck with his.

fishthumper wrote:

A fishing buddy purchased a new Minnkota Ultera Trolling motor. Him and I managed to Get it mounted and hooked up. The first few times we deployed it it worked fine. About the 4th time it would not deploy. It just beeped and the remote read motor error. We managed to get a call into Minnkota Customer service from the lake ( Got thru rater quickly as well ) The tech person who helped us said to try and give it a gentle nudge. That seemed to work. He said they often need a little lubrication until it wears in a little. They said to use a silicone not a oil based lube. All we had with was a can of oil based WD40 so we held off for now. We have managed to use it for a few outing with simply giving it a gentle nudge sometime to get it to deploy. What is a good brand of silicon based lube to use on it? The Tech said Pledge works well. Pledge seems a little strange to use. I was thinking maybe some Remenington Teflon lube may be good but not sure if teflon and silicone are interchangeable. Anyone else have this issue with the Ulterra? What did you do/use ?

Water based silicone spray won’t help in freezing temps though. In the summer great idea to use. The last trip out I spayed the shaft with WD40 when I had to use it when the temp was in the upper 20’s. It didn’t break this time using the WD40, so I will keep trying that when it is cold. I didn’t have any issues with the belt slipping.

milemark_714 wrote:

Water base silicone spray,some use Armor all or Pledge.Do not use anything with petroleum distillates in it.The trim/stow belt will not like it.

My uncle has one and I have heard him complain about it failing in colder temps too. “Too many moving parts” is what he always says. He used to have the Minnkota Genesis many years ago on his previous boat and was always having the same issue with the auto stow and deploy.

I will have to say so far both my buddy and I are really happy with the unit other than the slight issue with the deploy function. The deploy and stow + the trim are going to be great ( Keep in mind this buddy probably raises and lowers a trolling motor 100X a year more than normal fishermen ) . The spotlock is a game changer. It make me wonder how I have lived without it. I am a little worried about the longevity of the unit. My buddy is not one to like to do any maintenance or upkeep on equipment. This seems like a unit that needs a little more upkeep and care. I guess is only time will tell. Seems like the reviews on the unit are either a LOVE It or HATE thing.