Terrova Shaft Not Sliding

Have any of you had issues with your terrova or power drive shaft not sliding smoothly during deploy/stow? I actually hit something with my motor the other day and now it’s not sliding smoothly, but it just seems sticky as opposed to something being broken inside the steering unit housing. Anyone had any luck with a lubricant or other tactic? Thanks.

I had the same issue, it was a bent shafi.You can try some lube but that might be a temp fix. Hope its not the shaft. You can purchase a new shaft on Ebay and do it youreself. I paid $125 to get my nshaft replaced. Good Luck

If bent, check your warranty. Some of the kota shafts have lifetime warranty against bending.

Can you bend a carbon shaft?

I use silicone spray on a rag and wipe down.

-J.

Same here on the silicone, Especially the colder it gets, I have had it freeze inbetween moving locations, That will shorten up your day of fishing.

IF it’s not bent or damaged, a fine emery cloth or scotchbrite sanding and a coat of plain old Armorall will smooth it out. The Armorall won’t freeze.
-Rev

Main ingredent in Armorall is Silicone. And yes, hitting the base with a shot each time you pull up in freezing temps will help from a total lock up of ice!

-J.

To follow up, one of the plastic pieces through which the shaft slides had broken. Inside the steering housing, there is an aluminum tube with plastic end inserts that you can see from the outside of the housing. Those are the only pieces that touch the shaft — there is a considerable gap between the shaft and the aluminum tube. Anyway, I had to replace the bottom one. Finding the parts would have been a hassle, but motor clinic found a steering housing for me with a bad motor, but good parts otherwise. You have to pop off the motor head, slide the shaft down through the motor housing, and open the case to replace those parts. It’s as good as new now.

Thanks again to motor clinic in Bloomington for the help.

Well in my experience the local repair places are a little sketchy with parts, they are sometimes quick to recommend to replacement of whole parts instead of just the pieces that are broken, I broke the gear housing for a power drive a couple years ago and some places said they would have to replace the whole gear box, gears and all, a quick trip to Minn Kota and I had only the part I needed and for a fraction of the cost. Bottom line is the specific parts are probably available through Minn Kota directly.