MinnKota 65AT steering problem

[Mr.T]

The MinnKota 65AT on my new boat is just impossible to steer -- it takes absolutely no pressure on the foot pedal to turn it, and it won't stay where you put it for more than a few seconds.

I suppose I should be happy that it's steers so easy, but I'd really prefer that there was more friction in the steering.

Are there any adjustments to make it a little tighter?

[ShilohRed]

Mine will stay where I put it. Unless I have the auto pilot on then it will move.
Also if yours has the auto pilot and its not level on the boat it will not work right.
Mine takes some pressure to turn.
Pete

[duxsrus]

YES, there should be a big phillips screw on the front of your pedal down at the bottom, near where the cables come out. Might even be in between them. That's the adjustment for the pedal tension. If your's is that loose, it will take many of complete turns before it start to tighten. Let me know if this works for you, it should though.

[Mr.T]

Thanks - I found the screw and cranked it several turns but only seems to have made a little bit of difference. Guess I'll try to cinch it down some more and see what happens.

I've got an e-mail into the folks at MinnKota so will see if they know any secrets.

[Mr.T]

The guy at MinnKota says to just crank the tension adjustment in the foot pedal as much as I want -- says I should be able to get it so tight that you can't move the foot pedal and it won't break anything.

So I guess I'll go find the big screwdriver and give it a go...

[duxsrus]

As loose as yours sounded, I figured it would take quite a few turns before you would even notice a difference. They all come that way out of the box. I bought my new Minn Kota back in October and I'm still carrying a big phillips with me to tweak it every time I'm out. Once you get it set the way you like it, it should stay there.