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Downrigger Motor Rebuild


FishingFool34

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Downrigger Motor Rebuild

Anyone ever had an electric downrigger motor rebuilt? I have a pair of cannon Mag 10A and one motor is significantly weaker than the other, to the point it can barely raise a 10# ball. Hate to junk these without exploring all options first. I know nothing about electric motors so I guess the first question is can these even be repaired? Is a replacement motor an option?

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They have changed the motors in Cannon downriggers at least a couple of times to heavier duty and higher speed motors over the years and its kinda like using Windows 3.0 the 10A's are way outside the support limit of the company... I have my fingers crossed on mine :lol:

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If it's the motor call your local starter & alternator shop. They can check the armature. The case is a magnate case for foreward and reverse so if the magnates are tight to the case yet, your good there.    What, I've seen over the years is the power brush on the upside wears to the point it's no longer making good contact with the armature. We made brushes for guys when I was in business for myself. Where there's a will there's a way. If you know of an old school shop they would be able to fix it. To be honest from what I saw of the newer motors of the cannons is they are simulare to the truck tarp motor. If this is the case, and they are bio directional also. I haven't been able to check case diameter and armature spline on the drive end yet.

Edited by pap
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I can't remember the model of riggers I have. 10?? very old white Cannons but the former owner of them told me they were standard windshield wiper motors that were not too hard to get. I have one very slow one and a burned board on one. Have not used them in years.
 

IMAG0303.jpg

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From what I can see in the picture that looks just like mine which is a 10 A I 've had them for years working great and one day on a trip one just started running very slow I and other people I spoke with thought is was a motor gone bad as it turned out when they took it apart it was something with the spool that was bad, and a bad power cable. The owner of the shop did tell me if it was a motor he had some on hand to replace it.

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From what I can see in the picture that looks just like mine which is a 10 A I 've had them for years working great and one day on a trip one just started running very slow I and other people I spoke with thought is was a motor gone bad as it turned out when they took it apart it was something with the spool that was bad, and a bad power cable. The owner of the shop did tell me if it was a motor he had some on hand to replace it.

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10 minutes ago, FishingFool34 said:

With the price of new electrics in the $400 range... I would be willing to throw some money at this. These 10A are plenty for what I do. I'll have to see if I can find a model number on the motor and maybe bring it to an auto parts store?

They also have some sleves on the rigger shaft that wear out and could cause drag on the motor. They don't make them for the 10A any more but you can trim the knob off the mag 10 so they will fit the 10a also a good lube helps. I have a bunch in the barn , my son thought  the motors could be rebuilt but I upgraded in the mean time.

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11 hours ago, 180ccf said:

I can't remember the model of riggers I have. 10?? very old white Cannons but the former owner of them told me they were standard windshield wiper motors that were not too hard to get. I have one very slow one and a burned board on one. Have not used them in years.
 

IMAG0303.jpg

Screwy Louie has the 10a circuit boards. $75 for the last one I bought , but you can change the toggle switches out to make it work without Auto-Stop.

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I don't think it's the board that's the problem with mine. It will raise the balls just very very slowly and occasionally trip the breaker. But once I reset it, it starts raising slowly again.

Edited by FishingFool34
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FishingFool, your problem with slow retrieve/breaker trip sounds like an issue inside the right angle drive on the motor.  Inside the circular cover there are some plastic pucks/gears that can break which causes the bind and slow retrieve.  This is a sealed unit but it can come apart so you can check- if you see small chunks of plastic as it comes apart that's the problem.  These riggers are pretty old so parts are limited.  Fish 307 and Screwy Louie's both good sources of info.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally got around to pulling one of the motors out, mine look slightly different than the one pictured above. Mine also have a brand/model number on them as well. Its hard to read in the picture but the info on the motor is:
IMG_0013_zps3ebi9gbc.jpg


Bosch FPE 12V 0 103 821 157


After a quick google search seems my motors are very similar to the window motors used in some older SAAB cars. I'm going to try taking it to autozone and seeing if they can find a replacement. I can't seem to find any online?

electronics are not my thing, but is it possible to pull it apart clean it up and that fix the problem?

Edited by FishingFool34
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Reiters Marina (315-387-3881) located on Sandy Pond has brand new, Nos Mag 10a motors that have been sitting in their warehouse for the last 30 years.  They are conversion kits to make the manual cannons of the time into 10A's.  When I was there in October they had at least 6 or more.  Give them a call, talk to Bruce, he'll help you out.

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