Last weekend I decided that I would cut the transducer cable on my TM mount puck, drill a hole in the shaft and run the cable up to the head of my Minn Kota Power Drive 40lb thrust trolling motor. My motor is 4 years old and well out of warranty. A friend did this years ago so I am copying him. I have taken pictures of each step and will describe what I did.

To begin you will need to gather the following materials:

1/8" heat shrink

1/4" heat shrink

100% clear silicone

tie wraps

JB Weld

2 toothpicks

You will need the following tools:

Caulk gun

Caliper

25 Watt soldering iron

wire strippers

wire cutters

needle nose pliers

1/4" nut driver

flat screw driver

#2 phillips screw driver

1/2" ratchet

Dremmel tool

cone shaped stone bit

drill

3/16" drill bit

Lighter

Here is a picture of the motor and cable before it was modified:

Remove the prop nut with the 1/2" ratchet

Remove the two screws with a 1/4" nut driver

Remove the motor housing from the cone

Use the 1/4" nut driver to remove the two screws holding the brush plate to the cone

Remove the wire clips from the brush plate

Remove the 4 phillips head screws from the Trolling motor head with a #2 phillips screw driver. Remove the top of the head.  Pull both the red and the wires up the shaft and out of the head.

Use the Dremmel tool with a cone shaped stone to remove the paint from the top of the trolling motor cone.

Drill a hole in the threaded section of the metal housing going through the shaft.  I lined it up with the edge of the hole used previously for holding the cable.  

I cut the transducer cable about a foot longer than the shaft and push it through the hole and up the shaft of the trolling motor.

Push the red and black wires down the shaft from the head to the cone.  Use a flat head screw driver and needle nose pliers to get the red and black wires around the transducer cable.

Attach wires to brush plate.  Push the tip of the caulk gun into the shaft hole in the cone and completely fill the hole with 100% clear silicone.

Use 1/4 inch nut driver to install brush plate.  Push each brush into place and stick a toothpick in to hold it into place.  Squirt more silicone into hole if necessary.

Remove motor from magnetic housing.  Place motor in brushes.

Remove both toothpicks.  Stick your hand through the magnetic housing and press your finger on the end of the shaft of the motor.  Now quickly lower the magnetic housing onto the motor.  You have to hold the motor to keep it from being pulled from the brushes and have to do it all over again.

Replace back plate and two screws with 1/4" nut driver.

Push the transducer cable completely up the shaft.

Add a tiewrap to hold the transducer cable in place forever.

Open JB Weld and mix 50 -50.

Apply mixed JB Weld over the cable, tie wrap, hole and entire area that the paint was removed with the Dremmel tool.

Plug in the 25 Watt soldering iron so that it can heat up.  Strip about one inch of insulation from one side of the transducer cable and a 1/2 inch from the other side of the cable.

Peel back the foil and strip 1/8" off the red and black wires.

Cut a 3" piece of 1/4" of heat shrink and slide it over one end of the cable.  Cut two 1/2" pieces of 1/8" heat shrink and slide them over each of the 1" wires.  Solder the red wire to the red wire and the black wire to the black wire.  The picture is a little fuzzy but you should understand what is being done.

Slide the 1/8" heat shrink over each soldered section and use a lighter to shrink the tubing.

Twist the foil back over the splice.