Minn Kota issue

[laopi]

Hi, I had a 45lbs Minn Kota motor with Power Drive foot pedal, the propeller did spin, left and right turn working.
I disassembled the motor, and measure the voltage between the brushes, it shows about 12.5v, so I assume the food pedal working, and I measured the resistance between two coppers, the value is the same, the springs look fine, so I assume the armature is working.
I heard most of issue will come from the brushes, but I only find the brush become a little bit curve instead of flat, is it the issue? any thought?
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[smitty55]

Brushes will take on the curve of the commutator, you actually want as much surface contact as possible. I worked on many motors used on aircraft and often I would have to run the brushes in for a couple of days before the motor would meet specs of low enough current draw. The brushes and commutator look fine to me in that pic. I can't say for sure but many of the problems I see reported over time end up being issues with the foot pedals rather than the motor itself. There's lots on google about them and faulty switches.

[laopi]

Brushes will take on the curve of the commutator, you actually want as much surface contact as possible. I worked on many motors used on aircraft and often I would have to run the brushes in for a couple of days before the motor would meet specs of low enough current draw. The brushes and commutator look fine to me in that pic. I can't say for sure but many of the problems I see reported over time end up being issues with the foot pedals rather than the motor itself. There's lots on google about them and faulty switches.

It's what I heard, so I tested the foot pedal first, when I push the foot pedal switch on, I matured the voltage between the two brushes, the value is about 12.5, so I assumed the foot pedal is working.

[impact]

You may need to burnish the contacts in your foot pedal. You may measure 12,5 volts but the resistance could hamper your current draw.
Try bypassing the foot switch all together by using alligator clips from the battery direct to the motor.

I agree that the brushes look fine and a curvature is normal. That is how they wear down. They take the shape of the armature.