Thank you! I was almost ready to throw my Talon in the trash after it jammed in the down position while out fishing. I called all the local Minn Kota “repair centers” and none wanted anything to do with it. Gave me the impression that Minn Kota considers it disposable, crazy considering the cost. I couldn’t find anything on Talon repair until I stumbled on your video. I ordered the cables and my 13 yr old son and I was able to complete the job in about 3 hrs taking our time and triple checking the cable alignment constantly. This isn’t for the faint at heart but is totally doable. I have no doubt you have helped many save their Talon including me…thank you again!
Thank you for taking the time to put this video together. I recently had a cable break and was very intimidated when taking things apart. Took my time breaking everything down and putting back together. By far getting the cable on the spool and into the keeper was the most difficult part. I removed the pin on the motor shaft that would allow me to spool the extending cable onto the spool by hand. I was not comfortable doing this with the motor and taking the chance of not having something together correctly and causing damage. I ordered all the repair parts include the cable kit, SS rivets, C-clip and top position sensor spacers from Minn Kota directly. I was missing a C-Clip on one of my pulleys and I lost a spacer when taking things apart. Thanks again, -T
You have saved people thousands $$$$!!! Greatly appreciate you making this video. It's not an easy repair, but certainly doable. Took me a second set of cables to finally have success. The first time I had a cable jump off one of the rollers and get spiraled up.
Fantastic video. Successfully replaced both cables on my Gen2 10' Talon yesterday. Not too bad until you get to that retracting cable and getting it on the drum. Once you figure that out you're golden. 1. Deploy Talon all the way - which loosens the retracting cable. 2. Put retracting cable onto large pulley (with Phillips head screw all the way retracted) - keeping cable off smaller roller and to the left of it like stated in video. 3. Now run cable down frame and wrap nicely onto drum. Using thin forceps helps tremendously if you don't have small skinny hands. 4. While pressing in the large springed pulley - you should be able to wrap the cable all four times onto the drum and slide into slot. It's tight. 5. Run Talon up/down a couple of times - then like in the video - using a slick screwdriver you should be able to slide cable onto smaller roller. 6. Go fish.
This is a great and detailed video, thank you for sharing your time and knowledge with us all. If I had of known what a rube goldberg machine this thing was I never would have bought it, but at least now I stand a chance of fixing mine. Best to you and yours and thanks again!
Thank you sooo much for posting this video. You were asking about another way to finish spooling without taking the cable from the tensioners idle roller, I found that leaving that one alone and removing the roller at the bottom end of the second section withe the talon fully extended allowed plenty of slack. Putting the roller back was as easy as using a thin flat head screwdriver and pry it into place and reinserting the roller pin, no need to run in and out to gain slack this way and you wont take the chance at damaging your cable. Thank you again for this video if you only knew how much you saved me.
I just finished repairing my 8' generation 1 Talon that Minn Kota would not fix thanks to your video. I was able to apply what you did to get me through the tougher spots of the repair. THANKS!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for making this video - as no one else has taken the time to do so. Mine got jammed in the down position while fishing. I knew i could fix it, but this made it a lot easier to do.
I want to say thank you to the person who made this video he is an excellent mechanic he helped me a lot, I have never needed help with boat parts but I was kinda lost with this one and I saw this video it helped drastically and I thank him a lot so if anybody is not sure how to fix their talon this video is a good tutorial
I was able to get hold of minn Kota for a free replacement. Their policy is to send it to a local authorized repair center. FYI you would have to pay for the work and the spike would be free. My dealer would not do it because I didn’t buy it from then. All the other centers are hours away from me. I was able to get the spike sent to me directly and will have to install it myself. Thanks to your video I already removed the broken spike and just waiting for the new one. My unit is 2011 and it had a pin where you had an Allen nut. Ill let you know how it turns out. Thanks again for your video
Awesome news about the free replacement. If the new one comes with an allen head screw instead of a pin, remember to screw it in until the head is just below the surface like I showed near the end of the video. If the head is not even or below the surface it is screwed into, it will hang up and not let the spike retract. Made that mistake myself. Good luck and thanks for the response.
thanks for taking time to make this video. I have a 2 stage talon. Cable and spike needed replacing. Very helpful video. Im a power pole guy. this boat I bought came with broken talon. I would not recommend this pole over a power pole ever. 12volt and electronics do not mix with saltwater ever....But it is an ingenious product. Ive learned you better maintain it with good ole WD 40. Thanks again.
Thanks for making this video, I’m thinking of buys a used talon. I’m glad I researched this. At least I know what could happen now. Much appreciate your time and effort to help others.
Thank you for posting a video on this. It's the only one I've been able to find to guide me through this issue as I'm trying to replace my cables now. Have you (or anyone else in this comment section) ever ran into an issue where, after bumping the spool into place where both places to install the cables ends are easy to get to and after the extending cable has been attached and wound on the spool, the spool stops leaving the place to put the retracing cable under the metal spool bracket without enough room to even fit the tip between? I've relieved the tension on the extending cable, reset the spool to where it was set on the distance that would have been necessary for it to have reach the spot it needed to be (this left the other side under the metal bracket but that side had enough clearance to attach the cable), and then redone the procedure but the spool still stopped at the exact same spot. I guess the extending cable is only so long so it is going to seat at the same point no matter where the spool is located when it is wound onto the spool. Any suggestions or thoughts for this??
Had to go back and re watch my video. It looks like my spool stops at the right spot to access the slot for the retracting cable. I have twin Talons on my boat and replaced the cables on both, and had the same result where the spool stops at the right spot to access the slot. if you watch the video at around the 38:00 minute mark you will see I did have to leave the cable off the top roller to get enough slack to slip the cable into its slot on the spool and then worked the cable back onto the top roller with a screw driver. Is it possible that you may have accidently used the shorter cable for the extending cable. At minute 18:38, I show the long cable is the extending cable and the short is the retracting cable. One other important thing is at minute 22:25 where the retracting cable has to be routed between the pin and the rubber bumper. I cant think of anything else. I hope this helped.
@@mdw66799 Thanks for the quick reply. I bumped the spool while connected to the battery until the openings on both sides were open to allow cable insertion and then extracted the pole with only the longer extracting cable connected but I think you are on to something thinking that something in the routing may have shortened my cable reach. I'm going to open everything back up and follow the routing again.
@@mdw66799 Having no luck on this. I broke everything back down, started from scratch and made sure the cable was threaded all the way through properly and was centered on each roller and on the correct sides of the pins but no matter where I start the spool retracting from, it always stops at the same place with the other side of the spool positioned where the slot to place the cable is under the metal bracket. I should mention this is a 12ft. Talon and may differ from yours and I purchase the correct cables for 12 ft. The only thing I can think of to do is to remove the pin holding the spool and hand wind it as @timothysanford8281 has mentioned below but I am concerned about it releasing the tension of the extracted cable and not getting the proper tension on both to allow the Talon to work correctly.
Thanks for posting this. I’m not even attempting to fix my cable that has created a birds nest around the spool. I can’t believe how many moving parts there are to this... Replacing with a power pole
Man Talons are freakin great but you make a good point. I wouldn’t try this for anything. I’d rather buy a new Talon as painful as that would be but I ain’t going thru all this! Lol 😆
Minn Kota won't warranty a repair due to neglect. I was pointing to the dried mud and sand inside the unit and around the roller. Probable should have mentioned that in the Video. So far I haven't had any more issues with the cables, but now I take more time rinsing them out. Thanks for the comment.
Thank you. After a total of 9 hours and two sets of cables I finally got it back together. The last stage is not opening because of the black stopper? I am going to install as is. Never again.
On My 10ft talon I connected the cable that extends the Talon on the spool first. The talon should be completely retracted (all the way in) before you attach the cable to the spool. Then I used the motor to wind the cable on the spool by pushing the talon down button. Be careful because the other loose cable is going to pull itself down the tube. Make sure the loose cable that will be pulled into the tube while the talon is extending has no loops or tangles and no one is near or touching the cable, because once you push the down button it will not stop until the talon is completely extended. Use extreme caution. This procedure has potential for lose of limb or fatality. Watch the video at about the 33 minute mark to see how I did it. Be careful and good luck. Remember to make sure the Talon is never connected to the battery except for this one procedure and disconnected afterward for the rest of the cable install.
Wow absolutely one of the best repair videos I've seen on RU-vid! Well done and thank you! I have a question though. I need to replace the spike piston on my 10' that is just like this one. Those little round magnets at the top fell out so the sensor at the top isn't telling the motor to stop. The motor does stop, I assume because of a voltage drop when hit hits the top. So need to fix it before I break a cable! I'm wondering what is the easiest way to get enough slack in the retract cable to pull the piston out after I remove the spike? Thanks in advance.
Wow that's a tough question. A gentleman named Kevin Mize in my comments a year ago came up with a great idea. If you fully extend the talon, the very bottom roller and cable are exposed on the second stage. If you remove that second stage bottom roller it may provide enough slack. Be careful though its probable under tension. That may work. You would also after the tension is off, go back to the end where the talon piston is and pry the plastic locking tab out of the slot like I did around the 2:35 mark in my video, to expose that bottom roller. It would have to come out in order to pull the piston out. You my have the move the last stage in by hand as you pull the piston out. hope this works. Good Luck and if it works leave me another comment. It may be helpful to me and others. Thanks, again.
@@mdw66799 I got around to replacing the spike piston on my 10' Talon. Removing the roller per Kevin Mize and the very bottom roller did not give enough slack to pull out the spike piston all the way. I made the mistake of pushing/pulling the bottom/third stage without keeping tension on the cable and ended up with the cable jumping off internal rollers. So I had to remove the third stage and swing down the plate at the bottom of the second stage to get the cable back on the rollers. Not what I hoped for, but I did finally get the job done. If I had to install another new spike piston, here are the steps I would follow. Start with the Talon extended all the way. 2) Using the screw on the tension roller at the top of the Talon, get some slack in the retract cable. Slide the cable off the rollers for a bit more slack. 3) Remove the retract cable from the spool by the motor. 4) Remove the plate at the bottom of the third stage or use your method to allow access to the bottom of the third stage roller and spike piston. 5) Remove the pin and set screw holding the spike in per your video and remove the spike. 6) Remove the exposed rollers at the bottom of the second and third stages. 7) KEEP SOME TENSION ON THE CABLES AT ALL TIMES so they don't jump off the rollers! A helper is pretty handy in this regard. 8) Remove the extend cable from the spool. You may be able to retract the Talon first by pulling the retract cable and pushing the stages in as needed to make it easier to remove the cable. Either way, it's not real fun removing or installing cables on the spool. 9) Now you can pull out the spike piston and replace it. 10) Reinstall the spike piston, again keeping some tension on the cables. 11) Reinstall the spike in the piston. BTW, the new style piston uses a sleeve and a bottom screw to hold the spike in the piston, rather than the set screw through the side slot. 12) Connect the extend cable to the spool. 13) Reinstall the rollers at the bottom of the second and third stages. 14) Connect the Talon to a battery and extend it per your video, winding the cable onto the spool. 15) There should be enough slack to wind the retract cable onto the spool and install the cable end into the retention slot. 15) Slide the retract cable back onto the top rollers. 16) Run in and out to test. 17) Reattach the bottom plate on the third stage. Hope I got all the steps covered here. Now I just need to figure out how to keep the little magnets at the top of the spike piston from rusting and falling out again. This is the second time in 7 years as I use it in salt water. While I rinse it every time, there's no way to rinse off the magnets as there is no top flush on my model. I may modify the cover so I can rinse this part out without removing the cover every time. Tips appreciated! Thank you again for the excellent video! I wouldn't have been able to do this repair without it and saved me some money!
Great video. I watched this even though my cabels have not snapped. My motor is making a bad noise and need to replace it. Just worried about removing it and if the spool is under pressure and pops on me or something. Cant find any videos about the motor.
If you scroll down to Charles Millers comment. He was able to remove the motor using a pvc pipe rig that he made up. No pictures though. good luck. Worst case, the disassembly and cable routing was more time consuming than rewinding the spool.
@@mdw66799 Thank you for the info! i actually bit the bullet and took it apart. It wasnt hard at all. Unluckly for me the motor which is basically a starter motor and a loud whine to it. will need to replace.
Thank you for posting this video. I have the same talon and yesterday it got stuck deployed and created an awful situation and I did not know how to retract the spear. Even manually cranking I wasn’t able to bring the talon back up. After 2 hours I had to unbolt the talon and slid it off the bracket. Now I have a talon that is stuck deployed and no idea what to do. When I take off the top cap I do not see the wire running along those two pulleys. I’m sure that is the issue but if anyone has any feedback please let me know!
Same thing happened to me when my cable broke. It was fully deployed. Took 2 of us to pull it out of the mount and lay it on the boat. Had to take the covers off at the motor and cut the cable loose. They were tangled all around the spool. I found the new cables on ebay. Hope this helps.
Very helpful. Thanks for the response. I talked to a certified Minn Kota service shop that said it is most likely under warranty. I hope that's the case. After watching your full video I have a much better idea of how the Talon works. Considered doing the repairs myself but especially the rivets part, it's out of my league. So I'll disconnect it and bring it to him. The most frustrating part was not knowing where to turn when it was deployed down. I did not install this myself so I was unaware of how to slide the talon out of the bracket. Plus the tide was going out so I was forced to push through and find deeper water which potentially caused more damage but there was nothing else I could do at the time. Minn Kota should have some more clear instructions for when this may happen.
Thank you for the VIdeo. I am in the process of repairing my 2 stage 8' Talon and I hope that your video help. I have had a lot of trouble with the 2013 8' 2 stage Talon. It had 3 repairs while under warranty. Minn Kota Customer Service has been no help with this product. I have shared many customer service complaints to Minn Kota and there has not been any positive response from them. Year after year I have had it fixed 14 times since purchased. I have spent more on repairs than the anchor cost new. I am having to repair it this time myself as the repair shop is backed up several weeks. I was able to order the repair cable kit, although there appears to be no instructions or diagrams for the cable routing. I did reach out to Minn Kota for help. and the response was. Minn Kota's Response I am sorry but parts are sold all the time without instructions on how to install them. If you go to purchase any part in the automotive world at any parts dealer, they do not provide instructions on how to do it. My recommendation would be if you need instructions for the installation, try using RU-vid to find someone who has done this repair in the past. I use RU-vid myself for most every repair I do on my own. Regards, Dave H. Dear Mr. Holtz, Me RE: Minn Kota Talon Shallow Water Anchor Serial Number: M104MK00912 I thought I would try again to get some help from Minn Kota customer service for my Talon anchor. Today I spoke with Brenda and then Dena to help resolve the issue. The issue is that once again my Talon anchor failed. The cable came off the spool and would not retract. The manual method will not work in this case and it appears from customer support, there is no solution for the problem of a cable drum issue. Dena's answer was to remove the Talon form the mount. HOW am I supposed to do that out in the middle of a body of water? And then what would i do with the device? The Talon needs to be repaired again, and from our prior correspondence you can see that I have taken it to G & S Trolling Motors in Houston for repair at least annually. They suggested that I could repair the Talon myself if I am mechanically inclined and they could sell me the cable kit, although it does require a special tool that make the repair easier. I have ordered the cable repair kit (Cable Replacement Kit 8' 2770840) which is available from the Minn Kota Parts catalog online. The problem is the part does not include installation instruction. How can it be installed and repaired without instructions? I called customer service this morning to obtain the instructions which I feel is appropriate for a replacement part. Neither Brenda or Dena could provide any customer service related to the support of this product or the repair parts. In fact, both Brenda and Dena indicated that there is a special tool required to install the repair kit, so I asked for the tool part number so I could order it. Both customer service specialists informed me the tool is not available. So I ask them, HOW am I supposed to repair the Talon anchor with the parts that can be purchased directly from Minn Kota, without instructions and the required tool? why sell these parts if Minn Kota cannot provide instructions or the required tool. So, I shall ask you once again, please replace this device as it has been defective from the day I purchased it. Thank you for your help and I hope to hear from you soon. Cordially,
Wow, pretty bad treatment from Minn Kota. That's one of the reasons I never bothered with them. I wonder if G & S is assembling it wrong. I was fortunate that I have twin Talons to be able to copy the cable routing from the good one. I really abuse mine and only had to replace the cables once. They are 6 years old and working perfectly. I will do some research on the 8' talon. If I find anything useful, I will post the link for you.
I was able to reassemble the 8' two stage Talon. The cable routing is straight forward. The retract cable spools directly to the drum, and the extending cable is routed through the 3 rollers to the drum. On this model the key is to wrap the two cables onto the drum. I did remove the spike to make the job a bit easier, as extending the entire unit is a bit clumsy on the bench. Another tip is that the unit does not need to be fully extended to assemble. I did fully extend the retract it a couple of times to verify the cables are wrapped neatly on the drum. To do this I suggest removing the motor, so you will not be fighting the clutch. The two springs allow for only an inch to 1 1/2" of play. Do not try to load the drum with tension. Once the cable is routed, they should be hanging out the top. The retract cable winds on to the drum from the side with the motor, and the extending cable on the side with the manual crank. The key is to allow enough slack in in the extending cable to allow the cable to be prewrapped roughly one turn. To do this I removed the large roller from the main housing, keeping tension on the cable allowing enough play to attach the cable. Once that is done, I reinserted the pin for the roller and the cable will be taught, holding on just the pin. Now I removed the bottom roller from the second stage, this roller is smaller in dia. and the roller pin has two e-clips that only one needs to be removed. This roller pin can be inserted easily for final assembly. Once the lower roller has been removed the cable will be loose enough to reinstall the the large roller, the two e-clips are installed on the inside. With the large roller reinstalled the lower roller may in reinstalled. Start the roller under cable a few inches from the end, roll it back into position. Using a Philips screwdriver inserted through the frame, align the roller, and inserted the roller pin. The cable should be taught. Manually operate the unit using a 7/16 wrench up and down several cycles to be sure the cables are clear and aligned on the drum. Reinstall the motor, bottom plate and covers. You should be good to go. I fully disassembled my Talon to inspect it for damage and or any broken or warn parts. Hope this will help someone else out.
@@anthonyhuntsinger3215 your helping me lol thanks. If you wouldn't mind sending me pictures of yours cable route that would be awesome my email is eddiegago@hotmail. Com thanks!!
The 8' 10' & 12' all appear to assemble the same just the cables and housings are different lengths for each one. My Talons are the 2016 model. Here is a link to the parts list that helped me. It my be useful. Hope this helps. northlandmarine.com/pages/minn-kota-talon-shallow-water-anchor-parts-diagrams
@@mdw66799 thank you! I have the Bluetooth 10 footer. It’s kicking my butt but this video has been tremendously helpful. The most difficult thing at this point is getting the wires on the roller without it raveling up. I’ve tried about 3 times already
Only thing I can think of if you haven't already try it. Full extending the talon until it bottoms out. Maybe that will force the spike all the way out.
First one happened in the Florida Keys fishing under the seven mile bridge. I was in a narrow channel during the tide change. The current wedged the Talons in the rocks. When I retracted the Talons one came up and the other one snapped the spike off and broke the cable. About a year later the other one broke from neglect. Didn't spend enough time rinsing the salt water and sand out of the talon. Its been about 4 years now since I replaced the cables and haven't had any more problems.
Sorry, Don't recall mentioning the spike is free on the Video. I did check their website and they claim the spike has a lifetime warranty. I broke one of mine years ago, but never bothered with the warranty. You can try calling Minn Kota to see what they say. I bought mine on Amazon. They go for around $50.00. You can probably find them cheaper if you shop around on the internet. It came with all the extra parts for the spike. Easy to replace. Hope this helps.
Dang I’m only a 1/4 way through the video and I’ve learned that I won’t ever be doing this job. Somebody else much more experienced than me will be doing it warranty or not. Lol If I tried this project the Talon would NEVER see my boat again and it would live out the remainder of its days thrown in a box. Then at some point I would finally come to grips with the mess I made and I’d sell it piece by piece on eBay. 😂 😂 😂
I used 1/8 diameter by 3/8 Long Stainless Steel pop rivets. I think that's the same size Minn Kota has on their parts list. I couldn't find that size at any of my local hardware stores in Stainless Steel.. So my choices were order them from McMaster-Carr part # 97550A515 or Order them from Minn Kota. I chose McMaster-Carr. On the bottom plate as seen near the end of my video, I used #8 by 3/8 long stainless steel screws. That's the only place you can use screws rather than pop rivets. I tried the pop rivets on the bottom plate by they wouldn't hold because their biting into a slot instead of a hole. Found the stainless steel screws at my local hardware store. Hope this helped with your question.
Thanks for posting this. It helped me with replacing the cables on my Talon. Do you know anything about replacing the motor assembly? Can it be done without removing the cables?
Looking at the parts diagram. It appears that the shaft from the motor gearbox holds the spool in place on the mount. It would be nice if you didn't have to remove the cables again. I would loosen the motor without taking the bolts all the way out and see what moves. Good luck. I would be curious to know if it works.
@@mdw66799 Sorry to take so long to reply on this. I was able to replace the motor assembly without removing the cables. Using some PVC pipe I built a rig to stabilize the cable drum. I have pics but don't know how to attach them to this reply on RU-vid.
If the cables are all loose and untangled at the drive and at the top, you my be able to use something like a broom handle at the top of of the unit and push the the first section out enough to pull it from the bottom. If both cables are still wrapped around the drum, it my be a circuit board or motor problem. Make sure the battery is disconnected from the unit before you work on it just to be safe. hope this helps.
What???? I watch the whole video and then you missed the most important part which is how to get the retrieve cable on the drum? Just saying that it was tough but not showing how you did didn’t help at all!!!!
Starting at the 37:14 minute mark I showed that I Adjusted the stop screw out at the Top of the Unit in order to gain more slake in the Retracting Cable and also left the cable off of the Top roller in order to have enough slack in the cable to hook the cable into the slot on the spool. I didn't think it was necessary to video sliding the cable into the slot.
I did a video on how to just replace the spike and added a link to your video as well. Thanks you for showing me how to do it. Tony ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-42fGkUFiHZM.html
