Walker downrigger weight capacity

[perchjerker]

Guys

Bought 2 used older Walkers to compliment the ones I have.

They have 4 ft booms, my current ones are shorties.

The one boom has a slight bend to it, which I can live with for now. I may cut it off after the bend since its right at the rigger.

These are 1 piece aluminum booms.

The question I have is how heavy a ball can these hold? I dont want to bend it more.

thanks!!!

[BenLubbs]

I run 15's with no problems but I have the new high-speed motors.

[Line Dancin]

if its the older motors 12 lb work but slow. They wouldnt pull 14s. i upgraded the motors in my two older ones and now can pull 15s all day long no problem.

[perchjerker]

Im sure the motor will handle it I am more concerned with the booms.

Maybe the guy hung it up on the bottom and had the drag cranked too tight, I dont know

these are old riggers. I dont care about the speed at this point.

Just want to know how much weight I can safely hang on the booms

thanks

[JWheeler]

if its the older motors 12 lb work but slow. They wouldnt pull 14s. i upgraded the motors in my two older ones and now can pull 15s all day long no problem.

What's the price tag on new motors for walker's? & who did the

Work?

[Nailer]

I pull 12# with mine, and like Ben, I have the new High speed motor. I was having some troubles this summe pulling the 12# weights from 140' down though. The motors where overheating and shutting off. Neil at walker said to shorten the length to my power supply. He also said use a 40 amp breaker/fuse.

[Line Dancin]

What's the price tag on new motors for walker's? & who did the

Work?

I did the work myself. I believe i had 133 into everthing. That was motor new worm shaft and new drag washers. I also had to get new switches as the old ones were only 15 amp and i had to go to 30 amp reverse polarity switches. I ordered a pair of them for 25 with shipping included. Mine had the top rocker switch: http://www.gamainc.com/site/epage/130244_941.htm

Neil will say that it cant be done. But i was able to get it to go together. It was a tight fit. You can also call Doug at the walker shop in ludington. He is a lot cheaper than neil on doing the swap over if you want them to do it. Had a friend do all four of his last winter. I think he paid 150 ea and doug also replace the motor bushings.

[perchjerker]

the 2 that I just bought did have some work done on them.

The switches are not on the top, there are blanks in thier place and toggles are on the sides.

Also, the drag washers are different than on my other 2. They look a lot thicker.

I dont know if the motors have been changed or if there is a way to tell or not.

[Line Dancin]

I did the work myself. I believe i had 133 into everthing. That was motor new worm shaft and new drag washers. I also had to get new switches as the old ones were only 15 amp and i had to go to 30 amp reverse polarity switches. I ordered a pair of them for 25 with shipping included. Mine had the top rocker switch: http://www.gamainc.com/site/epage/130244_941.htm

Neil will say that it cant be done. But i was able to get it to go together. It was a tight fit. You can also call Doug at the walker shop in ludington. He is a lot cheaper than neil on doing the swap over if you want them to do it. Had a friend do all four of his last winter. I think he paid 150 ea and doug also replace the motor bushings.

The 133 was per rigger i didn't make that to clear.

[JWheeler]

I did the work myself. I believe i had 133 into everthing. That was motor new worm shaft and new drag washers. I also had to get new switches as the old ones were only 15 amp and i had to go to 30 amp reverse polarity switches. I ordered a pair of them for 25 with shipping included. Mine had the top rocker switch: http://www.gamainc.com/site/epage/130244_941.htm

Neil will say that it cant be done. But i was able to get it to go together. It was a tight fit. You can also call Doug at the walker shop in ludington. He is a lot cheaper than neil on doing the swap over if you want them to do it. Had a friend do all four of his last winter. I think he paid 150 ea and doug also replace the motor bushings.

This is more cost effective than buying new riggers IMO, I will start investigating next week when the boat is at home. Mine are OLD riggers, very slow retrieve, which typically isn't an issue. But we have been fishing very deep the last few times out and I hate WAITING on my ball to come up from 250'

[JWheeler]

$133 per motor?

[Line Dancin]

yep 133 per motor. Motor and worm gear are like 120 each if i remember correctly. they changed the worm gear so you have to replace both parts. They also use different drag washers they are keyed instead of a flat spot. Comparing 400 for a new rigger i opted for motors.

[perchjerker]

yep 133 per motor. Motor and worm gear are like 120 each if i remember correctly. they changed the worm gear so you have to replace both parts. They also use different drag washers they are keyed instead of a flat spot. Comparing 400 for a new rigger i opted for motors.

so on the ones I just bought, I can tell if they changed the motors by looking for the keyed drag washer?

they do look different and thicker than my old ones, I know those have not been changed. But I did not take the drag knob off and look

[Line Dancin]

so on the ones I just bought, I can tell if they changed the motors by looking for the keyed drag washer?

they do look different and thicker than my old ones, I know those have not been changed. But I did not take the drag knob off and look

I know they changed to the keyed drag washer but not exactly sure when. I am not really sure how to tell the difference in the motors. When i did mine they looked like the same thing. except the old motors were all black and the new were silver uppers and copper colored lowers on the motors.

[Line Dancin]

$133 per motor?

If you do change them out and you walleye fish. here is an idea for the old motors. I built a power head for my mast. Ordered a couple used spools from neil for 15 bucks each and some hardwood a couple reverse polarity switches and a couple hours later built this. Saved about 400 bucks building this instead of buying a power head.

I did have the worm gears reversed. they used to have the keyed washers on the old motors you can see in the pic on the worm gear it was keyed. the new ones have the flat

[perchjerker]

thats very cool Aaron!!

I love home made stuff that saves tons of $$$ !!!

[sherman51]

you shouldnt have any problems with the boom bending from the weight of your balls. if your motor will lift the weights i wouldnt worry about the booms bending. it would be impossable to even guess how the boom got bent on your rigger. i have big jon riggers and the booms are alot smaller than yours. i run 13 lb pancake weights and have no problem bending the booms. just my opinion.

sherman

[JWheeler]

Good deal, spoke with the fellas in Ludville today, and their pricing was right about where you mentioned. And, you're right, much better than the cost of a new rigger. So, it is done! New motors by the spring.

[BenLubbs]

Like Sherman said i doubt you will have a problem with the weight bending the arm. More than likely someone hit a dock with it or something. I had a 12#ball snap off from a large wave this summer and.no damage to the arm.

[perchjerker]

Its bent down so I dont think it was from a dock. Maybe a kid was hanging from it or something LOL

I wont worry about it, just thought I would ask

[Nailer]

the 2 that I just bought did have some work done on them.

The switches are not on the top, there are blanks in thier place and toggles are on the sides.

Also, the drag washers are different than on my other 2. They look a lot thicker.

I dont know if the motors have been changed or if there is a way to tell or not.

If they go fast than they have new motors, but likely not.

Only the black ones can get the motor upgrades. A rebuilt fast morer only cost around $50

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

Depending on what angle and speed you hit something stationary dockside, the bend could go up or down, depends alot imho. I don't think it's fishing related. Either way, as long as the cable feeds properly, keep it, or else either cut it off or replace with new/used arm. Sounds like a lot of good info from these guys all combined, nice job.

[Line Dancin]

Ken not true my dads were the gray ones from about 1981. The motors went in a little tight but just fine. I painted them black with plastibond to make them look like the other new two that i bought. Also daves (Connie Jay in ludington) four that he had done were all the gray ones. His are still gray. Doug Stryanski (yeck and walker service center) did daves four for around 150 each last winter. If the motor covers are only about 1 inch wide those are the ones that cant be upgraded unless you put the 2 inch motor covers on. Neil wouldnt give me this info Doug did then i got the parts from neil as i was working close to him when i did the upgrade. Neil swore up and down it wouldnt work.

new high speed motor installed you can see the gray in the motor cover that i didnt paint:

YOu can see this is the gray riggers:

Rigger with the top rocker 2 inch cover:

Brian if your motors look like this they are the high speed. if they look like on my planer mast they are the old motors. I also upgraded the rod holders to the duals from the old single solid aluminum holder that was on these.

[perchjerker]

wow Aaron thanks for the pics! Great info.

Actually I was going to take them apart this winter and give them a good going over, and also paint them black since I dont like the color.

Also the wiring has been re done on them and its real light gauge, my original 2 look just like yours with that white cable.

So I am going to get rid of the light gauge stuff and there are also real small toggle switches I am going to replace with heavier ones.

From the motor shafts I think all 4 are the older ones, they have notches in the shafts. I will probably just run with them the way they are for now.

[Line Dancin]

When i redid mine i used all 12 ga wire with 30 amp fuses in heavy duty fuse blocks.