Is it worth it?

[Gene Howe]

My trusty Makita 14 V drill/driver just bit the dust. Acts like stripped gears.
Motor runs, the chuck don't. Bought a new one, 18 V.
Would be nice to have two available. The 14v batteries are still good.
Question is, would it be worth it to have the 14v repaired? Could a mechanical idiot like me do it myself?
What do ya'll think?

[Dave Gaul]

Gene, I would have to say that it depends on the cost of repairs. I would guess that the cost to have a shop repair it would make it not worth it. If you can determine the faulty parts, and the cost is minimal, then I'm sure you can DIY... if you've never taken something apart, repaired it, and put back together, I'm sure you could find enough "how-to" on the 'net.

Did you buy the Lithium Ion Makita 18V? You can buy "bare-tools" that will work with your new batteries... then you can have two drills using the same battery...

[Gene Howe]

Yeah, I got the Li 18v. Nice little drill/driver for 175 bucks.

Were you suggesting that I could buy the bare 12 volt drill w/o batteries?

[David G Baker]

Gene,
Hit Ebay and you may luck out.

[Dave Gaul]

Yeah, I got the Li 18v. Nice little drill/driver for 175 bucks.

Were you suggesting that I could buy the bare 12 volt drill w/o batteries?


I was suggesting buying a bare 18 volt drill w/o batteries...

I have the Makita Li 18v drill/driver, hammer drill, impact driver & recip saw... I have 2 1.5ah batteries and 3 3.0ah batteries and two chargers... I can work ALL DAY LONG with this setup!

Something like this...

http://www.cpomakita.com/drills/18v_cordless_drills/bdf452zw-r.html

That's the first of the kit I got... very nice lightweight drill with plenty of torque!

[Cliff Holmes]

The cost of cordless drills has dropped so much and performance is up so much that upgrading to a new drill would probably involve little to no cost over having an old drill repaired. Especially if you'd be stepping up from NiCad to L-Ion.

I just went though the whole rigamarole of finding a new drill last year. You may find the article that came out of it helpful: http://www.thewoodnerd.com/reviews/li-drills.html

The Bosch was my overall winner, although I ultimately ended up with a Festool T15. Now that's a nice drill.

[Dave Houseal]

I picked up a set of these....

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=makita+drill+driver&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=2602616684242507716&ei=lfdJTIrBJsP-8AaDvL3HDg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CE4Q8wIwBA#

I have an 18v DeWalt Kit, and these little guys are absolutely perfect as a complement. If you repair/replace the 14v you have two of the same tool basically. You could probably sell the old 14v batteries for $15 or $20 on CL easy.

BTW, I believe Milwaukee, Bosch and others have a 12v version that's probably better. I bought the makita 10.8 before they were available. That impact is worth its weight in gold :D

[Pete Hay]

If your Makita has a two-speed switch, insure it's totally in one gear or the other, and not in 'neutral'. I tossed my great Ryobi until told of this by a friend. Luckily I got it back before the garbage men came! That was two years ago and it's still working fine

[Ron Kellison]

Deja vu all over again! My Dewalt 14.4V NiCad is 6 years old and on it's second set of batteries. I've noticed that the batteries don't hold their charge nearly as long as they used to and the price for a replacement set is $99 in Ottawa at the Dewalt/Delta/B&D/Porter Cable/???/??? center.

I was drifting through my local HD recently and noticed that they had the Ridgid 18V Li-Ion drill (2 batteries and charger) on sale for $99. It was a no-brainer for me. I've registered the warranty and now have a "lifetime" replacement/repair guarantee. Even if the drill isn't quite in the same league as the Panasonic, Makita, etc. it's certainly good enough for a hobby shop. I'll use the Dewalt until it is all used up then get rid of it with no guilt.

Regards,

Ron