Keyless drill chuck

[Ricc Havens]

I have a Dewalt cordless drill that I got a couple years ago. The keyless chuck doesn't work the best. Sometimes when drilling or driving when I lift the drill up the chuck has loosened enough and the bit falls out.

Any recommendations on a good quality chuck? and, tips on getting the old chuck off?

Thanks!

[Tom M King]

I don't remember ever owning a cordless drill that I was satisfied with the stock chuck. Like almost everything else, there are plenty of youtube videos, such as:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trxOC7Orr6s

You can easily spend more money on a chuck than the drill cost to start with, but the good chuck can be moved to future drills.

edited to add: Since I'm going to toss the old chuck anyway, to avoid a fight with it, I use a pipe wrench and an impact driver to remove the screw.

[Tom M King]

Here is the last one I bought. It's decent for the money.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[mike stenson]

Here is the last one I bought. It's decent for the money.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have that same chuck on a Milwaukee drill. The chuck's fine, but the motor stop is so hard that it still ends up loosening.

[Tom M King]

I have one of these on an old 9.6v stick battery Makita to use with cobalt bits for drilling out stainless steel rivets on sailboats. It never turns loose unless you have a key. I still like keyed chucks for some things and don't really mind them.

https://www.zoro.com/jacobs-11n-supe...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Bill Dufour]

Note that Jacobs no longer makes any chucks outside of Asia.
BillD

[Ricc Havens]

Thanks guys! I will look at the recommended links.

Anyone else have anything to add?

[Erik Loza]

Thanks guys! I will look at the recommended links.

Anyone else have anything to add?

I plan to upgrade my DeWalt gun with one of these:

https://eshop247.roehm.biz/DE-en/ext...esign-300.html

Erik

[Rob Sack]

I have that same chuck on a Milwaukee drill. The chuck's fine, but the motor stop is so hard that it still ends up loosening.

I had that same issue with a Milwaukee 18 volt drill. The motor brake would cause the chuck to loosen on this one particular drill that was still under warranty. I took it in to the factory service center, along with several other tools for service. The fellow behind the counter had a real attitude and insisted I wasn't tightening the chuck hard enough and then said "Let me show you". He proceeded to install a spade bit into the drill and tightened it so hard, I thought he was going to have a stroke. He pulled the trigger and then release it. The brake hit, the chuck loosened, the bit went flying past another employee and embedded itself in the wall. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of the employee's face who narrowly missed getting hit in the face with a flying spade bit. The jackass behind the counter still insisted that the drill was within spec and refused to fix or replace it. I filed a complaint with the Milwaukee corporate office and the drill was replaced.

[Lee Schierer]

I have a Dewalt cordless drill that I got a couple years ago. The keyless chuck doesn't work the best. Sometimes when drilling or driving when I lift the drill up the chuck has loosened enough and the bit falls out.

Any recommendations on a good quality chuck? and, tips on getting the old chuck off?

Thanks!

I've owned two Dewalt cordless drills and the factory chucks on each of them have never loosened in use. The 20 volt one clicks when it is tight and can be a little difficult to loosen.

[Ron Selzer]

Use DeWalt drills at home and work. The chucks can and do loosen when stopping. The 20 volt at work is the worst as it is the most powerful, put a 6amp battery in it and start drilling holes in concrete, 5/32 for Tek screws, the bit will come loose.
Switched to 12v SDS+ and problem gone.
Ron

[Lee Schierer]

I have a Dewalt cordless drill that I got a couple years ago. The keyless chuck doesn't work the best. Sometimes when drilling or driving when I lift the drill up the chuck has loosened enough and the bit falls out.

Any recommendations on a good quality chuck? and, tips on getting the old chuck off?

Thanks!

An update....Today I found time to get out in the shop and I recalled the question Ricc raised regarding cordless drill chucks. I chucked up three separate sized drill bits one at a time in my 20 volt brush less Dewall drill on the high speed setting. The bits were 3/16, 3/8 and 1/2". I rotated the keyless chuck until it clicked at least twice. Then, I started and stopped the drill over 3 dozen times going from zero to full speed and not once did the drill bits loosen in the chuck. I did the same test in reverse with no loose drill bits. I even let the 1/2" bit rest on the bottom of the chuck while I tightened the chuck and even the it did not come loose.

[Jimmy Harris]

I've never had an issue with a keyless chuck coming loose, and I've owned quite a few drills in my life and none of them were as expensive as a DeWalt. My guess is you just got a faulty one. I'd replace it with whatever's easiest to get ahold of. All of my drills with keyless chucks have cheap plastic collars on the chuck, so I know they can't be high quality. Yet they've never failed me, and some are at least 30 years old. Seriously, I've had to replace the motor bushings and clean and relube a few of them because they're that old and have seen that much use. One I got rid of maybe three years ago had NiCad batteries that I had to rebuild the battery packs for many times because they were no longer available. One is so old it came with a key and a key holder anyway (I guess during the transition phase when keyless chucks were newish). Somehow, I keep acquiring hand drills when I haven't had a need for a new one since the 1980's.

[Jason Roehl]

Whatever the make and model of cordless drill, I tighten the chuck onto the bit using the low-speed setting of the drill, running the drill, and holding the chuck with my other hand. I’ve never had a problem with them loosening if I do it this way, but I have if I try to tighten the chuck using a higher speed setting. I’ve also found that I have to pay attention if I’m using bits with flats ground into the shank so that the jaws of the chuck land on the flats, and not the flat/shank corner.

[Ricc Havens]

One last bump. Appreciate all that's been posted so far. But, one last bump in case anyone else has something to add.