# The Chuck On My Drill Won't Hold The Bit



## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

have a Dewalt corded drill, have had it for several years. Recently it began to not hold the bits tight enough to not let them slip. This has become real bad recently when using the drill with the new JessEm jig with 3/8th" bits. I am about to buy a new drill unless somebody on this forum knows of a quick fix for the problem. The drill has a keyless chuch by the way.

Jerry


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

If this is one with a key less chuck, Jerry, I would suggest you buy another drill.

Replacement chucks may be available, but not worth the hassle to replace...


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## Salty Dawg (Jan 24, 2014)

I would replace the Chuck with a Jacobs brand


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

jw2170 said:


> If this is one with a key less chuck, Jerry, I would suggest you buy another drill.
> 
> Replacement chucks may be available, but not worth the hassle to replace...



Thanks James, I was about to order a new one but thought that I might as well ask first and get an answer, which I did, and will order one as soon as I post this reply to your suggestion.

Jerry


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

new chuck...

Change Out The Chuck On Your Drill | Toolmonger

Drill Chuck Removal and Install Guides - Jacobs Chuck Technical Support

How to Change a Drill Chuck: 9 Steps - wikiHow


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

My son-in-law brought 2 drills home from work with broken chucks. I bought 2 keyed chucks for them on ebay for about $25 to $30 total. It took about 20 minutes to change both of them out. Now I have an old B&D 1/2" single speed (one of the old ones in a metal body when B&D wasn't a joke) and a nice heavy duty Milwaukee 1/2" VSR. If you can get a chuck for a reasonable price they're worth changing.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Has anybody replaced the chuck on a Dewalt keyless 3/8't drill chuck with one of the Jacob's chucks and if so how did you romove the old one. It looks simple but a little one on one would be of help, any suggestions and/or comments would be appreciated.

Jerry


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## waynecochran (Aug 2, 2011)

I put a 3/8 allen wrench(short end) in the chuck and tightened it as much as possible. Then gave it a sharp rap with a hammer to loosen it and unscrewed it.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Jerry, Every few weeks one of us has to clean-out drill chucks. Take-out the bit, open the chuck as wide as possible, blow it out with compressed air (use safety goggles for this step), get some Q-tips, squirt some WD-40 into the chuck and "mop" it out with those Q-tips. This is a common occurrence and I am surprised that so few people do this routinely in the shops I have visited.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Hey Stick. I followed the Toolmonger link and found a link there to Vintage Machinery, where I found the manual for my ancient Craftsman Drill Press. Thanks.
VintageMachinery.org | Welcome


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

Keyless: lose it.
Replace with a new keyed chuck or buy a new drill (that uses a key).


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

OPG3 said:


> Jerry, Every few weeks one of us has to clean-out drill chucks. Take-out the bit, open the chuck as wide as possible, blow it out with compressed air (use safety goggles for this step), get some Q-tips, squirt some WD-40 into the chuck and "mop" it out with those Q-tips. This is a common occurrence and I am surprised that so few people do this routinely in the shops I have visited.
> 
> Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


Otis, 
Thanks for the tip, but it did not work for me. I did however, put the chuck in a vise and tightened the chuck using the vise and so far the bit did not slip. I may be a combinataion of doing what you suggested and using the vise.

I have just been continueing to buy tool after tool and my wife and I had decided to try to slow it down for awhile and then the problem with the drill came along. I will buy a new drill if the old one will not work, but as long as it will work by tightening the chuck with the use of the vise, there is no need to replace it. 

I tried to buy a Jocob's chuck, but they don't make one for my Dewalt D21007 drill. 

I wanted to find a corded drill with a key, but couldn't find one, maybe I didn't look hard enough. The experience with the keyless drill is what prompted me to want one with a key. I looked at the cordless drills but my gosh they want a lot for one of those. If I needed a drill real bad that would not be an issue, but for my limited use, it just isn't warranted at this time. 

We will have to see how it goes,

Jerry


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Jerry Bowen said:


> Has anybody replaced the chuck on a Dewalt keyless 3/8't drill chuck with one of the Jacob's chucks and if so how did you romove the old one. It looks simple but a little one on one would be of help, any suggestions and/or comments would be appreciated.
> 
> Jerry


Jerry I have a D102-04 DeWalt 3/8" corded drill (it came with a keyed chuck) and it has a retaining screw in the bottom of the chuck. I can't remember which way the screw turns to take it out. It has a slot for a bladed screw driver but it also appears to have a hex socket. The screw has to come out first and then you use Wayne's method of removing the chuck. The thread on a drill is like the thread on a skill saw, i.e. it is designed so that if there is any slippage it will tighten more. So to remove it you go clockwise or the same direction the bit turns.

If you check the links out you'll see that these chucks have a threaded hole that screws onto the male part of the drill arbor. The only other type is a taper fit and none of my handheld drills have one of those. There are different thread pitches but only so many variations so you should be able to find one that fits. Take the chuck off your drill and measure the thread with a pitch gauge and you'll know what you need.
Jacobs Chuck SM4G61 3 8" 24 THD Used No Tightening Key | eBay
Drill Chuck Key Type 3 8in x 1 2 20 | eBay
Supreme Drill Chuck 3 8&apos;&apos; | eBay


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Jerry I have a D102-04 DeWalt 3/8" corded drill (it came with a keyed chuck) and it has a retaining screw in the bottom of the chuck. I can't remember which way the screw turns to take it out. It has a slot for a bladed screw driver but it also appears to have a hex socket. The screw has to come out first and then you use Wayne's method of removing the chuck. The thread on a drill is like the thread on a skill saw, i.e. it is designed so that if there is any slippage it will tighten more. So to remove it you go clockwise or the same direction the bit turns.
> 
> If you check the links out you'll see that these chucks have a threaded hole that screws onto the male part of the drill arbor. The only other type is a taper fit and none of my handheld drills have one of those. There are different thread pitches but only so many variations so you should be able to find one that fits. Take the chuck off your drill and measure the thread with a pitch gauge and you'll know what you need.
> Jacobs Chuck SM4G61 3 8" 24 THD Used No Tightening Key | eBay
> ...


Charles and all of you that have followed this thread, my dear wife made the decision about what to do, she said, "just get you a good codless drill, it will last your for a long time and you won't have to mess that cord". She's picking it up for me in town later today. I had just been feeling guilty about buying so many new tools lately, and had told her that I would try to slow it down. She hadn't complained so much as I had just felt guilty. What a woman, huh?

Jerry


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

Jerry Bowen said:


> Charles and all of you that have followed this thread, my dear wife made the decision about what to do, she said, "just get you a good codless drill, it will last your for a long time and you won't have to mess that cord". She's picking it up for me in town later today. I had just been feeling guilty about buying so many new tools lately, and had told her that I would try to slow it down. She hadn't complained so much as I had just felt guilty. What a woman, huh?
> 
> Jerry


Win/Win!!


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

You have a good woman there Jerry but don't throw that drill away yet. I think every shop should have at least one cordless drill but that is all I intend to have around and I have 4 corded ones to go with it and most of the time I prefer to use the corded ones. I got fed up at having to replace drills just because the battery packs wore out and new batteries are more money than the new drill with 2 batteries. You may want to repair that drill yet and if you check my links out you'll see that you can get a new chuck at a very reasonable price. The DeWalt drill is a good drill but those keyless chucks they come with are crap.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> You have a good woman there Jerry but don't throw that drill away yet. I think every shop should have at least one cordless drill but that is all I intend to have around and I have 4 corded ones to go with it and most of the time I prefer to use the corded ones. I got fed up at having to replace drills just because the battery packs wore out and new batteries are more money than the new drill with 2 batteries. You may want to repair that drill yet and if you check my links out you'll see that you can get a new chuck at a very reasonable price. The DeWalt drill is a good drill but those keyless chucks they come with are crap.


Charles,
I think that the old drill will still work just fine on smaller bits than the 3/8ths". 

When you talk about a replacement chuck, what brand are you referring to, as I said, I checked on the Jacob's chuck and they don't make one for my drill. I suppose that I could get an original one from Dewalt, but as you say, they are are not great, not quite as descriptive as the term that you used which is closer to the truth of it.

Anyway, I certainly have no plans of throwing the old drill away. Thanks for the help and do let me know what replacement chuck you have in mind.

jerry


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

The spec vary.

I upgraded my 3/8" capacity Skilshop variable speed with:

1/16"-1/2" Cap 3/8"-24UNF Mount Drill Chuck
E-bay for $15 and free shipping.

Others:
1/16"-1/2" Cap 1/2"-20UNF


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I didn't worry about brand Jerry, I was just looking for something at a reasonable price that didn't look like crap that had the correct thread. I think most chucks are either 3/8 x 24 or 1/2" x 20 UNF thread. I noticed that one of the links I gave you was a 3/8" x 20 which is an odd one to me. I'm pretty sure, without taking mine off, that the thread on the end of the arbor is fairly common and that you can find a replacement, especially on ebay where there is a lot of variety.

Can you read the model number of the drill and, if possible, the part number on the chuck? Maybe it's possible to find out what it is without taking it off first.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

OPG3 said:


> Jerry, Every few weeks one of us has to clean-out drill chucks. Take-out the bit, open the chuck as wide as possible, blow it out with compressed air (use safety goggles for this step), get some Q-tips, squirt some WD-40 into the chuck and "mop" it out with those Q-tips. This is a common occurrence and I am surprised that so few people do this routinely in the shops I have visited.
> 
> Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


Never heard of that one. Don't think it applies to me anyway, I have a number of nicely working drills, I only bought the first one so taking it on faith that one laid eggs or something, and multiplied. The reason it probably doesn't apply to me is, I don't change drill bits. One drill, one drill bit. Works for me. And I would not own a drill with a keyless chuck, unless someone gave it to me.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

JOAT said:


> Never heard of that one. Don't think it applies to me anyway, I have a number of nicely working drills, I only bought the first one so taking it on faith that one laid eggs or something, and multiplied. The reason it probably doesn't apply to me is, I don't change drill bits. One drill, one drill bit. Works for me. And I would not own a drill with a keyless chuck, unless someone gave it to me.




Theo, I seriously doubt that you actually attempting to make me feel stupid for buying a drill with a keyless chuck, but your comment about how you would never buy one, causes to feel as though my purchasing a drill with a keyless chuck does imply to me that I am not nearly as smart as you are about such things, which is probably true. I was not born with an inate knowledge about such things and when I bought the drill, my very very first one by the way, I had no idea of what a mistake it was. At the time I just believed that since it was made by Dewalt that it was probably a decent tool. It worked fine for several years until recently when I tried to use a 3/8th" bit in it.

Do you actually have a separate drill for every sized bit in your shop, that's a lot of drills, or you don't have many bits. Am I missing something?

I think that I have found a Dewalt corded drill with a key and if so, may order it today.

The cordless drill that my wife purchased for me yesterday is defective. I will be taking it back today, either the batteries won'd charge or the drill is defective, one of the other, the point is it won't work. It appears from the packaging that the drill had been sold earlier and returned and that it was put back on the shelf wihen it should hae been set back to the factory. So, will have to order one on line later today. .


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

My hand-held drills (corded & cordless) have keyless chucks and everyone here loves to use them. Those drills are Makita and Hitachi and they see a tremendous amount of use.
Most of my "go-to" drill bits have 3- flats + 3- round side segments and the ones for drilling into wood have brad points. We do, however; often blow-out the chucks with compressed air and mop-out with Q-tips & WD-40 - we have found this to be a good habit for our kind of work. I keep (wooden stick) Q-tips around for many projects. I also keep old toothbrushes around for this sort of thing.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

I returned the Dewalt drill this morning and ordered a Porter Cable off of Amazon this morning. I was a little embarrassed when the Dewalt worked at the store when I returned it. It had been sold one time before my wife picked it up for me. I am wondering if there might be a bad connection inside of the drill causing it to work intermittingly. I'll never know of course. If I have problems witht he chuck on the PC drill I may be able to put a good keyed after market chuch on it, but as Charles told me, I certainly am not getting rid of the old corded Dewalt drill.

In the mean time the the JessEm doweling jig can just rest and wait with for the BBT to pull up in the drive way.

Jerry


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