Change Out The Chuck On Your Drill
By Brad Justinen
You might want to change the chuck on your drill for any number of reasons. If you own an older drill, you may want to add a keyless chuck for convenience or replace a broken or rusted chuck. If you have a newer drill, you could add a keyed chuck for extra bit-gripping strength. These guidelines’ll help you replace your drill chuck.
Step 1. This step loosens the screw inside the chuck. Open the chuck all the way — if you see a screw inside, it’ll need to come out before you can remove the chuck. If there’s no screw inside, you can skip steps one and two.
Step 2. If there’s a screw inside the chuck, typically the threading will be left-handed, so turn it clockwise to remove it. Be careful, and use the right size screwdriver — you don’t want to strip the screw.
Step 3. Insert the largest hex key that you have into the chuck, short-side-in, and tighten the chuck. Tap the hex key sharply in a counterclockwise direction to loosen the chuck. Now you can remove it by hand.
This won’t work for every consumer drill ever made, but pretty close. Most drills will match one of two common chuck-threading standards: 3/8″-24 threaded mount for 3/8″-capacity drill chucks, and 1/2″-20 threaded mount for 1/2″-capacity drill chucks — but on some drills just the opposite may occur. To be safe, always check the thread count before you buy a replacement drill chuck.
Chuck Removal Guide [Jacobs Chuck]
Jacobs Replacement Chucks Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]
May 29th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Thanks, this is a really useful post. M
May 29th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Well, I’ll have to pull out that old corded drill with the busted keyless chuck and see what I can do.
May 29th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
If the drill has a selectable gear ratios (e.g. low/high, 1/2), put it into the low range before striking the hex key. This provides the least mechanical advantage from the chuck-end of the drill, making it harder to turn the motor (and easier to loosen the chuck).
May 29th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
FWIW, I love the Rohm brand ratcheting keyless chuck on my Makita 6217D 12-volt cordless. Not sure if you can find them easily or not - I’ve never looked.
May 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Awesome- I have a Milwaukee right angle drill with a frozen chuck that was given to me as a freebie when I bought an old saw a few years ago. I blew up a 13/16″ Harbor Freight end wrench trying to loosen it; maybe this method will work better.
May 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
These are also great for those “cheap” drill presses that have bad keyed chucks and you can switch over to a keyless. Make life in the shop easier….
May 30th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Drill presses usually have a taper not threaded mount, so you’ll need a pickling fork or a prybar, you can also rebuild(clean and regrease) the chucks on larger drill presses by pressing the sleeve off, I recommend indexing the jaws to their housing with an awl to make sure they go back in the same place. I believe jacobs has instructions for that too.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Two extra tips for getting out that left hand threaded retaining screw. Makita typically used a 3mm allen head, and 1/8″ hex key is a slightly tighter fit and less likely to strip, also many of these screws have factory applied threadlocker so once you get it turning, don’t stop until it’s out or the threadlocker will reharden. With practice and the right tools this is very quick and easy, I could have the chuck off and the case open on a Makita 6095D in about 2 minutes.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:07 am
those rohm chucks sure are good.
no runout. solid grip.
cheap chucks are the thing that bother me most on cheap drills.
I have one on a hilti corded drill.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
i;ve found that lots of heat anywhere on the chuck before you try removing it will also help soften the threadlocker. i use a 1/2″ impact wrench on a 3/8″ piece of hex key. zoom.
November 26th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
How do you get a Keyless self tightening 1/2″ chuck off a Dewalt DC925? Dewalt doesn’t supply any information on this and apparently there may be a special tool required. Is there a trick or something I can make to help removal of this chuck.
Thanks.
December 13th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Hi Steve T.
I just bought a very nice Jacobs 700 at Sears. They had keyed and keyless for 3/8 and 1/2 in drills. $34.99
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:23 am
What manufacturers do not tell you is why the gear on both chuck and key get spoilt. The main reason for it is that the holes get full of dirt and the pinof the key does not get far enough into the hole and the tip of the gears get damaged. These holes should be cleaned regularly and your chuck;s life will be greatly lengthened
January 6th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Hello,
Anyone know how & where I can obtain info about how to rebuild a few small Jacobs Chucks key types???
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 am
Haven’t received a response yet… figure I should repost…
Anyone know how to get a Keyless Rohm Self Tightening chuck off the Dewalt DC925. I have heard that there are $250 worth of tools required, but am not convinced that it’s that difficult.
Thanks.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:09 am
i have a dewalt 236 corded drill has a bit in the keyless chuck and it is broken.how do i get the bit out and replace the chuck?please help thanks steve
December 24th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
May I trouble someone to tell me the proper removal of the chuck on an older Delta Rockwell drillpress Catalog 15-000.
You can email direct to program.ed@hotmail.com
Thanks
December 25th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Old Wood Working Machines is a wonderful site to find out info and ask questions about older machines. They even have some old manuals posted.
(http://www.owwm.com/)