Milwaukee Fails

[scooby074]

Lots of threads about Milwaukee wins, but like every tool manufacturer there has to be fails along the way!

Lets see them and why they are fails in your opinion.

 

[scooby074]

Ill start with one of my first Milwaukee fails, the 48-22-2132 Bit Screwdriver. Comfortable in the hand, but the bits are too soft. Not as good as the Picquic driver they ripped off.

 

[dnschmidt]

The M18 vacuum cleaner that looks like an upright vacuum. This sucker plugs up so fast you can't use it for more than 10 minutes without taking the filters out and washing them. It ***** but not in a good way.

 

[65k10]

The now infamous h96b 2767 for me. After several years of being a bit underwhelmed by my Dewalt dcf899 and seeing how everyone raved about the 2767, I picked one up during a July 4th sale last year. It was pretty disappointing and made my also recently acquired Matco 24" ratchet even more impressive since that tool usually found itself breaking fasteners loose that the Milwaukee seemed to struggle with. The 2767 only seemed good for speeding up tasks with a lot of moderately torqued bolts.

Since then I've bought an h96a model that will hopefully be more impressive when I get to using it during this upcoming farming and haying season. In the meantime I'm still waiting for my h96b impact to fully break so I can get it swapped out.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

2 come to mind ;
I was quite excited to try out my new 1/2" hi torque impact on an f350 transmission job.
It blasted off the first exhaust hanger bracket nut (13norn14mm)in an instant, but on the second one died and would no longer do anything but flash disco lights.
Oh well, Home Depot handed me another that worked fine.

Fail #2 was long ago on the V18 platform.
My kit came with a light that was tall and sat on the battery. If it tipped over, there was about a 50% chance the filament in the incandescent bulb would fail, so this was almost a daily occurrence.

 

[MushCreek]

I bought a brand new corded Milwaukee circular saw when I started building our house. It got rave reviews, and I liked the adjustable top handle. It's a good saw, but the blade isn't parallel to the shoe, so you can't use it with a guide. I put it back in the box, and continued on with my M18 saw. I guess I should dig it out and fix it one of these days. I did manage to kill an M18 drill mixing tile thinset, but that's really abuse. The low range gears are stripped, but it still works fine in high range.

 

[FSUwelder1212]

The now infamous h96b 2767 for me. After several years of being a bit underwhelmed by my Dewalt dcf899 and seeing how everyone raved about the 2767, I picked one up during a July 4th sale last year. It was pretty disappointing and made my also recently acquired Matco 24" ratchet even more impressive since that tool usually found itself breaking fasteners loose that the Milwaukee seemed to struggle with. The 2767 only seemed good for speeding up tasks with a lot of moderately torqued bolts.

Since then I've bought an h96a model that will hopefully be more impressive when I get to using it during this upcoming farming and haying season. In the meantime I'm still waiting for my h96b impact to fully break so I can get it swapped out.

pretty sure they will swap it out regardless of whether it is broken or not

 

[solo machinist]

I can't remember what I was doing, but I do remember I wasn't pushing very hard.
I have recently switched over to Dewalt.

 

[65k10]

pretty sure they will swap it out regardless of whether it is broken or not

I'll have to give Milwaukee a call sometime then. I had been waiting for it to fail since I never saw Milwaukee ever being totally clear about taking them back regardless of if they worked or not.

 

[snickers muncher]

Milwaukee fishtape kept jamming. Milwaukee sent me a replacement and a label to send the defective one back for quality control examination. The replacement works fine.

Milwaukee 1/2 90 tooth ratchet. It's a decent ratchet but the head is much bigger than it needs to be. It sits in a drawer while I grab the cheaper Harbor Freight extendable ratchet that has a smaller head, less back drag, and the longer handle makes things a lot easier.

 

[mobiledynamics]

Mainly just the backpack vac.
The packout vac I'm not crazed about but it serves it's purpose as a cordless vac...

M18 Sprayer - half and half on my opinion on it. I bought it mainly cause I'm in the battery system of Milwaukee
Doesn't spray all the way to tank empty - due to how where the intake is.
I have yet to have a issue but MANY reports on the tanks leaking on it's seams

 

[Torque Test Channel]

*Gestures widely in the direction of all of their batteries*

 

[GeoBruin]

*Gestures widely in the direction of all of their batteries*

Ouch. I watch the channel pretty regularly but didn't realize their batteries underperformed across the board. What's the scoop?

For my part, I have a lot of M12 tools and the only one I've really been disappointed in is the right angle drill. Hard to call it a fail since I knew about what I was getting, but it's still underwhelming.

 

[dnschmidt]

*Gestures widely in the direction of all of their batteries*

I would agree. I've had fewer needed to warrantee exchanges on Bosch and Makita batteries than Milwaukee where I've had to do quite a few. I've had Milwaukee batteries I've never used go bad. I had two M18 12.0 one 8.0 and several M12 6.0 die on me that couldn't have had more than 5 charges each that had a cell go bad. I would like to hear your take on this or perhaps do a video on batteries. The warrantee was no hassle but still this bugs me.

 

[txvwnut]

I only M12 in Milwaukee and the handheld vac is pretty much useless. Too small of a container for debris and the filter clogs up quick. About the only thing I use it for is vacuuming metal shavings off my cylinder head rebuild bench.

 

[Torque Test Channel]

Ouch. I watch the channel pretty regularly but didn't realize their batteries underperformed across the board. What's the scoop?

For my part, I have a lot of M12 tools and the only one I've really been disappointed in is the right angle drill. Hard to call it a fail since I knew about what I was getting, but it's still underwhelming.

Timestamp:

We've also had a 10 month old HD12.0 stop fully charging, 1 bank of cells is dead.
And M12 batteries start out difficult to remove every time then have a happy grace period before periodically falling out of tools that vibrate a lot

The performance is there, but the durability and the tools isolating vibration is in the bottom 25% of all power tools for sure.

 

[shibertus]

We've also has a 10 month old HD12.0 stop fully charging, 1 bank of cells is dead.

The 12.0 HD battery that came with my table saw also failed after very little use. I took it to two different Home Depots and was told they no longer handle warranty for Milwaukee. First and last cordless Milwaukee tool for me.

 

[Torque Test Channel]

The 12.0 HD battery that came with my table saw also failed after very little use. I took it to two different Home Depots and was told they no longer handle warranty for Milwaukee. First and last cordless Milwaukee tool for me.

We did a video on M18 leaf blowers, and the HD12.0 didn't last a long time on the single battery blower. People were in a tizzy about it, so we revisited it with an 8ah and got like the same runtime. Updated the post/video that the HD12.0 that was under a year old was simply defective and everyone seemed to have felt relived about that.
I however didn't feel the extra 3 mins of air blowing made up in brand image vs a $250 battery going bad when it still looked shiny and new, but maybe I need to own more Milwaukee to feel a certain way.

 

[mobiledynamics]

I use my dual battery 9.0 blower weekly. 4 in use. (2 for the stubby nozzle setup, the latter with stock nozzle). No issues with my 9

HD is a reseller. I wouldn't expect HD to handle warranty claims except for Ridgid ? Milwaukee has service centers but their mail in is pretty painless to do as well. Does HD also do in house warranty for dewalt and Makita

 

[dnschmidt]

We did a video on M18 leaf blowers, and the HD12.0 didn't last a long time on the single battery blower. People were in a tizzy about it, so we revisited it with an 8ah and got like the same runtime. Updated the post/video that the HD12.0 that was under a year old was simply defective and everyone seemed to have felt relived about that.
I however didn't feel the extra 3 mins of air blowing made up in brand image vs a $250 battery going bad when it still looked shiny and new, but maybe I need to own more Milwaukee to feel a certain way.

The M12 being hard to remove issue seems to have been rectified with the new 5.0 and 2.5 M12 batteries. The cases are made from a different type of plastic that seems more flexible and makes removal less of an issue.

 

[Dave in Mpls]

My only fail thus far was on the 2767 High Torque Impact a few weeks ago. Wasn't working it all that hard (rear shocks on a 2014 Suburban) when it suddenly ground to a halt. Tore it apart quick and the planetary gear train was in several pieces. Yes, it was the "B" version....Milwaukee had a new "A" version to my door within a week.

I managed to melt a 2553 Impact Driver on the same project. Was using it to remove the wheel well liner and set it down behind me right in front of a Mr Heater....OOPS! It still works fine, just looks a bit funny on one side!

 

[rlitman]

...M18 Sprayer - half and half on my opinion on it. I bought it mainly cause I'm in the battery system of Milwaukee
Doesn't spray all the way to tank empty - due to how where the intake is.
I have yet to have a issue but MANY reports on the tanks leaking on it's seams

Yes, it doesn't work well on the last gallon, but my issue was the pump failing within the first 4 tanks of spraying. My second pump failed on the first tankful. Total garbage.

 

[subroc]

I have some M12 stuff and like it all even the brushed stuff.

The fail will be a tool that I have seen touted and loved so many times to make mine maybe an aberration. Anyway the fastback utility knife is garbage. When I first got it I used it as a letter opener or Amazon box opener. Worked fine for that. I picked up a big screen TV. I was cutting the box down and the heavy corrugation of the cardboard used in the TV box repeatedly pulled the blade out. I certainly lost trust in that thing and at some level think it is dangerous..

I had it long enough that return was probably a waste of time. I have a handful of utility knifes here. Out of them all the only one I trust so little that I won't keep a blade in it is the Milwaukee.

Purchased in Jan 2016

 

[Marlin]

See how long this thread lasts, when they had their epic cost reduction failure to the planetary gear carrier on the 2767 the thread was quickly shut down. I normally wouldn't throw stones, as I've been on the wrong side of a design change before, but that one was so clearly never vetted that they deserve a little grief over it, it only lasted 82 cycles on our life tester.

 

[danski0224]

9.0 batteries

 

[danski0224]

I'm not a fan of their seemingly constant revisions. Why is it so hard to get it correct the first time?

The packout stuff is insanely expensive for what it is.

I had a M18 rotary hammer that failed under mild use, no longer under warranty, and was almost as much as a new one to get it fixed.

Plenty of stuff I would like to get, but not needed right now.

 

[sparky 1971]

The M18, and probably the M12, right angle drill is underwhelming. The M12 vacuum that looked like a dustbuster was thrown by me in the nearest dumpster within 20 minutes of taking it out of the box. The M4 inline screwdriver might be ok for some. but when compared to the Makita version, the Milwaukee is a P.O.S. I'll think of more.

 

[sparky 1971]

9.0 batteries

I've got four 9.0 and two 8.0's rotating between my Hole Hawg, Super Hawg, bandsaw, and vacuum and have had no problems whatsoever with them.

 

[William Payne]

My Milwaukee fail is why I have never owned any. They are undeniably good power tools. But the batteries cost the same or more than the tools. I don't want to buy grey market batteries and you can buy two Makita batteries for one Milwaukee.

 

[finn]

M12 brushed Hacksall.
I realize it old technology, but there wasn’t a brushless version when I got mine.

The good news is that mine looks like new and should last a long time, mostly because it’s so useless I rarely use it.

Small item, but my wife likes to carry a small tape measure on her purse. I figured she should get a nice one, so we picked up a Milwaukee. It crapped out in less than a year, which may be all we should expect, but I would rather they let someone else market it then, so they don’t soil the brand.

Bought a small tape from HF got $1.99 to replace it. Let’s see if we get more than a year out of it. Sort of like that cheap novelty junk like flashlights and box cutters SnapOn lets importers put the SnapOn logo on.

 

[scooby074]

Funny thing about memory. I had a 2767 B that **** the bed. I didnt even remember it when I created this thread I guess thats because I wasnt really down without it and Milwaukee handled it perfect once they realized. Goes to show the power of doing the right thing.. also shows the risk of messing with a solid design without proper testing.

And the V series were garbage. We had them at work and they were always broken and batteries sucked. It actually took years and going against my gut feelings to go with the M18s over getting the new Dewalts at the time when I went to replace my Dewalt XRP NiCads

 

[j3rf]

The M12 being hard to remove issue seems to have been rectified with the new 5.0 and 2.5 M12 batteries. The cases are made from a different type of plastic that seems more flexible and makes removal less of an issue.

Glad they finally recognized they have a quality control concern, but doesn't really help anyone that has a stack of M12 batteries that have broken tabs and not covered under warranty.

 

[bluedog225]

The Hole Hawg is a pos.

The repair center confirmed. Cheap pot metal frame broke. Unrepairable. @ssholes.

The super hog is a magnificent beast though. All 13(?) lbs of it.

The M28 hand drill clutch is sadly weak. Can’t do much in that setting. The older version had some stiffer settings. With the new version you have to put it in the no clutch setting and it will about break your wrist.

Another example of “safer” being not safer.

The 5 year warranty service is pretty good.

 

[roofdweller49]

TTI just seems to have **** batteries? There's always a weekly reddit thread about someone's newish 40v battery going dead

 

[darkzero]

Not a fail as in a disappointing tool but was a failure. M18 8.0 battery that I bought new failed after 2 yrs. I've been lucky & have never had a power tool fail on me where I had to send in for warranty. MW makes it easy & they replaced it, that was late last year. A month ago my buddy's M18 8.0 also died, same failure as mine (would no longer charge). I sent it in for him & again MW replaced it.

Disappointing cause I bought the 8.0 in fear of my 9.0 dying. But my 9.0 still works fine, apprently mine wasn't one of the ones that commonly fail according to what people say online going by the label type.

I've heard that M12 6.0s tend to fail, so far the 2 that I have are still working fine. Same with my M18 12.0, all of which are older than my 8.0 and are probably out of warranty now.

All six of my M18 5.0s are still going strong, 4 of them are from 2015. Well one of the ones from 2015 wouldn't charge to 4 bars a couple weeks ago. I hadn't used it in a while (forgot to put in rotation). Turned out 2 of the banks were low but not critically low, just lower than the other 3 banks so those 2 banks would never fully charge. I balanced charged all the banks & that battery is working fine again now.

Irrelevant since it's old now but I experienced the common chuck issues on my M18 gen2 hammer drill. I cheaped out & instead of buying a proper Rohm chuck I bought the stock chuck from a gen3 hammer drill. Luckily it has been working fine though. My stock gen2 chuck acted up all the time, I really hated that thing.

 

[Mb4]

I

Ill start with one of my first Milwaukee fails, the 48-22-2132 Bit Screwdriver. Comfortable in the hand, but the bits are too soft. Not as good as the Picquic driver they ripped off.

I don't think any multibit screwdriver is as good as the Picquic!

 

[darkzero]

I refuse to buy any hand tool from Milwaukee (or Dewalt). They're way overpriced for what they are IMO.

Closest thing I have are a pair of 6" cutters that I found & their prev gen scissors with the black overmold (current ones no longer have the overmold). Never thought I would buy scissors from MW but I actually like them.

 

[NFH2740]

Two of my 5.0 battery housings have failed; the screw threads pull out of bore. JB Weld PlastiBond will hold them together for a year before it falls apart and must be repaired.

 

[dnschmidt]

Not a fail as in a disappointing tool but was a failure. M18 8.0 battery that I bought new failed after 2 yrs. I've been lucky & have never had a power tool fail on me where I had to send in for warranty. MW makes it easy & they replaced it, that was late last year. A month ago my buddy's M18 8.0 also died, same failure as mine (would no longer charge). I sent it in for him & again MW replaced it.

Disappointing cause I bought the 8.0 in fear of my 9.0 dying. But my 9.0 still works fine, apprently mine wasn't one of the ones that commonly fail according to what people say online going by the label type.

I've heard that M12 6.0s tend to fail, so far the 2 that I have are still working fine. Same with my M18 12.0, all of which are older than my 8.0 and are probably out of warranty now.

All six of my M18 5.0s are still going strong, 4 of them are from 2015. Well one of the ones from 2015 wouldn't charge to 4 bars a couple weeks ago. I hadn't used it in a while (forgot to put in rotation). Turned out 2 of the banks were low but not critically low, just lower than the other 3 banks so those 2 banks would never fully charge. I balanced charged all the banks & that battery is working fine again now.

Irrelevant since it's old now but I experienced the common chuck issues on my M18 gen2 hammer drill. I cheaped out & instead of buying a proper Rohm chuck I bought the stock chuck from a gen3 hammer drill. Luckily it has been working fine though. My stock gen2 chuck acted up all the time, I really hated that thing.

You'd be a lot more disappointed if it failed after 3 years which is the warrantee period. If it's under that a free one is a simple phone call and shipping label away. The 5.0 although now obsolete as it uses the smaller cells seems to be the one that lasts the longest. I've had several of the 6.0 M12's **** the bed but none of the 4.0.

 

[darkzero]

The 5.0 although now obsolete as it uses the smaller cells

What do you mean by obsolete? As in no longer made or because it uses 18650s? AFAIK they aren't discontinued.

Sure, the 21700 packs perform better in tools that benefit from them but I still prefer to use 5.0s. I hate that the 21700 packs are longer toward the front. For some tools like impact guns the longer length in the front gets in the way sometimes.

6.0HO is the same case size as the 8.0 so I bought 8.0. Too bulky to use with a drill, impact driver, or impact guns IMO. That was before TTC did a test reporting that the 6.0 performs better than the 8.0, doesn't matter for my needs. I do have a couple of the 3.0HO, lighter weight is nice but again has the stick out in the front.