Milwaukee 1/2" Keyless Chuck

[WittHay]

I recently got the 1/2" Fuel Drill/Driver and I am not sure how much to tighten the chuck. I used it for drilling in metal and it feels like something is going to strip or break if I really hand tighten it.

Is there a proper way or procedure for tightening large bits in a keyless chuck?

 

[tarbellb]

You are likely doing it correctly, hand tighten till you cant.

But the Fuel 1/2" keyless chucks arent known for their quality. Crummy feel, loosen with use, and wear out.

Ive had to replace several now.

 

[Ign]

It's supposed to click and sound like its stripping. Seriously. Check your owner's manual or the .pdf of it at milwaukeetool.com. Not joking. They address this.

Oh and the answer is:as tight as you can by hand. Mine slip otherwise because, yeah, they're sub-par chucks.

 

[WittHay]

Thanks for the answers, misplaced the owners manual and it's just a lot different chuck than the Makita's with the Jacob's keyed chucks I am used to.

Nice handy drill though.

 

[cajunfirehawk]

IMHO be careful if your drill has hammer mode; I used mine recently and apparently its common for the chuck to tighten while in this mode to the point of not being able to loosen it by hand, I had to use channel locks which marred my chucks finish, if you google this issue it seems to happen frequently for Milwaukee keyless chucks, IMHO.

If using in hammer mode just normal hand tighten, IMHO. YMMV.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

I have a non-Fuel (home) and Fuel drill (work), and the stock Fuel chuck was awful. I swapped it over after it kept slipping and chewing up my drill bits. Cripe has a couple of options (I stayed with keyless).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jacobs-32795C-Hand-Tite-Keyless-Chuck-1-2-20-Thread-/331599498235

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jacobs-26BA-1-2-Chuck-Plain-Bearing-1-2-20-Thread-Mount-31810C-/330744778680

 

[DerekV]

IMHO be careful if your drill has hammer mode; I used mine recently and apparently its common for the chuck to tighten while in this mode to the point of not being able to loosen it by hand, I had to use channel locks which marred my chucks finish, if you google this issue it seems to happen frequently for Milwaukee keyless chucks, IMHO.

If using in hammer mode just normal hand tighten, IMHO. YMMV.

Funny you mention this. I had the 2704 Fuel hammer drill for a week and brought it back because the chuck kept locking up on me. And I know a hand drill isn't a precision tool, but bits (regardless or type, brand, age, or condition) would wobble. I was pretty disappointed. I swapped it for the non-hammer model (2703) and it has been flawless. Absolutely zero locking chuck issues or bit wobble/slippage. I normally tighten it to just a few clicks. Hulk mode not necessary.

OP: Enjoy your new drill and good luck [emoji106]

 

[cajunfirehawk]

Funny you mention this. I had the 2704 Fuel hammer drill for a week and brought it back because the chuck kept locking up on me. And I know a hand drill isn't a precision tool, but bits (regardless or type, brand, age, or condition) would wobble. I was pretty disappointed. I swapped it for the non-hammer model (2703) and it has been flawless. Absolutely zero locking chuck issues or bit wobble/slippage. I normally tighten it to just a few clicks. Hulk mode not necessary.

OP: Enjoy your new drill and good luck [emoji106]

One of the Jacobsen chucks on ebay specially calls out for a hammer drill, might try that, think my drill is a 2704 too fwiw

 

[cajunfirehawk]

So update on this 2704! I purchased that Jacobsen chuck mentioned above, watched all the videos on the planet about swapping chucks, fought the LH thread screw which is an allen head now and assume metric too, get that out after maybe an hour , so again relying on videos off the web, I inserted a bit into the chuck and adapted that to my impact and CANNOT get the chuck itself broke free from this thing, no way shape or form, how much freaking loctite do they use , it should just zip right off....so now I have a f'ed 2704 that I cant use, the body got scratched up and I sent Milwaukee a nasty email and I suspect nothing good will come out of this except I will need to replace it or hold out until the next version comes out. Or, not get a cordless hammer next time, and jus an get old fashioned corded hammer drill just for masonry use and stick with cordless for drilling? YMMV