Thread: Makita drill chuck

Got a speedy reply back from Makita, and not surprised that they won't assist - out of warranty.

Not getting upset about it, but a bit annoyed that Makita quality appears to have slipped.

The actual chuck jaws and body are quite hard compared to some Chinese drill chucks, but the scroll has obvious problems - from new.

So I will swap across the 13 mm chuck from the lathe as I now use an ER32 collet for drilling duties.

Rob

Both me and my father own Makita cordless drills. Both of them have a noisy grating keyless chuck. Ours started making the noise under warranty but we never got around to returning them. Both were purchased from Bunnings. Seems to me like there is a fault somewhere with these drills. Mine has made the noise constantly for the last 3 years, but it is still going. I figure I will use it until it stops then throw it away. If I get 5 years out of it I think I will have done well..

My workmate has a similar issue but with his LXT 451 drill, I believe it was the first in the lithium ion hammer drill/drivers (it's up to 456 now I think).

Anyway, half the time with a metal chuck and drilling an auger, speed bore or any bit really, the chuck seems to 'unlock' itself and the bits come loose. We tighten the chuck as much as it allows by hand but it still comes loose.

It started just as it ran outta warranty which is convenient for Makita.


Although my workmate has this problem, I still love my Makita range.

I have the 18V Li-ion Makitas and like them too, but the chuck was a disappointment. It wore out quite quickly and didn't grip the drills as it should. I was unable to remove it to replace it (trust me I tried!!!). In the end it was only marginally more expensive to buy a complete replacement bare drill (ie without battery), than the cost of the replacement chuck. I finished up breaking the old drill apart, ground some flats in the arbor, and took the old chuck off to use as a revolving chuck on the lathe, but it still took a heck of a job to get it off. Makita definitely aren't what they used to be, but then again the cost has come down a lot too. Personally I'd rather pay more and get a tool for life rather than something that will constantly frustrate me and let me down mid-job, so had I been able to remove the chuck I would have replaced it with a better quality one.

Pete

I've had Makita for a long time in blue, green and red line of tools.

Never had a quality issue ever.

The red Maktec stuff is pretty good even though it's cheaper.

This green line is odd in that it seems to be a New Zealand line that somehow found it's way here through Bunnings. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I still like Makita but looks like it's not quite as good as it used to be - like lots of things (Sutton drills comes to mind).

PS.... I tried to disassemble the chuck (even though it was stuffed), but you can't - they're just throw a way.

So I machined it in half and had a look at how it was made - not very interesting actually

Rob

I'm a huge fan of Makita but I think all the manufactures are feeling the pinch now and corners are getting cut. If it's just the chuck you can replace them easily enough with a better quality one. The Germans still make solid and reliable ones. I think the last chuck I replaced was with a little Bosch 13mm keyed.

I was drilling 16mm holes 400mm deep in hardwood logs and the original brand new Chinese chuck lasted about 10 holes. The Bosch chuck just kept on going!

In their defense, at least makita has been honest with their claims and price levels. They have 3 destinct product levels. Maktec and the Green line, the Chinese made blue and then the top of the line Japanese made.

I am lucky as I'm usually using my tools all day every day and can justify spending more on them so they last. I think the days of buying a power tool to pass down to your kids is gone though. The quality is not there any more. But they are a lot cheaper to buy today than they ever were.

I've always had a sea of blue power tools, my dad always did and so did the place I did my time with. Of late I can only say even the top of the line stuff has dropped off. I am still happy with them but don't still have the "walk in and buy the makita" mentality, I'll look at the other brands too.
As for country of origin, the blue stuff is made all over the place. Orbital sander, Japan, hot air gun, Czech republic, jigsaw and cordless's, UK. That was just what happened to be out. Not sure about the rest.
Cheers,
Ew

Same story here Ewan, Makita goes back a long way.

The other brand I have (had) utmost respect for is AEG.

But now that's owned by the same mob that make Ryobi junk - which is a big worry.

Probably explains why AEG prices have come back a lot.

Briggs and Stratton same thing, used to be good, but turn into grenades these days.

Nothing stays the same.

Rob

It's a shame about the battery platforms. You can't get buy with just one system.
I had a full set of Milwaulkee v28 tools when they first came out. Really damn good tools and I flogged the hell out of them for 5 years. I had 2 of their big hammer/drill/driver drills and they just kept on powering through. But the v28 did not have the rattle guns so I bought a pair of the makita bt140's. I had a mate who bought the full set of the lxt 18v makita. The cordless powersaw had more grunt than the v28 but the makita hammer/drill/driver was useless.

I just rolled the v28 Milwaulkee kit over last year to the m18 system. I'm quite disappointed with it really. Don't get me wrong, it's still good gear but it's a far cry from what they started out with. The m18 Batteries are crap compared to my now 3 + year old makita 18v batteries. The rubber moulding on the drills just peels off and the cordless saw is only good for thin ply. I can use the makita 18v cordless saw for framing no problem at all.

I used to swear by Makita, but the quality has gone down to where it's in the same category as the generic stuff.. I recently chucked out 2 Makita angle grinders that were less than a year old, and replaced them with Metabo.

My Makita cordless drill has a dodgy chuck, and, like the angle grinder saga I'm going to buy Metabo next time around..

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

I used to swear by Makita, I'm going to buy Metabo next time around..

Regards
Ray

Totally agree Ray.

I use Metabo drill chucks these days, and quality is very good. Still made in Germany.

Metabo is the way to go.


Rob

Originally Posted by Ben Dono

If it's just the chuck you can replace them easily enough with a better quality one. The Germans still make solid and reliable ones. I think the last chuck I replaced was with a little Bosch 13mm keyed.

Well no, sometimes you can't. As I mentioned above, the chuck on my 18 V Makita would NOT come off, so I trashed an otherwise perfectly good drill in doing so. Even when I broke it apart I needed to grind some flats in the arbor, hold the arbor in a vise, and only then would it release with a hell of a hammer blow! I thought it would break the chuck for sure, there's no way in heck it would have come off if still attached to the gearbox. I couldn't see any obvious thread locker in there, but I presume that's what they used. Even the (LH) locking screw was unnecessarily tight, plus it definitely did have thread lock on it. Clearly not meant to be serviced.

I too have Metabo tools, and would consider them the pick of the bunch. However sadly I've seen their quality clearly begin to slide also. What bugs me is that there are many people like myself who would rather have fewer good quality tools and buy them as we can afford to, but then keep them for life. Increasingly they're just not available. Most consumer products have a design life of about 5 years. The companies figure by then you've had a "good run" out of it, and will then buy a new one from them. Wait while I don my tin-foil hat and claim it's a giant conspiracy, designed by giant pandas to make us buy more crap rather than less stuff that lasts. ... hey, there's Elvis!!!

Sorry Pete F, I must have skipped right past your post. That's the first chuck I have come across that was not removable/replaceable and I have replaced many over the years. It's a shame if that's a sign of the times to come.

I did have one that had cold welded itself to the shaft once. That was a throwaway job.
I would not worry too much about the foil hat. It's called planned obsolescence and unfortunately it makes perfect sence in the tool world (that is if I was selling them). I still have my fathers Makita power saw 40plus years old amongst many other of his tools.

I spent a boozy night in Uncles Chillies fun pub, in the basement of the P J Hilton in Malaysia, nearly 2 decades ago.

I bumped into this Yank, that had been in China for months, setting up a plant to make keyless drill chucks. The kind that go on your $39 dollar specials you see at Bunnings. They were punching out thousands per day. I'll never forget him telling me. They had to produce them for 78 US cents each.

Regards Phil.