replacing a Sioux air drill chuck

[Shockwave]

How do you replace the chuck? It looks like I need a really thin wrench to grab the hex shaft just between the chuck and the drill body?

Answer:
Why yes you do. One of the HF HVLP spanner wrenches happens to fit well enough. Just chuck up an allen key and turn. I hope answering myself doesn't create a rift in space.

 

[mototopo]

I replaced the drill chuck on my Sioux palm drill a couple weeks ago to install the quick change chuck sold by Cleaveland. First, open the chuck and look inside if there is an hex bolt securing the chuck (mine didn't have it but on some drill you can find it). Then, just clamp the short leg of an L-shaped hex wrench in the chuck (the biggest one that fit) and strike the long leg with an hammer 3 or 4 times in counter clockwise direction. Job done!

 

[derLuigi]

No need to hold the drill shaft

This Guy I know (I see him in the mirror every morning) read claudio's post and thought something to the tune of "well, that allen wrench trick is fine, but how do I manage to prevent the drill shaft from turning?"

What did he do? Between the installed keyless drill chuck and the drill body there was a shaft visible with two flat sides, perfect to grab with a wrench - if there was a way to get there that is. First action was to remove some kind of collar at the rear end of the drill chuck (some kind of plastic, easy to remove by letting the drill spin and use an old drill bit for some kind of lathe-like action). Now it was possible to get to the shaft, all that was needed was a wrench (about 15 mm wide) with a thickness of about 3/32". Using some steel angles clamped to the shaft in a vise didn't work, neither did some cheesy bicycle tool. Last resort was to grind a perfectly good wrench to fit in there, apply an enormous amount of force and ...
...the flat sides of the shaft where rounded?!?

That was the time this guy called ishams (planetools.com - the shop where the drill was bought from) and two minutes later the chuck exchange was complete.

So, what's the point of this post? Save yourself some time, just put the allen wrench in the chuck, hit it (the allen wrench) with a hammer (sharp blows) a few times in the right direction an the old chuck comes right off. The friction inside the drill is enough to hold the shaft.

By the way - That visible part of the shaft he tried to hold belonged to the chuck

Mario (back to building an airplane)

 

[rzbill]

Drill chucks with a center bolt

As mentioned above, non-reversable chucks can generally be removed by installing the key and giving it a whack to loosten a right hand thread.

Some chucks, primarily units on reversable drills, have a center screw that is accessed by completely opening the chuck. This is a LEFT hand thread and requires a shot with a hammer driven impact wrench to break it loose. Afterwards, the standard key positioning and right hand removal noted above is used to finish removing the chuck.

 

[JakeLewis22]

This Guy I know (I see him in the mirror every morning) read claudio's post and thought something to the tune of "well, that allen wrench trick is fine, but how do I manage to prevent the drill shaft from turning?"

The idea is to shock the threads loose when you strike the long end of the allen wrench with a hammer. The advise is good but the "L" shaped allen wrench trick doesn't work very well on the smaller air drills because there is very little resistance inside the air drill to prevent it from turning.

The best way I've found is to chuck up an allen "socket" and use an air impact wrench with a quick burst of the trigger in reverse. If it doesn't break loose right away, stop and try again. Spinning it is not the idea, it's the initial shock that breaks it loose.