# Removing a Jacobs 633C chuck?



## opalko (Feb 2, 2010)

Howdy all. I have an vintage 1970's Craftsman drill press that has a fair amount of run-out in it. I'd like to remove the Jacob's 633C chuck to clean and just verify it is not the chuck. Unfortuanately Sears no longer makes the quill / spindle assembly available to buy if I had to replace all that.

So my question is how do you get this chuck off? I have the instruction manual scanned in here:

http://opalko.smugmug.com/Machines/Craftsman-Drill-Press/15641197fKUHQ#11720442658iJBy

but for the life of me I cannot get the thing off following these instructions. It appears to be threaded on the end fo the spindle as shown in the parts diagram, but even using a pipe wrench I cannot get it to turn.

Any ideas?
Cheers


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## Hewy (Jan 16, 2011)

I have the same drill Press you have, when I read your post I tried to remove my chuck using your 
manual's instructions ( it has never been removed before). The chuck is held on with a self locking
taper, the collar is used only to break this fit loose, the chuck itself has no threads. My collar was also 
very tight. I used a pin punch held at an angle to one of collar holes and gave the punch a couple of 
taps with a hammer, you must hit it towards the left when looking at the machine from the front
(clock wise) The collar broke loose and turned easliy until it got to the top of the chuck where it needed
a couple more taps to break the taper loose .The chuck was then off.
I hope this will help you


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## oluf (Jan 29, 2010)

Put on safety glasses before you start. Take the largest allen wrench you have and chuch it up with the long end off to the side of the chuck. Strike the end of the allen wrench as hard as you can from right to left. Good luck.


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## opalko (Feb 2, 2010)

Thanks for the help…Ok, I managed to break the collar free to unthread, but now I am having a heck of a time getting the chuck off the taper. I've whacked the top of it many, many times with a pin punch, denting it up pretty good but still no luck removing it. In fact I managed to knock to slip collar off the bottom of the chuck - I guess it's supposed to come off?! Do I need to put a torch on this thing to heat it up to knock it off, or just keep whacking the top with a pin punch?!


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## Hewy (Jan 16, 2011)

I'am looking at my chuck now. The only thing that holds the chuck on is the self locking taper,I would screw 
the collar back on to the threads only not all the way up.Then drive a wedge between the chuck top and collar to pop the taper loose. Jacobs makes some wedges for this you drive 1 in fom each side. Maybe you can use 2 screwdrivers one from each side. You need the wedge force to break it loose.


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## opalko (Feb 2, 2010)

Still working on trying to get chuck off. Looking around to some friends that have shops for some sort of wedge to break the chuck free.


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## opalko (Feb 2, 2010)

Have chuck off!
http://opalko.smugmug.com/Machines/C...74366446_MEkJL
Measured run-out on spindle w/o chuck, not nearly as much. So..now what? Do I need a new chuck? Also, not sure if I damaged chuck getting it off, seems to be very hard to open/close now.

Cheers


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## Hewy (Jan 16, 2011)

Glad to hear you finaly got your chuck off. If the spindle run-out is ok (up to .003 total indicator reading) I would get a replacement chuck. I don't think you will be able to find new parts for your Jacobs 633c as it is
so old. The replacement chucks you find now will not have the screw on collar like your original chuck. They
use only the self locking taper to hold them on. The taper you will need on your new chuck has to be
a JT-33 to fit your original spindle taper. If you look at your old chuck you will see 33 taper stamped on it
this tells you what the taper is.
I hope this helps you


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## Hennessy (Apr 7, 2011)

Opalko - can you describe exactly how you got the chuck off? I have the same chuck stuck on a Craftsman 113.21371 press and the run-out is horrible. If I try to force the chuck off by turning the collar down it just gets stuck against the chuck and the chuck doesn't budge.


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## opalko (Feb 2, 2010)

@Hennessy - As you are experiencing, I had a very difficult time removing the chuck. Though the threaded collar will work to remove the chuck once you have it off and back on a couple of times, the initial removal after decades of being on there did not help mine either. Make sure you are threading it "down" towards the chuck, in any case.

What I ended up having to do was using a heavy duty wedge, akin to a tire iron - even then it was not easy! Be sure to reinforce the backside of the spindle and try not to bend it all up into a mess. I ended up replacing all of the bearings in the press at the same time I did all of this. After putting it all back together the runout was better, not terrific, but ok. Good enough not to justify buying a new chuck $$$ for what I use it for.

Good luck.


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## Hennessy (Apr 7, 2011)

Got it off! Thanks for the advice Opalko. 
Did you get the bearings from the sears part store or somewhere else? Are they a standard bearing size that I could pick up cheaper?

For anyone else that runs into this issue what worked for me was:
screwed collar down as far as I could towards the chuck (they were touching)
put largest hex wrench I have tight in chuck and banged down on it with a rubber hammer
put vice grips tight around collar and vice grip around arm of hex wrench and banged on the one on the collar clockwise (I think - forcing the collar down) with the hammer
repeated these steps a few times and eventually the it came free

Would have tried your wedge method but I didn't have one or anything to reinforce the spindle so I improvised.

Now a whole new set of problems. The run-out is caused by the spindle being bent - the chuck looks about perfect. Going to start a new thread on this issue. Thanks again


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## opalko (Feb 2, 2010)

Congratulations on getting it off of there - it's a job! Yes, the bearings are "standard" at least they are easily available. I will dig up what they are and send you what I purchased, probably as a PM.

Are you certain the spindle is bent and it is not just the bearings? If so that is very bad news as Sears no longer makes replacement spindles available for this dp. That is not to say you can't rig up a spindle from another press to go in it, but that may be more effort than it is worth.

Do you have the manual for this press? I can scan it in and send you if you need it.

Cheers


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## Hennessy (Apr 7, 2011)

I think its the spindle because there is no give in the spindle within the quill - it spins very smoothly and doesn't move out of place at all. Also the wobble is predictable in that if I isolate the quarter turn or so I have to make to see the bend it always happens in the same place. Really its just my gut feeling as I don't have much experience. I plan on replacing the bearings once I'm in there too.

Looking at your pictures I see you have a different press (though it looks identical). I lucked out - the sears parts website still offers the spindle for the 113.21371 - I ordered one and hopefully they really do have the part and its the right one (fingers crossed - not sure how reliable and up to date the site is). Here's the site for anyone that runs into this thread:
http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/part-model/Craftsman-Parts/Drill-Parts/Model-11321371/0247/0713080?sid=PDVertical


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## opalko (Feb 2, 2010)

Interesting! Looking at the parts diagram it does look identical to mine. I wonder if the spindles are interchangeable. Thanks


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