Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Milwaukee). This thread is read-only.
The other day I was drilling with my 2703 and it was a rare situation where I decided to use a side handle. Well sure enough the drill caught and chipped off the gear case where the handle mounts. Now this is a pretty well known issue on these drills and I was just wondering if anyone has tried to warranty a drill with this problem? Is it considered wear and tear or is it a design flaw that they cover?
I hope so, it’s worth a shot to ask…the part is on the gearbox assembly, so that’s a $66 – $80 part.
My guess is it is considered a design flaw yet not something covered under warranty. Still worth a shot to see if Milwaukee will repair it.
No wonder the handle mounting design changed on the 2803/2804. Garbage design for a drill with that sort of power. No warranty would be my guess, no harm in asking though.
If they don’t take care of it for you then I would think about going to another brand of tool.
In their defense I was pushing the tool hard when it happened. I had a 1/2″ slotted hole in a 1/4″ plate of steel that I had to upsize to a 5/8″ for an anchor bolt. I had 14 holes to drill and I knew the bit was going to catch multiple times but I was in the field with no other real options. So I don’t really feel the need to push the issue as to weather or not they should fix it I just thought if others had sent it in and got it fixed with no issues I might send it in.
I would try to see what they say MKE is pretty liberal at times with the warranty. The aux handle design isn’t the best on the Milwaukee drills.
The E Service repair is free shipping, send it back and see what happens.
I hope they improve this design, I like Dewalt’s attachment design but hate their handle. Milwaukee’s handle with the Dewalt attachment design would be great.
I’m thinking I’ll probably wait until I get my gen 3 drill and then I’ll try send it in to see what happens.
They did change the side handle design on the gen 3. It’s not like dewalt but it looks like a more solid design. If I remember right in one of the videos from nps2018 the milwaukee rep even comments about how the side handles a new tougher design. So obviously they’ve had some issues with the gen 2.
Biggie wrote:
On 5/28/2018 at 10:42 PM, Biggie said:I’m thinking I’ll probably wait until I get my gen 3 drill and then I’ll try send it in to see what happens.
They did change the side handle design on the gen 3. It’s not like dewalt but it looks like a more solid design. If I remember right in one of the videos from nps2018 the milwaukee rep even comments about how the side handles a new tougher design. So obviously they’ve had some issues with the gen 2.
I just looked it up, either I forgot about that or didn’t notice it.
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Looks like four engagement points and meatier parts of the housing and improved leverage. I still don’t love that split design, Dewalt’s is soo nice, easy to do one-handed and not looking. Milwaukee’s you have to shake it, if there is dust and grime in it, you have to turn the lugs…then most of the time you go to tighten and the lugs lift from their indents and you’re back at square one.