Cordless Drill repair

[rlougee]

I think the brushes are going in my Dewalt cordless drill. It still works fine, but I get that funny electrical smell every time I use it.

Can this be fixed?
How do I know if it is the brushes and not the motor?
How do you replace the brushes?
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Rick

[wkilleffer]

How old is your drill?

I'm not sure that this is really a problem. I've noticed electrical smells whenever I use any of my drills whether they're cordless or not. It's more noticeable when the drill has to be working for a long time.

[HayZee518]

I do servicing on a lot of portable electrical tools, battery drills are the most prominent. All of the battery drills I've come across are sealed motors. The brushes are not replacable. The motors used are called Johnson motors. The DeWalt service site has these replacement motors for about $45.00 apiece. The smell you can detect is the electric arcing at the brushes in the atmosphere. The smell is that of ozone which occurs whenever a spark is discharged in the air. The symbol for oxygen is O-2 - ozone is O-3.
Ozone can be nauseating sometimes but normally I wouldn't worry.

[mantoe]

Hey guys newbe here...i see came across this old post while seaching to see if it will be worth repairing my dewalt corless or buying a new one. So i was coated $89. for a full rebuild at a dewalt dealer. Should i do this or just get a new one?

Thanks all

[HayZee518]

89 bucks is good for a repair. you'll get a new johnson motor and brushes.

[mantoe]

Ok cool thanks

[mantoe]

if i was to buy the motor, how hard would it be to install?

[HayZee518]

take all the screws out from the shell and remove the shell. be careful of the reversing selector. the motor leads may have spade connectors or soldered connections. make note of where they go or your for-rev will be backwwards. the motor has a planetary gear drive don't lose any gears.

[mantoe]

sounds good...i'll give it a try.