anyone hae experience with a Jacobs No. 4 chuck?

[andy_b]

a friend has an old Jacobs No. 4 chuck he may sell me (or give me). the action is a bit loose, but the jaws seem okay (they don't wobble). it looks like the capacity is about 1/6" to maybe 5/8". i know this isn't a fancy ball bearing chuck, but anyone know if a new split nut is available or if the action can be tightened any way? i haven't found anything so far in my searches.

andy b.

[Joel]

A quick search didn't turn up anything for a #4, but the repair kits start at $42. It has been my experience that old and worn chucks are best replaced rather than repaired. This is especially true now that import BB chucks can be had for about $40. Sorry.

[rockrat]

I had a Jacobs chuck that was in one of the boxes of tooling that came with my Van Norman. It was an 85B with Van Normans taper on the other end. Nice.

I tried to call Jacobs and get a rebuild kit for it. The outer sleeve (with the teeth on one end for a chuck key) was cracked and when I pressed it off, the split ring was worn. They told me that the chuck was no longer listed in their reference catalogs anymore. They then referred me to an internal engineer who had been with the company for some time. He told me that Jacobs merged or was bought by someone and when this happened, they cut ties with much of their older stuff, including older rebuild kits.

In the end, I found an old beat up chuck at work that had a sleeve and split gear I could use. Then I found a rebuild kit for a newer chuck that had jaws that fit. But the split ring would not. So between the parts, I came up with a good chuck. As I recall, the jaws are all nearly the same. That is to say, if the new ones are close in size in comparison to the old ones, they seem to work fine.

In the end, they may very well not have the rebuild kit for your chuck anymore. They didn't for mine. The parts from a different kit may get yours working. But if they do have a kit, they may not be able to tell you if it will help you.

Good luck.
rock-

[andy_b]

thanks guys. like i said, the jaws don't seem too bad, but i'm guessing the split nut is worn. the chuck seems to work okay, so i'm not in a big hurry to do anything, i'd just like to pick up any parts if i can find them. i may just call Jacobs and see what they suggest.

andy b.