On Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:09:52 -0400, Stormin Mormon wrote:

Finally got up my courage, and pull apart my Metabo corded
half inch hammer drill. It died, with no aparent reason, a
couple weeks ago. I'd been using my Skil 3/8 drill, for
installing deadbolts. Finally ground the gears so it doesn't
work. Installing deadbolts is a bit too rough on the Skil, I
guess.

Turns out the white wire broke, about an inch from the plug.
That was easy. And I spent all this time worried about it.
Sigh.

Lucky me, doesn't have to go spend money and buy a new
drill. In 1985, I paid over $200 for this drill. One like
this, somewhat, at Walmart about $75. And $26 at Harbor
Freight.

You mean one that *looks* like the Metabo. The ones at Walmart and Harbor
Freight are not in the same class as each other and certainly not in the
same class as your Metabo. Not all hammer drills are created equal. Skil
is better than the Harbor freight and might be what you are looking at at
Walmart, but no where near the quality of Metabo, FWIS. The closest you
will get at the big box stores to your Metabo is Milwaukee or Hitachi.
DeWalt has gone down severely in quality in the last few years after being
bought by B&D. I had an 18v cordless drill for just over a year before it
was stolen. Actually I had THREE drills in just over a year. The first one
lost the clutch. The second one burned up and lost the clutch. Not one of
them had a clutch that worked properly and the "locking" chuck did not
lock. It was often dropping drill bits. The Milwaukee that replaced it
works flawlessly!