Compact Dewalt underpowered for K-drill?

Last Friday I got a really good deal on a 7.5 K-drill I have it on my clam plate along with with a Dewalt Compact 20v Brushless Hammer drill. Last year I ran a 6-inch Lazer hand auger on the clam plate and I liked the setup but just wanted something bigger that could handle more. After testing the K drill on a few holes on a pond I liked how it cut but I questioned if my Dewalt is powerful enough to handle the bit because the drill is the compact version. Does anyone have experience with the compact Dewalt’s on augers? Would the 8-inch lite flite be easier with this drill? I do not want to return this at all because I like the K-Drill but I also don’t want to burn out my drill this season. Like I said before I have it on a clam plate which I believe prevents the drill from burning out to some degree. Thanks for any help.

Do you have the clam plate with or without the gear reduction gearbox? I just added the gearbox to my clam plate last week.

Without the gearbox the clam plate alone will not give the drill any protection at all.

I do not have the gearbox but might think about adding it if it will help with the chipper-style blades of the K-drill.

Most are going with a drill that has 1200+ inches torque. What is your drill rated at as you did not give a model #?

Not sure how great of a Deal you got on that K-drill, But if the Lite Flight is not much more $ I’d go that route. This is coming from someone who’s ran a K-drill for MANY years ( Since it first came out ) after using a buddies lite flight some at the end of last year, I’m switching to one myself this year. I hope the flights hold up better on the Lite flight. That is the one complaint I have about the K-drill. I have replace 4-5 flights over the years on my light flight. As far as the answer to your original ?. I think it depends on the Torque of your drill and the # of holes you plan to drill per outing with it. My guess is the wear on a compact drill would become a issue over time.

For comparison I run Milwaukee 2804 hammer drill with that size Kdrill for 5 years now with no issues. So check out the specs on that drill and compare.

fishthumper wrote:

Not sure how great of a Deal you got on that K-drill,

I paid $137 for the 7.5 new that’s why I am not big on the idea of already returning it even if the Lite Flite is that much better.DCD778C2 here is the model I could not find the torque of the drill anywhere.

Aboxy17 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>

Not sure how great of a Deal you got on that K-drill,

I paid $137 for the 7.5 new that’s why I am not big on the idea of already returning it even if the Lite Flite is that much better.DCD778C2 here is the model I could not find the torque of the drill anywhere.

That is a good deal. The 6″ lite flite is right around 200.00 unless you find a deal someplace. The 8″ is around 219.00. Nothing wrong with the K-drill. Like I said I’ve owned one for many years. Always been happy with it. Just feel like its time to upgrade to the lite flite. I have a few cracked Flites on the drill that I would need to replace soon. Decided now was the time to make the switch

Aboxy is that the Dewalt you can get for 99.00?If it is i’ve been using one to run a 6&7in.lazer bit for 6 or 7 years.
I know there not chipper blades but that thing has cut a pile of holes and no issues.It’s on a clam plate w\o the gear box.

It is yes this is my third year running it on the clam plate with no problems. Good to hear yours has gone so long.

Look into Razr augers if you are looking for a good, cheaper auger to put on your drill. I picked up the 8″ synthetic lite for $160. Light weight and the blade carriage is all metal vs plastic.

The torque specs I found for the Dewalt are 65 newton-meters, which equal about 48 LbFt, with translates to about 600 inch lbs……probably too little to use for running an auger without a real risk of wrecking the drill, or the battery, or both.
You can avoid that by buying the gearbox for your clam plate. Or investing in a drill like the Milwaukee. I run a Milwaukee with my Nils convertible 8″ auger. I’ve drilled 30+ holes in 24″ of ice and still had 50% life left on a 5Ahr battery. And it’s still going strong after about 10 years of above average use.
If the drill costs the same as the gearbox, buy the drill. You can still use it when you’re not fishing, while the gearbox gathers dust during the summer.

Not sure about that DeWalt drill, but my gut tells me it will not be up to the job long term.

IF that’s the one with the plastic chuck(or at least the black part that you spin to lock the chuck). DeWalt sells drill/drivers that are plastic, and some that are metal. If I remember right, the plastic ones are always cheaper and usually less powerful/heavy duty.

I think you want one of the DCD99x models.

That said, your drill will probably work for a bit, but may burn out eventually. I have a DCD999 that’s been fantastic for my 7.5″ Kdrill.

TheCrappieFisherman wrote:

Look into Razr augers if you are looking for a good, cheaper auger to put on your drill. I picked up the 8″ synthetic lite for $160. Light weight and the blade carriage is all metal vs plastic.

I looked at getting one of these 3 years ago, cool to see they added a couple of new bits. Might want to look into them. They have some big-time guys using their augers now Brad Hawthrone and Bro.

Dee J Anders wrote:

You can avoid that by buying the gearbox for your clam plate. Or investing in a drill like the Milwaukee.

Does anyone have any idea how much the gearbox really helps? I can buy the gearbox for 80 bucks or I can fork over another at least $200 for a new Dewalt. At that point, I would just sell the whole setup as it is and buy the 24v or go back to a bit that won’t burn out my drill.

The drill is to small and the KDrill is the #1 hardest auger for a drill to turn by quite a bit. You won’t get into the drill & auger game cheap.