Repairing an old school 24 volt, Bosch GBH 24 VRE cordless sds drill. 

Of course, the main point of Dean's videos is to show us how to repair power tools but, for me, the narrative about the tool's or brand's history, the model's performance, is equally interesting. All in all, this has to be one of the best channels on the subject, if not the best.

My first SDS drill,it was an absolute beast !

I had one 22 years ago, beat the hell out of it every day fixing frames into concrete on pricecwork. It lasted about 3 years before overheating and melting inside. The batteries were pretty much dead, and they cost £180 each at the time. It wasn't worth repairing. I bought a panasonic 24v then which lasted better, but I did like the Bosch, it made me a lot of money. Great vid :)

Re-celling these ones was my bread and butter when I used to do tool batteries!

I have one of these. Scrapped by the Environment agency (UK) for duff batteries. They lasted another few years for me and im looking to swap the cells for NimH even though you can buy new replacement batteries. Bloody brilliant machine. Way better than the lipo replacement.

I Love your parts collection box, if at a time you want to get rid of , don't damp it, I will take care of it, currently I have 5 of this bosch In use I love it, I intend to keep it for long time doing charity work around Africa and it is the best drill and don't disappoint, it keeps on going regardless, The battery is disappointment but I don't store it, it is in constant use.

i remember working for Irish Multichannel in the late 90's. I was asked to go to a local plant hire in Newbridge to pick up a couple of drills. I ended picking up a pallet of these drills!! I still have 2 of them here, including the cases, batteries and chargers!!

I find it very interesting that how easy to take this thing apart. Just a dozen or so screws and you have access to everything (from the gearbox to the motor brushes)! A Repairman's dream :D

I still got mine, it's a green colour, works perfectly fine, awesome tool, 👍

Surprised nobody has developed a drop in lithium replacement.

So nice that you had the required part.Fine work sir

I have almost entire set of this bosch blue tools (after the battery system mount changed) and with new li-ion battery they are powerful works way better than anything cheap and are bulletproof jigsaw , sawzall , circular saw, drills 24 and 14.4v ones , 14.4v planer ....you can even find mitre saw all of them works better than any cheaper tolls .... except jigsaw and planer , they work better than most of new tools , jigsaw have probably the best blade changing system you will ever find , and planer just works great and plenty powerful (i dont have mitre saw but people say its awesome even today) only one thing to consider is that 14.4v ones work great with standard 18(20)v battery , but 24v ones lack some power with it ....when i made 7s (29.4v fully charged) battery , even circular saw have similar power to todays brushless 20v ones (and no overheating , entire day of work without issues in 50x150mm lumber)

i used the older version of this for years.( with the L shaped battery ) was a great machine.

As you've said Dean, a solid drill even for the age, I've got one other than the batteries it still works great for what I use it for.

I remember my dad's orange black and decker drill, lasted 30 years with a new trigger and some brushes.

i just got one of these that was being dumped surprisingly it runs with the battery that was only as you say in the vid ideal for myself a basic diy er around the house i see an old listing that showed the price new £450 ish 25 years ago

When a repair tech keeps going on about how the tool in front of them is good and sturdy, that's how you know it's good and sturdy. :)

Had one of those back in the late 90's, great drill, we broke a tooth in the gearbox using it with too big a drill bit!

I still have mine and it works great. The smaller battery has died but the 3A one is still good all these years later. Great video 👍

Nice work! Thanks for the peek.

Found one of these in my grandads shed and gave it to my uncle. Every time I think about it I regret it more 😔 Edit: it was working perfectly, batteries kept a charge, I even threw in a SDS chuck adapter and a 2nd handle thingy. Worst part is he’s in his 70s and probably won’t even use it

It's only viable if you know, how to replace Nicd with Li-on, you need to add protection circuit & BMS and also you will need new charger for Li-on. You need Li-on cells, that can deliver high Amperage. Done something similar for my old Makita BHR200 24v drill.

Great work. Thank you. Fantastic to watch (and learn). Best wishes for the New Year Dean.

I sold my 24v sds and circ saw the batteries were just not up to it. The tools were fabulous. I have a 110volt 4kg bosch sds that I use regularly in a similar box best sds I’ve ever owned

my dad have this old corded bosch drill that only had the bearings replaced 2 or 3 times and still works very good

I never had a big favourite tool brand, I mean I like the high end tool brands like hilti and festool for their specialty fields, but I basically used what was available or just stuck to the brand I had batteries for. Thanks to your videos I've actually became a bit of a bosch fan, their blue series always gets so uch praise in your videos an the fact that you can get parts even for their decades old tools just sounds awesome. Great video as usual!

Top notch!!!

Had the d handle sds,but got rid of it. I still have the 10 inch mitersaw (first cordless mitersaw), 1 of 6 batteries still work. Planning on adapting to flex, it's very compact. I cut hundreds of aluminum fence posts in a remote location. 36v Li-on didn't fare as well. Thanks for a blast from the past!

Nice fix Deano

Shame the batteries are such a weak link, great job as usual on the repair mate

I still have Bosch corded drills that are over 35 year old, good as new, I think I paid for one new chuck in all that time

I used to love my one of those till it got nicked in 2002 would still have it i i could find it.

I have found in the past from my own experiences that aftermarket/clone batteries will sometimes damage those connections.

Nice one Dean Really appreciate the content and has given me the confidence to repair my own tools instead of flapping and chucking it in the bin. Impact driver was repaired last week which I was well happy with. Wanted to ask do you get many Einhell tools in? Don’t think I’ve seen you have one in yet

perfect

I know you say don't bother trying to recell old batteries but I would really like to see you having a go. Then we could know for sure maybe.

I've got a nice Bosch GSB 2000 millennium edition.

👍👍

They used to make stuff last i don't no why they can't still do it

Still use mine to this day, last battery I bought 70 quid but its quitting on me, 12mm bits I can run in my 18v combi, so its days are numbered I guess.

I bought one of these drills 25 years ago when I was building my house. It’s the one with the interchangeable 3 jaw chuck. Still works perfectly but did have to replace the batteries a few years ago and now the newer batteries are starting to not hold the charge. If I was replacing it should I stick with Bosch or are there better makes on the market? Not used every week but occasional does get a good bit of work. Great Video as always Dean. Thanks again.

Pity that these batteries are obsolete. There are NiMh replacements though but I have not yet found a Lithium Pack or an adapter to run these tools on the modern 18V Lithium Batteries altough 18V may not be enough for these tools meant to run on 24V. One could come up with a contraption that holds two 12V batteries connected in series but thats not worth the effort given the number of these tools actually still in use.

My uncle has one , i remade the batteries to be Li-ion.

Dean I have one of these drills but it's as if the clutch is slipping when drilling the likes of an inch bit is there a clutch in them

I have two old Ryobie 24v SDS (blue)all the internal parts are Bosch both still going strong batteries (4)all charge and hold their charge BUT the battery chargers (2) are very dodgy, intermittent vault when I switch it on if you know of a good working one let me know.

@deandohertygreaser I have a request, since videos don't have 1080+ could you put commutators of the machines closer to camera, I would like to see how much they are wore out on different machines, thanks

You think someone would produce a new style lithium ion battery for these, since the drills themselves are still going strong.

Yes lad, was wondering if there is an adapter that u cud 2 x18v batteries into the 36v Bosch? If not, I'm sure some buck could print one off??

Collectors item

Would you say Hilti are a good heavy duty brand of tools in your professional opinion ?

I bought a new husqvarna k770 works perfect but sometimes if I’m cutting into something the blade stops spinning,what would the problem be?

LOOKING FOR THE PART THAT CONNECTS THE BATTERIE to the Bosch 24 VFR sds drill its like the part you replaced on one of your videos would you have a spare one that you would sell to me its as old as my self its like trying to find a needle in a hay stack

My father had the 12v from his job. Did you come across the 12v version?

2 batts on eBay 74 quid

Hi, could the drill be converted to work on a modern battery?

Have a spit 327 in the shed looks like the same machine

Why are there not lithium replacements for these old tools I chucked my bosch 24 volt because batteries where stupid expensive to replace crappy nmhi which would just flog out anyway

my bosch charger GAL 1880 just died after a mere 3 months of use, I'll be pissed if bosch doesnt warranty it.

I have this drill but the batteries are buggered 😢

Batteries can be used as a deadly weapon, just like Nokia 3310. You throw them at someone and they get a trip to ER.

Don’t dump 🙈🙈🙈🙈