Attention Owners of Nils Arctic Trekkers - Weld Failure possibility

[Deal Ninja]

So, if it wasn't for bad luck with drill adapters, I would have no luck at all so far.  Remember my twisted Clam Plate shaft from last year?

Thanks again Monticatgeek for helping me get that issue resolved so quickly!

Yesterday I go out to fish with my brand new Milwaukee/Nils Arctic Trekker combo and start to drill my first hole when all of the sudden the auger stops drilling cold.  The drill is still going btw.  What the bleep???  Another fisherman who noticed my difficulties walked over and together we determined that the part you chuck in the drill (bit) is spinning, but the rest of the auger isn't. lol  Again, what the bleep?  Turns out, that there are not two, but three separate pieces that make up the drill adapter for the Trekker, a hollow shaft, the plate and the solid machined bit.  See pics.  The really bad part is that if this fails, you are SOL...can't even use the manual handle to drill holes and unfortunately no way to predetermine if yours might fail other than actually using it.  I guess the best advice I can give is carry a spare auger with you just in case.  Luckily the same guy offered to drill me a couple of holes to fish or I would have been heading home.



Hopefully mine is just an anomaly and this is not a widespread problem waiting to happen.

I've emailed Nils the story and photos and have asked them for a quick turnaround on a replacement drill adapter as the auger is totally useless without this part.  Does anyone know what I might expect from them in terms of customer service?

DN

[Deal Ninja]

Nils got back to me and offered to pay me up to $20 to get the part welded for an immediate fix and then will ship me a new one when they get them in from the factory.  Can't beat that!  Kudos to Nilsmaster!

DN

PS.  He also indicated that there is supposed to be a weld on top of the plate as well as underneath, so if you have one without it, like mine, be advised!

[RStock521]

Is that the same adapter as the $50 drill adapter? Or is it tapered differently for the Trekker?  I'm just wondering if you could get by with a different drill adapter or not

[Deal Ninja]

Hi R.  Nope.  It's a totally different adapter all together than the hand auger adapter.  I have them both, remember? 

Fwiw, I thought Nils treated me very well.  I just hope they didn't manufacture hundreds of them without the top weld.  That could get to be an expensive warranty issue for them.

Mark

[RStock521]

Hi R.  Nope.  It's a totally different adapter all together than the hand auger adapter.  I have them both, remember? 

Fwiw, I thought Nils treated me very well.  I just hope they didn't manufacture hundreds of them without the top weld.  That could get to be an expensive warranty issue for them.

Mark

Haha yup, I do recall. It just got me to thinking if I could buy a 28" extension, then connect my Kocav Ice Master adapter to one end, then the head from my full size Nils to the other end.  Now I know!  And sounds like you had great customer service from Nils. It's great to see!

[Game Hog]

Wow man thanks a bunch for the heads up. Will be checking mine out in the am. Hopefully yours was just Monday morning made. Glad to hear of the timely response from them.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Haha yup, I do recall. It just got me to thinking if I could buy a 28" extension, then connect my Kocav Ice Master adapter to one end, then the head from my full size Nils to the other end.  Now I know!  And sounds like you had great customer service from Nils. It's great to see!

I have a 14in extention and a spare cutting head.........if you want to turn it into an auger just put a strikemaster extention on it.....fits right into the shaft of the nils extention.

[George_B]

Before the season I was testing mine in the basement with the same setup and also spun mine off. This was my new rig for the lake, what a disappointment with my new Milwaukie drill. Fish USA helped me out because this is where I bought the Ice Trekker; and worked with Nils to get a replacement adapter plate. My new plate also does not have the weld on top, so I will follow up as this link progresses. In the back of my mind this incident put a bad picture in my head at the lake. I still have the Trekker, but returned the Milwaukie to Home Depot. With a weld on the top plate I thing I will give it another try in the future.