Bosch 1617 plunge base strange problem

[mlincoln]

I normally use another router, but today I reached for the Bosch 1617.  Haven't used it in years and it's only been used very lightly.  Today I was using the plunge base and everything was going great, and after an hour of work I hit the lever to unplunge it and suddenly the handles were all loose and wobbly.  The plunge guide rod to the user's left, the one by the depth control, had stuck up inside the housing.  It had pulled right out of the base, and only that spring and rubber sleeve was holding the left side of the base to upper part of the base.

I hadn't banged it or whacked it or done anything like that.  I turned it this way and that and got the guide rod to go back into the base and hit the plunge mechanism to let the router come back up.  Once again, the guide rod sticks up in the top.  I get it in there again, get the top as low as I can, and I give it a few strong taps with a rubber mallet.  It works again for a few up and downs, and then once again stays up.  So I dribble some oil on the guide rod, figuring it is sticking, and I work it up and down 20 or 30 times.  Put it down real low, given it a few taps to try to seat the guide rod down in the base, and it works for a little bit and then sticks up again.

I can find no set screw or anything that seems to hold the guide rod in the bottom.  Seems just like it's a press fit.  Does anybody have any ideas?  Thank you in advance.

[bandsaw]

Best idea is to use a different plunge router. This plunge base has issues. The rod on the other side has no bushing, just rattles around in the casting. I learned my lesson plunging a lot of mortises that were not accurate.

[cvillewood]

Hmm, not sure what’s going on. Pictures?

These are great and very popular routers. I’ve got two and haven’t had that problem.

[mlincoln]

Sorry, have a great picture but can't figure out how to post it.  I called the nice people at Bosch and they said they'd never heard of this problem.  I sent him a few pictures, told him how it just sort of happened (no dropping or banging it), and the incredibly nice man apologized for the tool failure and is sending me a new one.  Now that is customer service.  Red and blue for me here on out!