Take it back.

I had the same problem out of box.

The one I had would turn but it was way too hard.

I bought both of my routers new the same day, after about twenty minutes of use in my Crastsman router table, using a Craftsman 6.5 h.p. shop vac, both my routers got stuck. I attempted to use strap wrenches to break one loose with nothing good happening. I went to sears and raised hell until I got a list of numbers to call. Sears sent it to a repair shop, and the repair person used a 36" pipewrench on the adjusting ring until he broke the motor housing (which freed up the adjuster) They wanted to charge me $69.58 for the repair, I refused and took it home. The Sears Store manager (LaCrosse,WI)finally agreed to return my money. (with receipts)

That model line has been discontinued. Saw dust in the treads of the adjuster caused the problem. I took the first one apart, but when you get to the last three parts; the aluminum base, Plastic motor housing and adjusting ring, I couldn't find a way to get it apart any farther. There is a pin under the left handle that prevents the motor housing from rotating in the base, but couldn't drill it out without messing up the aluminum base portion.

Sears has had to have had thousands of complaints on this problem. I knew I couldn't have had the only two that locked up.

briantjnl@centurytel.net, I think Sears needs to own up to this issue and post a 100% refund recall.

I also have this router and the adjustment collar has been frozen up for some time. Today I tore it apart and was able to find a way to fix it.

Steps:

1) Take the black plastic plate off the bottom of the router.

2) From the bottom of the router, take out the 3 screws that look like they hold the fan guard in. These are at the base of the motor. You will find that these 3 screws actually hold the entire armature in! Remove the armature.

3) Remove the 3 or 4 screws on the top of the router holding the motor cover on.

4) Remove the 4 screws around the top of the motor housing in order to remove the field coils of the motor. Remove the field coils.

5) Remove the handles so that you can get the cord out of the way.

You should be down to the black plastic motor housing, adjustment collar, and aluminum base now.

6) Mount the base in a vise.

7) You will find a small notch in the red adjustment collar. The notch will be below the rubber grip- it's a small notch, but it should be there.

8) Using a large flat screwdriver and a hammer- hit the notch causing the adjustment ring to turn in a clockwise direction. NOTE- this will tear up the plastic adjustment ring a little bit. But a small blemish in the plastic is worth being able to use the router again, IMHO.

9) With a bit of luck, you should be able to get the motor housing to rise up. Once it stops, you can pull up on the housing while turning the adjustment ring and get the housing all the way out.

Note, I used LOTS of WD-40 during this process. I also haven't really figured a way to cause this problem to not happen again, but at least I was able to free it up.

Hope this helps someone in the future.

I had the same problem, had hardly used the router at all. Took it part completely but still could not get it fixed, Sears was no help at all. I just threw it out and resolved not to go back to Sears.