An improved quick-change collet chuck used with an existing single lane capping apparatus for gripping and installing container caps during the automated high-volume filling and capping process. The quick-change collet chuck allows quick and effortless swapping out of different size jaw sets for different size caps and minimizes interruption and downtime during the automated container capping processes. The quick-change collet chuck has a slim profile for low inertia so as not to interfere with high speed operation and accurate servo torquing. Another optional feature is shown in conjunction with the quick-change collet chuck to facilitate reversible operation when it is desirable to include on-the-fly cap removal and removal torque testing on the capping machine. This feature insures that the collet chuck cannot unscrew or spin loose from the spindle shaft after the quick-change collet is already locked in position.