Re-keying your locks, The how-to thread Options

[markb]

I was re-keying a lock for someone today, and thought it might be a good time to take some pictures & explain how you can do this yourself. It’s not rocket science, if I can do it, anyone can do it. Please correct me if I’m wrong, or use the wrong terminology.

I’ll start with a door handle, because that seems to be what needs to be re-keyed the most.


Your standard 914 door handle.

[markb]

Since you have the door handle out, you should check the plastic actuator (these have a tendency to break) to see if it needs to be replaced. Yup, this one is broken. The originals were white, the replacements are black.

Wipe it all down to remove the old lube, and re-lube with a good lubricant. I like either of these:

DO NOT USE GRAPHITE!!! It’s an abrasive, and it gums things up.

Once you have all the wafers in flush, put the tumbler back in the handle. There is a small seal that fits around the outer edge of the tumbler where it meets the handle, and helps to keep dirt & water out of the handle. If the seal is still good, re-use it. If it’s in pieces, go ahead and reassemble without it. I haven’t had any problems with any handles that didn’t have this seal. The tumbler only fits in one way, so check to make sure it fits correctly, and make very sure the key rotates the tumbler easily, and with the key in either way. Once that is done, put the spring in place, and use the lever to help seat the spring. Put the screw back in, and you now have a re-keyed door handle!

That's all for now. I'll do more later on each of the locks on a 914. Here's a picture of all that we'll eventually cover.