TheSamba.com :: View topic - "re-pining" lock tumblers

Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:24 pm

Did some holiday shopping this weekend and we used the Panel since we bought alot of large stuff. Going from store to store and mall to mall, I quickly remebered why I never bother to lock it because its such a pain in the ass as every door has a different key and none of them match the ignition! After fumbling with every key I finally temporarily marked them with a pen after about the 3rd store.

I'd really like to thin the herd on my keychain at least down to 2 keys. I have re-pinned the tumblers to match ignition keys on my bugs before with no problems. I havent messed with any locks on the busses yet though (except for the slider on my bay) and I am just wondering if any of the locks/handles are tricky to dissasemble. Bug locks are pretty straightforward, I'm not so sure about thes push buttons or that cargo door though. BTW its a 66' for the most part.

Many thanks!

Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:00 am

The front doors are a piece of cake. There are two allen head screws on each handle holding it in the door and a philip's screw holding the lock actuating mechanism to the back of the button. After that is off, there is a spring clip holding the lock cylinder in. As long as all of your locks have the same profile, it should be really easy to key them all alike. On a '66, it should be a 'T' profile. I have a '65 SC so I don't know about the cargo doors or rear hatch. Sorry.

Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:54 pm

Once you figure out the tiny slotted screw holding the cylinder in place, its a breeze. Makes it alot easier if you have some extra cylinders to provide donor parts. The little metal tabs which make the cylinder either lock or release, depending upon whether the key matches the tabs, or not, are the extras you will need. Don't lose the little return springs, either.

Just start with one key, and find enough tabs to make all the locks work on the same key. Even though there are like 6 or 7 tabs in each cylinder, you only need to match up 3 or 4 to make it lock securely enough. If you can't find a tab that perfectly matches, just get one close, and use a flat file to shorten the tab up until its flush with the cylinder body when the key is inserted. Don't leave ANY tab sticking out at all, even a little bit, that lock won't open if it catches on a tab.