Jxfwsf
Well-Known Member
Quick tutorial about re-keying an ignition lock, <u>you must have the key to suit the barrel to do this</u>.
The same can be done with door, glove box and other locks. (glove box is a bit fiddley though)
A large clean working area is an idea in case one of the spring loaded bits gets lose.
Have bought cars in the past that had different keys to suit doors and ignition, this really annoys me for some reason.
If you have a VN-VX (possibly newer models but i haven't had to do this on any of them yet) that have suffered from an ignition lock failure and you need to change the lock but would like to retain your original key then read on.
Put the key in the barrel and turn it to the position pictured below, carefully depress the <b>spring loaded</b> stopper and turn the barrel some more until it passes the latch <b>keep your thumb over the gap</b> otherwise you'll be searching for this as it flies out.
Remove the guts, it'll pull straight out.
Top is a damaged vx lock, fairly common problem where they break, now you can see all the tumblers, each one has a number stamped into it and is spring loaded, don't just pull them all out at once or you'll be there for quite some time guessing and matching a key again.
You can see they're offset, draw a diagram and remove them 1 at a time and write down where it was located so you can duplicate the old key in the new lock.
When you have it all apart is a perfect time to clean off all the old grease which can cause everything to stick, with a worn key and wafers this can leave the barrel in an unlocked state, replace with some fresh light grease or graphite as it won't collect dust and gunk.
Push the key into the barrel and check for alignment, you may need to depress all the tumblers slightly to get the key to go in
2 tumblers are mixed up in this pic and can be seen sticking out, they all need to be flush otherwise you won't be able to turn the key once all back together.
When you're happy with the end result it's time to put it back together, push it in until the spring loaded bit in the top pic is flush with the outer housing.
Grab a small screw driver and push it down and push the barrel the rest of the way in.
Make sure the barrel turns smoothly without catching, if you can't turn it then a tumbler or 3 may be slightly out.
Put the first piece you removed back in and push down, turn the barrel to lock it in place, <b>as above be careful</b> the little bugger does fly quite a distance if you slip,.
Remove the key and make sure you can easily pop the inner barrel out to the locked position (the spring visible does this when in the steering column) , use the lock a few times to make sure it's in proper working condition.
The same can be done with door, glove box and other locks. (glove box is a bit fiddley though)
A large clean working area is an idea in case one of the spring loaded bits gets lose.
Have bought cars in the past that had different keys to suit doors and ignition, this really annoys me for some reason.
If you have a VN-VX (possibly newer models but i haven't had to do this on any of them yet) that have suffered from an ignition lock failure and you need to change the lock but would like to retain your original key then read on.
Put the key in the barrel and turn it to the position pictured below, carefully depress the <b>spring loaded</b> stopper and turn the barrel some more until it passes the latch <b>keep your thumb over the gap</b> otherwise you'll be searching for this as it flies out.
Remove the guts, it'll pull straight out.
Top is a damaged vx lock, fairly common problem where they break, now you can see all the tumblers, each one has a number stamped into it and is spring loaded, don't just pull them all out at once or you'll be there for quite some time guessing and matching a key again.
You can see they're offset, draw a diagram and remove them 1 at a time and write down where it was located so you can duplicate the old key in the new lock.
When you have it all apart is a perfect time to clean off all the old grease which can cause everything to stick, with a worn key and wafers this can leave the barrel in an unlocked state, replace with some fresh light grease or graphite as it won't collect dust and gunk.
Push the key into the barrel and check for alignment, you may need to depress all the tumblers slightly to get the key to go in
2 tumblers are mixed up in this pic and can be seen sticking out, they all need to be flush otherwise you won't be able to turn the key once all back together.
When you're happy with the end result it's time to put it back together, push it in until the spring loaded bit in the top pic is flush with the outer housing.
Grab a small screw driver and push it down and push the barrel the rest of the way in.
Make sure the barrel turns smoothly without catching, if you can't turn it then a tumbler or 3 may be slightly out.
Put the first piece you removed back in and push down, turn the barrel to lock it in place, <b>as above be careful</b> the little bugger does fly quite a distance if you slip,.
Remove the key and make sure you can easily pop the inner barrel out to the locked position (the spring visible does this when in the steering column) , use the lock a few times to make sure it's in proper working condition.
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