Door locks

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racingsnake440

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The driver's door lock on my '63 won't turn with the key anymore. Can they be stripped down and rebuilt? I'd rather not replace the lock as I'd like to keep the same key as for the passenger door and tailgate.
 
A lock smith can re key a new one to your key if needed also.
 
The driver's door lock on my '63 won't turn with the key anymore. Can they be stripped down and rebuilt? I'd rather not replace the lock as I'd like to keep the same key as for the passenger door and tailgate.

They are simple to remove, but a little difficult to disassemble without mixing all the tumblers up. Remove the linkage to it and the clip holding it in the door. Once out of the car, carefully remove the long cover over the springs and tumblers. Be very carefull as you dump out the springs and tumblers; I usually keep my thumb over the other holes and dump just one tube at a time. Once disassembled, you can clean, lubricate, and reassemble and it should work. If not, you can remove whichever tumbler is preventing it from turning and reassemble without it.
 
@ScampMike - I've tried liquid graphite with no luck

@halifaxhops - can you get new locks? I thought the pre '66 ones were no longer available. Since the locksmith would have to take it apart to rekey couldn't I just get him to rebuild the original lock?

@Brad4406 - do you need any special tools to dismantle the lock? Got any pictures of the dissembling process?
 
New locks for the pre-'66 cars are difficult and costly. You can upgrade to the easy-and-cheap-to-buy '66-up locks without much difficulty; see thread here.
 
@Brad4406 - do you need any special tools to dismantle the lock? Got any pictures of the dissembling process?

No special tools required. It just has a tab on each end of the long cover over the tumblers and springs. I think I used a small screw driver or a scribe to pry the end tabs over as I held a thumb on top of it. As I mentioned before, be very careful as you slowly release pressure on the long cover as the springs are under pressure. If you relieve pressure too quickly, springs will end up everywhere.

Sorry, I don't have any pics. I didn't have a camera the last time I pulled one apart.
 
Sorry I don't show the upper pins and springs. If the lower pin is short the upper is long etc....

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take the linkages apart, clean them up and grease them when you do the locks. It will help reduce the drag on the lock mechanism....
 
Those how-to pics show the '66-up locks. The '65-down locks are quite a lot more difficult to open up and work with.
 
Thanks for the updates. Shame the '65 and down aren't so easy to mess with. I'll pull it out and take a look anyway - if I can't get it to work I guess I'll have to switch out to the later locks.
 
I was able to remove the springs and pins cover from one of my 65 door locks with a great deal of difficulty per SlantSixDan and rekey it. The biggest issue is the cover seems to be some kind of press fit and once removed, it just doesn't want to stay in place anymore.

I see brand new locks occasional on ebay from US lock vendors in exchange for your first born. I took a chance on a set of NOS locks from a guy in Turkey of all places. Price was very reasonable; however, the guy said it would take at least a month to get them! The guy did give me a number for tracking but I could never get it to work. I finally got them about six weeks later and had to sign for them (Registered Mail).
 
You should be able to rekey the later door lock cylinders to the same code as the ignition if the key blanks are the same. I've been saving lock cylinders for a few years and it has been very handy to have a selection of pins to recode the locks and match things up.
 
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