Hello All Again,
My first post was the first time I visited this forum. Thanks to _all_ that responded. After reading them I thought I'd post a bit more info on my problem and say thanks to everyone who responded.
I'm a pretty senior citizen ( retired electrical engineer among other things) who has almost always been a 'do-it-yourselfer'. The old Jeep is mostly used to haul stuff (got the right front and rear seats removed to give added room) and has some additional problems that I expect will come up shortly. Keeping it going without a big cost is one my challanges. Fortunately I have another car and my wife has one so the Jeep is kinda an 'extra'.
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I'm going to swallow my pride and check all this out with a locksmith .... which I should have done in the first place to save me a lot of time and frustration. But then again, I never would have found this great forum !!
Thanks again for all the prompt responses. I'll let you know how things work out. Now for my afternoon nap. Maybe you all will need one too after reading this long post.
Dale7905