help with picking bolt locks

[justbegginin]

well its not the fact that i cant pick a bolt lock. but its the problem is when the plug turns i wont push it ant further with fear of bending my tension wrench. can someone help?

[Squelchtone]

well its not the fact that i cant pick a bolt lock. but its the problem is when the plug turns i wont push it ant further with fear of bending my tension wrench. can someone help?

what's a bolt lock? pic please!

k, thx,

Squelchtone

[justbegginin]

srry dead blot

[Squelchtone]

well its not the fact that i cant pick a bolt lock. but its the problem is when the plug turns i wont push it ant further with fear of bending my tension wrench. can someone help?

It sounds like when you are picking it, it turns 180 degrees and gets stuck? That is caused by the top (also called driver) pins falling/being forced by the springs into the keyway. You will need to stick the handle of the tension wrench into the keyway and push the top pins up so the plug can turn the additional 180 required to retract the deadbolt.

Or, if you are picking and the plug starts to rotate but only goes about an 1/8 of an inch and stops, that means you've picked the lock, but there is a spool pin or several spool pins stopping the lock from rotating all the way.

When you use a key on this deadbolt, does the key turns nice and smooth all the way around or is it as rough and hard to turn the key as the pressure you are putting on the tension wrench?

Squelchtone

[justbegginin]

when i use the key i really have to push the little bugger. with fear of breaking the key

[barbarian]

Do you mean you really have to twist hard at the beginning ? Maybe a pin is catching.

If not there is something wrong with your lock, it should turn easy.

[ToolyMcgee]

If the key doesn't turn the lock with relative ease when the door isn't closed, then the lock either needs maintenance, or your key could be slightly off. A key cut slightly too high can still separate the pinstacks, but force a keypin or two to ride high in the plug and cause friction. If it only turns hard when the door is closed, then the bolt is probably just dragging against the strike plate when the bolt is retracted. Doors warp, frames warp, etc...

If it's not security pinned and you are in fact opening the lock, then just grab a screwdriver and spin it the rest of the way. An angle driver at the top of the keyway gives good leverage. You never said what you were using for a tensioner, but stainless windshield wiper inserts work well and come in a few sizes.

It also sounds like maybe you are trying to pick a lock on a door that you use. The general opinion on the subject is just don't learn on your door locks. The damage caused by picking practice and normal use is double duty. Your lock will wear out alot faster, possibly break, and given the added complications of picking your lock I gotta throw it out there. Besides, nice new locks are easier to get a feel for and failure to pick won't ever leave you locked out of your own space.

-Tooly

[Squelchtone]

when i use the key i really have to push the little bugger. with fear of breaking the key

Is this lock mounted in a door and is the deadbolt dragging as it retracts and scrapes the strike box or strike plate, or are you holding the lock in your hand?

If it is mounted in a door, I as well as others here urge you not to touch that lock again because it already seems its got problems and it would not be good to break it completely.

report back,

Squelchtone

ps. I guess I type slow.. Tooly just pre-empted me! =)

[justbegginin]

thanks guys tooly kinda gave me the stuff i needed for it. thanks

[Safecrackin Sammy]

Pick it to the opposite directon of opening to avoid fighting the drag of the bolt linkage.. The use a plug spinner to get to the unlock postion.

This works well on auto locks too that have a limkage rod attached to the cyliner.

[raimundo]

When you use your key, grab the doorknob and lift the door, if this makes it easier, then you need to make an adjustment on the strike plate. The bolt is carrying the weight of the door when its locked, if you pick a door and its doing this, use a small screwdriver (straight blade) to turn the lock while lifting the door by the handle

Other than that. ToolyMcgee has it all in his post.

[proFeign]

It sounds like when you are picking it, it turns 180 degrees and gets stuck? That is caused by the top (also called driver) pins falling/being forced by the springs into the keyway. You will need to stick the handle of the tension wrench into the keyway and push the top pins up so the plug can turn the additional 180 required to retract the deadbolt.

Squelchtone

You just saved me lots of time on my own issue here! since I was messing around picking the deadbolt on my front door again and this time I wanted to see if I could get fully into my house with only a small "batman" rake and a torsion wrench and I had to turn it all the way around to retract the deadbolt - no problem until the plug stick upside down. Truly scary how easy it would be for someone to break in. Fortunately there are cameras but if I wasn't at a rental property I would have Abloys or something more interesting and harder to pick than this. Seriously less than 15 seconds to pick and I've only been screwing around with locks for maybe a week or two now. Just need to get my hands on more locks and work more on my feel for SPP technique. I have a beautiful set of SouthOrd SS handled picks coming, including two of their MAX line along with a transparent 5 pin which I'll have to make a nice illuminated stand for.

Anyway super kudos to you for posting that info. Good think I was using a single-ended torsion wrench!

:thumb: :thumb: :beer:

[proFeign]

when i use the key i really have to push the little bugger. with fear of breaking the key

sounds like some judiciously applied powdered graphite might restore that guy to brand new buttery smoothness if it's all in the lock and not the doorframe interfering etc.

Powdered graphite has solved this problem many times throughout my life when I'll visit a friend and their lock is virtually inoperable and they just deal with it or (OMG NEVER EVER DO THIS) sprayed it full of (Ugh) WD-40 and now it's even worse. Anyway sticky and grubby locks can often be resurrected to an incredible degree with a few puffs of graphite into the keyway. Incredibly effective stuff.