Assa Mortise Cylinder

[Gordon Airporte]

Actually, the proper controlled way to remove the plug w/o a key is to pick the sidebar, then rotate the plug 45 degrees or so. Start pushing it out with your plug chaser and press your thumb over the sidebar as soon as possible. Maintain pressure on the sidebar and slide the plug out under your thumb until your thumb is over the middle of the sidebar, then keep your thumb there and take the plug the rest of the way out.

The fingers in the sidebar keep the sidebar pins locked in, when you let off pressure with your thumb the pins eject.

Still - do it in a baggie.

[dougfarre]

This lock sounds like a nightmare? Is there any write-ups about it with pictures so I don't have to do it myself

[zeke79]

This is really being made out harder than it really is. Shim the lock then there is no need to pick the sidebar. Do it in a baggie or whatever. If it comes apart, it is pretty self explanatory on how to put back together.

[greyman]

Zeke's right. The sidebar is in a groove that goes all the way to the front of the cylinder. If the top pins are either shimmed or removed, there's nothing to stop the plug from being pushed out.

I wouldn't be too fussed about the side pins coming out, apart from their small driver springs. From memory, the side pins are all identical, so it doesn't matter what order they are put back in.

[zeke79]

Exactly. Just put the sidebar back in at the right orientation. They can go in two ways. One will be correct for your keyway the other will not be. I have heard some dealers use mirrored sidebar bittings so all you have to do is stock the same sidebar but flip it one way for the one code and again for the other code. The assa sidebar is what holds the coding, not the pins whereas primus is the opposite. The primus pins hold the code and the sidebars are all the same.