SARGENT Lockpicking Difficulties

[Pickermeapie]

Hey everyone,
I have a key-in-lever with a panic bar lock assembly to which I need to Rekey. The school (of course) lost their one and only key. From my previous knowledge of lever locks, you need to pick the cylinder then press a wire or other small diameter circular instrument into the hole on the side of the lock to release the lever away from the door. From there, you can rekey the cylinder. Would I be able to access the cylinder if I removed the panic bar from the door? If I have missed anything let me know please.

Well anyway I have had some real difficulty picking this lock. It is brand new and has no grime in the “LA” type keyway. My problem (I think) is with the tension. I can’t seem to get the pins to catch on the shear line and have spent upward of 2 hours trying to defeat this lock. Mind you the lock is 7 pins, I have had better success on a security pinned American Lock. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pickermeapie

[zeke79]

I am not sure if you can access anything by removing the panic bar or not. I have an assortment of LA keyway mortise cylinders but they are all 6 pin. The tricky part about my sargent locks are the high low pin configurations that seem to be how all of mine are pinned. I have had the best success with falle safe or lab picks. My peterson picks and standard hpc's are too to thick in the shaft area and tend to overset other pins with the pick shaft while I am setting other pins. I hope this helps at least a little bit.

[fixer]

Take the outside trim off the door and see if you can either move the tailpiece by hand and depress the retainer or remove the cap and move the tailpiece out of the way.

Some trims just will not allow you to get at the retaining clip from the inside and you have to either pick the cylinder or drill it and then replace it.

[shadow2]

The cylinder is only accessible by removing the lever on SARGENT "key in lever" trims. Removing the trim from the door may help if it is a store room function since it would release presure from the spindle.

[HeadHunterCEO]

life is short

drill it

replace it and key it up

[Chucklz]

This should go without saying, but have you lubed the lock? Who knows what kind of gunk has collected in there. I would try a bogota rake, they are wonderful on high/low/high, and of course tight keyways.

[David_Parker]

Any idea of what type of panic bar it is? I have a number of books with schematics on the subject.

-Dave.