A 'G' Lock, with the pins on the top-left side?

[Chakra]

..just when i thought i'd seen it all..

My mate's van has a very strange lock on it's rear doors. It looks like it'd be more comfortable sitting on the front of a house door, and from afar looks it'd be nothing more than a standard pin tumbler.



Up close however, I noticed the pins were in fact coming out from the top left side, and the wards were all squared off; not a pointy sharp edge in sight.

The only clue to it's brand was the 'G' symbol to it's immediate left. I've never seen anything like it before....who are the mysterious G? what kind of lock is this? and how is it picked?

[Varjeal]

What type of van is this? Verrryy interesting. The "wedges" are actually called "wards" and are there to prevent the incorrect type of key to be inserted into the lock.

This is a guess only, but I'm thinking those are not pins but wafers, and that what you're viewing is the contact edge that would ride on the key...UNLESS it is a type of high security "dimple" type lock..hmmm...need more info!

[Mad Mick]

When I was back in good ol' Blighty, I used to install Thatcham Cat 1 anti-theft locks which passed through a hole drilled in the vehicle's gear linkage, and locked the gearstick in reverse. The keyway for this lock looked very similar to your picture, although the pins were a little straighter

I still have a complete lock in my toolbox at work, and will examine it further, but if memory serves me correctly, this lock works on the same principle as a tubular lock i.e. the pins are depressed as the key is inserted (wait a min ...most locks work this way, but I think you get what I mean!)

[Mad Mick]

BTW, if someone can explain how to insert an image from my hard drive, I'll post one of this lock. This has sparked my interest now, as I think it'd be easier to pick than a tubular lock. I'll post the results if and when I crack it.

Re: the inserting of images, would I just type the path of the image file on my computer?

[marso]

Hi, Find a site to host your image and then just post the url here. Some of us use www.photobucket.com but you can use any webpage server you like.

[Mad Mick]

I stopped by work this morning and stripped the lock I mentioned in the previous post. From the info on the key, it's a restricted lock made in the U.S.A by a company I think is named TuBAR.

It's an 8 pin lock of similar design to a tubular lock, but the pins are in a 4 by 2 matrix in the brass plug instead of being arranged radially. There are also 4 sidebars in this lock, 2 arranged as to act laterally upon the pins, and the other 2 bisect the lateral bars to act upon the plug housing (presumably Die-cast zinc alloy) longitudinally.

Above the plug, there's another die cast plate with 2 seemingly fragile lugs on both faces, which locate this plate to the plug and locate the faceplate to this casting. The lugs are adequate for locating, but would easily break if the faceplate was forced. Also, this casting has 2 spring-loaded detents which pass into a cross-drilling in the key as it is turned a few degrees. This is to prevent it being removed in the unlocked/semi unlocked state

The faceplate itself looks and feels to be hardened steel, as does the outer sleeve, which covers the whole visible unlocked assembly, and holds the faceplate (When unlocked, the whole plug/sleeve combo is pushed out by a spring).

If you could get a good quality (Titanium/Cobalt) drill to bite into the faceplate, the lugs would shear very quickly, rendering drilling useless. The same goes for the sleeve, which is secured to the housing with blind mild steel pins.

As for picking, from what I can see, there's no ideal place to put a tension wrench. Due to the thickness of both the faceplate and the housing beneath it, you'd need at least 10mm to be in the plug. If you do put a tension wrench in, you are blocking some of the pins. As soon as tension is applied, the longitudinal sidebars act upon the lateral sidebars, binding all 8 pins. The pins also have 2 false grooves each, which combined with the 2 detents would probably make picking pretty difficult.

I've never seen this type of lock before, or since, and have started to construct the layout for this lock in a 3D modelling program. I'll probably post an exploded view of it, and if there's enough interest I'll make an animation of it.

[Chakra]

..wow..

..just a tad out of my league, it seems..

[Chucklz]

I have an exploded drawing for you, give me some time to scan it.

[Mad Mick]

Chakra, can you take a pic of the lock on your mate's van?
It'd be interesting to see if this one is similar to his. On the left of the faceplate, mine has |S|, but the S is backwards, and on the right side it has UL inside a circle.

[marso]

Hi, the more I look at the picture I believe its a dimple key. The below URL is just an example I doubt this lock will have pin in pin etc.. But as you can see the keyway looks kinda like a normal keyway but the pins come from the side. Hence the key will have dimples and not teeth.

http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/mul-t-lock/index.html

[Chakra]

That lock-style looks very similar...i'll take a picture of it today (just bought a digicam ).

I have worked out one thing though, it's known as a 'limpet' lock; a lock that attatches between two doors, like the backdoors of a van. They're for people who want a little additional security and seem to come in at £100, although all the limpet locks i've seen online don't resemble the keyhole in any way...

[Mad Mick]

If you look into the keyway, through the faceplate of the lock I have, you can see the 8 flat pin heads facing you directly as in a tubular lock. Maybe they call it 'TuBAR' because it's similar to a tubular lock, but in an oblong 'bar' config, with the pins in 2 rows of 4 - or 4 rows of 2, depending on which way it's installed.

This lock actually draws a square bolt into the plug housing, releasing the whole ass'y towards you via a spring. There must be other applications for this type of lock, but I haven't seen any, other than this.

The lock configuration I have would be unsuitable for van rear doors, as the primary door should be locked to the secondary via some sort of deadbolt, or typical car door type latch.

I'd be interested in finding out more about your mate's van door setup though.....

[Mad Mick]

I'm still putting the finishing touches to the exploded view of this lock.

Chakra, if you have that pic, please upload it.