Trouble with an American Lock xgf series 5200

[Shark500]

The lock is an American Lock xgf series 5200. It looks nice and it's not corroded but , for the life of me, i cannot get this one to pop.
I can get 3 pins but then the rest of them refuse to stick.

Any advice you could give me with this lock would be appreciated.

[Shark500]

Doh! wrong place for this post. feel free to move or remove this post.

[raven252000]

are serrated pins advanced?

[freakparade3]

are serrated pins advanced?

No, they are not. I believe the OP was thinking he should have posted it in the Pick-Fu area.

[raven252000]

i know what your going though. the American Lock use a spring return on the cylinder. the trick I've found is that the ones i worked on is that there is a slight play between when the cylinder breaks and when the spring pushes back. also they use serrated pins which means you have to use super light tension. A lot of the times i would have had it open but the spring made me think it was not.

[apb]

If you haven't tried using the tension wrench in the top of the keyway you may want to give it a shot. This should allow you to try to pick the opposite directon. A lot of the 5200 are susceptible to this. The short hook from southord is my preferred tool for the 5200's and most any other lock for that matter. The tension you use may start out as light but you may have to use a little more as you set more pins. Good luck.

[JackNco]

I agree with the top tension as was said above. but its not a beginers lock. LeNutzman is probaly the best person to talk to he can open these things as if they were masterlocks.

John

[nothumbs]

Here's what raimundo has said with respect to working on these locks. This was advise he offered me, I pass it on to you.

=========

go very light on the tension, and put a small pick, I use a bogota single peak, in the key way at an angle so that it uses the keyway shape to duck down just a bit, go to the last pin and straighten the pick up (no bending or binding) then go to the next pin and do the same as you come out of the lock, then repeat. do not try to feel the pins until you have picked it a few times, the pins do not feel like any other lock you are used to. Use a very well sanded pick with no sharp edges,

after doing what I said in the first sentence, work the pick back in and keep hitting the pins up a bit, not trying to feel, not trying to lift them all the way up either, just move them a bit if they will move.

Tension is the most important thing on these, you need a tensor that fits the keyway right, a slightly wider one than is in the bogotas I make is the thing, and it must be rounded and sanded on its edges so that it won't cut a groove in the cylinderwall at the bottom of the keyway, if that happens, it causes the tensor to bind uselessly grounding the torque. If you find some old walkman head phones with the stainless steel band, you can make a very good tensor out of it easily, make the tensor short handled if you want to do it the way I do, long tensor handles create great leverage and bind easily, you can test this by pinching a tensor blade in your fingers and trying to rotate it by pushing it with a feather. (feathers are strong enough to hold up a bird eh)

[vrocco]

+1 on the top tension.

The other option is to take a small tension wrench or even a hair pin and put it width-ways in the bottom of the keyway. Then put your working wrench on top of that. It keeps the wrench from slipping due to the warding.

[Shark500]

Thanks guys. yeah still haven't popped it but heres where i'm at.

I'm using a SouthOrd short hook and a home made short tension wrench for the top of the key way.

I realized a standard wouldn't work because of the warding. at first i used a small allen wrench to help combat this but it got in the way.

My main problem is the tension. theres little to no give in this lock and i'm having a hard time finding the sweet spot.

I'll keep in mind the "feather tension".

Always up for a challenge! ; )

[raven252000]

do you have a round tension wrench i found that they work nicely.

[Shark500]

do you have a round tension wrench i found that they work nicely.

No, but I'm feelin i should jump on that train.

[apb]

I don't know what you are using for the home made wrench but with these I always have fallen back on a standard broken bobby pin bent to fit into the top of the key way and rest flush along the face of the lock. They are more rigid material and give good feed back. Also, since you are going with the Southord short hook, you may try turning it uside down and raking is with the smoothed underside of the hook tip.The pins slide up the hook smoothly as they come in contact with the pick and sometimes this can work to set some pins differently than the old snake or "W" rake. Don't forget counterclockwise. Some of these 5200's I have neverbeen able to get clockwise but will get them easily CCW.