American 700, 2 pins out = will not open w/key

[Jackaroo]

As the title, bought a new American lock 700 and decided to take it apart to see how it worked as I saw the Phillips head screw in the lock body where the shackle inserts. With the cylinder out of the lock, I turned the key to see the pins in the holes in the other side of the cylinder. You can guess what happened next, three pins came out (one on the floor, the other on the table, and one on it's way out). I quickly put the one on it's way out back in and turned the key to the closed position. Now I cannot turn the cylinder with the key to put the other two pins back in.

Is there an easy way to open this by someone who is not a lock smith such as myself? If not, can it be opened by a reputable lock smith (I have the two pins ready to be reinstalled)? Should I give up and just buy a new cylinder kit (shown below)?
http://www.alliedlocksafe.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=631_780_636_714_737_294

There are five 5 pin kits to choose from which read that they fit the 700 series, not sure which on to choose. If this helps my American lock is A701 and assembled in Mexico.

Thanks for your help.

[femurat]

Hi Jackaroo, welcome to LP101

Something like this happened to all of us... if you're able to pick the lock open, you can easily disassemble it and sort everything out. A locksmith is able to do so, but I'm not sure about the cost of him rekeying (to your old key) your lock. Getting a new cylinder could be cheaper.

I'd suggest you to try fixing it yourself. You have nothing to loose.
You have 2 options: pick the lock to rotate the plug, or, since you have the cylinder in your hands, just remove the circlip and shim it from the back.
Whatever you do, the difficult part is to push the driver pin without the key pin deep enough. A small bent wire could be useful.
Once the plug turns, rotate it to 180 degrees and put the missing pins back. Try to avoid loosing the other pins in the process.

Good luck

[Jackaroo]

Thanks femurat When you wrote "shim it from the back", do you mean to use a thin piece of metal to slide it between the barrel and cylinder?

[femurat]

Yeah, that's it. Look for some topics about shimming here on the forum...

Cheers

[Jackaroo]

Thanks, will give it a try.

[Jackaroo]

Got it. Thanks again femurat for the tip on the shim.

I found this uTube vid about shimming the cylinder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOBYEgVB9Jo

I didn't know where to get a piece of metal thin enough to use as a shim until I found this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMvJ-ZGITq4

I used thin stainless steel wire to press the pins down directly above from the holes where the pin would come out as the thin wire made it past the groves. The two pins that fell out were the ones nearest the C clip, so all I had to do was get the shim past those two areas, and the key got the first three pins.

Much easier than I had expected with the special shim and thin wire.

[femurat]

just the last 2 pins? lucky man

[cledry]

Normally you drop the bottom pins but leave the top pin and spring in place, this is how they are rekeyed without need for a follower. If you turn it back with the key but missing bottom pins you normally shear the springs or it won't turn at all.