by Pawnshop » 7 Mar 2012 21:50
Hello all! I have been fascinated by padlocks since I was a child but have only recently been working on them and I am stumped. I have a pile of American brand locks that I believe (based on a search of this forum) to be model AMS100. They all have keys but I want to re key them to the same key, but I can NOT figure out how to get inside. I have done a dozen or more American 5200s with no troubles but these locks do not come apart in the same way (there is no security screw). Is there a trick, do I need a control key?
I am a member of the MVPA (Military Vehicle Preservation Association) and in our local chapter we have several members, including myself, with multiple retired Military Vehicles, and these vehicles are secured with surplus padlocks. While they are mostly American 5200 series, we also have some of these older American locks. I was tired of keeping track of keys for seven locks so I got a locksmith friend to show me how to re key them, easy as pie:) Well, the word spread and several fellow club members have asked me to do the same for them and this is where these older locks came in to the picture.
After I figure this out then I get to figure out what to do with locks with NO keys, sometimes vehicles come onto the surplus market with keyless locks attached and it would be a shame to cut them off!
