Schlage 5-pin deadbolt cylinder only pickable CCW? Why?

[jasonrohrer]

My house came with Schlage SecureKey rekeyable garbage cylinders that I found to be very easy to pick, and also very fragile.

I'm in the process of replacing them with standard 5-pin Schlage cylinders. I bought them pre-keyed to my existing key code for convenience, and I also bought some security pins with the plan of upgrading them before installing.

To my pleasant surprise, they all came with 4 spool pins installed.

To my unpleasant surprise, they are also all ridiculously easy to pick in the CCW direction. Wiggle a city rake in there a few times and they essentially just fall open.

I upgraded one with two serrated pins to match the longest bottom pins. Still easy to pick in the CCW direction.

BUT, also impossible for me to pick int the normal, CW direction, which is the direction needed to open the deadbolt.

This is comforting, but confusing.

I've read online that some locks are easier to pick in one direction than another, and that it often has to do with the peculiarities of a given lock (thus the reason for plug spinners).

However, all of the Schlage cylinders that I bought exhibit the same tendency, regardless of the top pins installed. Easy in CCW, impossible (for me) in CW.

So maybe this has to do with the peculiarities of this particular keying? They're all keyed alike. Does that mean that I'm lucky to have this keying?

Or could it be "by design" in the Schlage cylinder, and the same for any keying?

I've looked inside, and everything seems to be symmetrical, but maybe I missed something.

[gumptrick]

Are you picking the cylinders only (out of the lock) or are they installed in the lock when you're picking?

If it's the latter, it could be that the mechanism of the lock is affecting the tension you need to apply when picking.

[jasonrohrer]

I've tried picking them both ways, in and outside of the lock, with the same results. Frighteningly easy to pick CCW, impossible to pick CW.

Also, this is a deadbolt without any springs, so the the tailpiece is kinda hanging loose in the mechanism and doesn't have any tension on it until the cylinder rotates quite a bit.

[billdeserthills]

Are your schlage cylinders brass colored, or are they the newer pot metal cylinders (grey color)?

[gumptrick]

Tension is a possibility. How are you tensioning? If you are using bottom of the keyway it could be that your tension wrench is binding up the core in one direction but not the other due to the shape of the bottom of the keyway & how you have the wrench positioned.

[jasonrohrer]

They look like brass to me.

I am tensioning from the bottom of the keyway. I only have standard tension wrenches, and I find it hard to get at the front pins if I tension from the top.

[gumptrick]

I am tensioning from the bottom of the keyway. I only have standard tension wrenches, and I find it hard to get at the front pins if I tension from the top.

Take a close look at where the tension wrench fits in both directions and see if it binds up the core when you tension CW. I know I have wasted a lot of time trying to pick certain locks in the past without realizing that I was inadvertently wedging the core with the tension tool.

[jasonrohrer]

Oh, I get what you mean.

Yes, when tensioning CCW, the shape of the keyway makes the tension tool "float" up above the core housing.

Whereas, when tensioning CW, the shape of the keyway makes the tension tool wedge downward against the core housing.

[gumptrick]

Try either top-of-keyway or see if you can fit the bottom-of-keyway tool in such a way that it only touches the keyway/warding and does not touch the housing of the lock. Then you should be able to pick it CW no problem.