Forgot how to dial the combination on that old safe? Think you got the right numbers but the handle is stuck? What safe should you buy? Ask your safe questions here!
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Hello, I have been trying to open a Major round floor safe that is at least 30 years old. I had not tried to open it for 20+ years. Anyway, it had frozen up in the meantime. I tried soaking with penetrating oil around the safe lid and dial but no joy. I took off the dial without marking it to 0 (big mistake in hindsight). I was able to finally free up the mechanism but now i do not know how to re-zero the dial on the shaft. Is there any way to determine zero so the combination will work again? Cheers!
From the other stuff (labels, handles) which is there or from the screw hole for the other stuff which was there you can only estimate where the index was approximately. Then you probably need to start on one end of this area, try the combination, shift your temporary index by one, try again, and shift and try and shift and try until your safe is open.
Martin, thank you for your reply. I guess trying the combo one number at a time will be the way to go.
Bill, I checked the shaft and any area on it, there are no marks, other than the knurling on the shaft to hold the dial. I guess that would be too easy! Thank you for the suggestion.
Ah. The orientation of the bolt work is more or less random, but perhaps the drop zone is always at a certain number range? I don't have any information about this.
MartinHewitt wrote:Ah. The orientation of the bolt work is more or less random, but perhaps the drop zone is always at a certain number range? I don't have any information about this.
I was wondering if the contact points could be determined by turning the dial left and right and that if they are like an S&G 6700 usually located between 95 and 5 it would help determine where to put the dial down onto the spindle shaft.
Squelchtone: Not sure what you mean by contact points? Please elaborate.
L4R3L2: Over a couple of months I used different penetrating oils sprayed around the perimeter of the lid and on the shaft with the dial removed. Then a small set of vise grip pliers and wiggled it back and forth. I have two more of these that are unused so I had taken the back of them apart to look at the mechanisms. I think that the grease in the mech might have dried out. We'll see if I can get the combo to work.
The lock has a lever with a nose. This nose is riding normally on a cam which is directly mounted to the spindle, but this cam has a gap. When the nose is in this gap it does not touch the cam. If the dial is then turned it touches the cam before moving up. This is called contact point and both contact points can be felt as a small bump or light stopping point. The important thing for you is, that the gap between these two points is with most lock models around 0 or a bit above. I don't know if this is also the case with Major safes, but it doesn't hurt to assume it. If you can feel them, then I would select the left contact point (that, which can be felt as a bump when turning right) as a guide. I think the easiest is to attach the dial and change the numbers instead of fiddling around with the dial position. So I would put the dial on (without to much force and again removable), then I would position the dial at this left contact point. The index points then to any number. Say the number is 53. Say we want to start with the contact point at 90, which is a low value. 53 is 37 below 90, so we subtract 37 from all three numbers of the combination. If the number is negative, add 100. 55-03-89 => 18-66-52. Try this combination. Then add to all three numbers 1 and try the new combination. Repeat until open. There is a good chance, that you need only 15 or even just 10 tries to get the safe open.
MartinHewitt wrote:The lock has a lever with a nose. This nose is riding normally on a cam which is directly mounted to the spindle, but this cam has a gap. When the nose is in this gap it does not touch the cam. If the dial is then turned it touches the cam before moving up. This is called contact point and both contact points can be felt as a small bump or light stopping point. The important thing for you is, that the gap between these two points is with most lock models around 0 or a bit above. I don't know if this is also the case with Major safes, but it doesn't hurt to assume it. If you can feel them, then I would select the left contact point (that, which can be felt as a bump when turning right) as a guide. I think the easiest is to attach the dial and change the numbers instead of fiddling around with the dial position. So I would put the dial on (without to much force and again removable), then I would position the dial at this left contact point. The index points then to any number. Say the number is 53. Say we want to start with the contact point at 90, which is a low value. 53 is 37 below 90, so we subtract 37 from all three numbers of the combination. If the number is negative, add 100. 55-03-89 => 18-66-52. Try this combination. Then add to all three numbers 1 and try the new combination. Repeat until open. There is a good chance, that you need only 15 or even just 10 tries to get the safe open.
I hope this is not to confusing.
I have a video of this on a Major safe being dialed: The beak that drops into the wheels, the contact poitns are the left and right side of the V shape the "beak" drops into, if you can feel for that while turning the dial, you can potentially get a sense of where you are on the map.
I do believe to confuse buglars, Major would mount the lock in random locations so they could not learn the sweet spot where to drill each and every Major safe head.
billdeserthills wrote:I can confirm that Major does mount the lock in random locations, as I have a template from Major that helps to determine where the drop in is located
is it that pacman shaped cardboard wheel one that you put down on a certain number around the dial?
