Club 80-90 Forums

We had our wedge broken into on Narbonne plage a couple of years ago. Quite a lot of stuff was stolen, including all my shirts.

I was shocked how easy it was to turn our locks. Then at the following Vanfest I was talking to a trader from somewhere in Yorkshire (I think) and he said he would replace all the tines in our locks and they would be almost like new again. We wouldn't therefore have to change our keys and all the locks would work with the same key.

But. I lost his business card. Does anyone know of anyone who offers this service? We want to feel safe in our van again.

We live in Dorset.

Thanks.

John

Not sure.But i think simon baxter from brickwerks.Was offering this service at one point.

dansimpson does as well and is very reasonable
mm

It's not just the lock barrel segments and springs that are the problem but the bores in the door handles that will have grooves worn in them.

What happens is over time the segments don't spring back in fully and they wear a groove in the handle and over time these grooves get deeper and deeper until eventually you can open the door using nearly any key of a similar length

Personally I would buy two new cab door handles and then get the new lock barrels re-keyed

You can do this yourself just make a note of the order and the letters on the segments in your original barrel and you should be able to swap them into the new lock barrels

http://www.hallvw.clara.net/lockpart.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.customandcommercial.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; sell new handles with locks and offer a re-keying service but it is EASY to do yourself

http://www.customandcommercial.com/keys_locks.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the Replies. I don't feel confident replacing parts myself, although I will look into it and consider giving it a go. When we were broken into it was through the sliding door, but I want to be able to have one key to open all 4 locks, i.e. to cab doors, sliding and tail. Or will this not be possible?

Watch the little springs, work on a well lit table and you'll have no probs fella.

I doesn't matter how good your locks are. A centre punch will "pop" a window in a second, and without dead-locks the door is open one second later. Spend the money on a loud alarm or an electric fence.

generally its a different king of theif who smashes a window compared to forcing a lock!

vans were fitted from new with 1 key lock sets , including the fuel cap.

be carefull if buying new cab door handles cos the cheap ones have a different key profile so you cant retumble the locks to suit your old key.

as well as worn groves the pins seize in the locks , make sure you regularly lubricate your locks , and swap the spare key with the used key so they all work the same!