Club 80-90 Forums

It's time I did something about my door locks.
I have several keys and while all doors do lock, the tumblers are sticky in two doors so not terribly secure.
1-Has anyone had any joy re-tumblering the £13 handles on e-bay? I've heard it's possible and I would be happy with separate ignition and door keys.
2-Is there a source of tumblers for these non vw locks?
3- will a late tailgate lock fit an early tailgate? my late van has had it's tailgate replaced at some point and has an early lock in there.

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Have you read this and the link to the samba thread. Looks like a good clean up and rearranging the wafers to fit one key could do the trick unless they are badly worn in which case you'll need new wafers.

Yes, I've done it with those handles. Works well. Wafer sets available but not cheap. Best if you go halves with another owner.

Thanks both.
Good to know.
I've cleaned up and re-arranged my very manky but not badly worn sliding door lock to match my ignition key, got lucky with the wafers.
Looking at my cab handles, they're not original, not N profile and have no numbers on the posts, think I'll be replacing them with e-bay ones and trying a re-tumble on them.
possibly using wafers from my current locks.

'Scuse my iggerance, but is it fairly straightforward to do this retumblering thing, and what are wafers? (other than pink party biscuits, of course)

I ask because it took several days of fiddling and jiggling with the keys to get the tailgate to unlock (well my daughter spent days fiddling, it opened for me in five minutes!) so I've been looking for a replacement lock but can't find one, they are all out of stock.

(I did warn you when I joined that I know nothing, you will see the proof in my posts!)

In most yale locks, they use pins and springs to set the key profile. VW locks us small flat plates (wafers) and tiny springs. The crucial bit is NOT to file a wafer down or it will extend the range of keys that fit from one, to several keys. Worn locks fall into that category.



If you want a complete set (ie including ignition) then you have to fit a new ignition lock and rekey all other locks to that as its night on impossible to rekey an ignition barrel due to the fact they use more wafers (see above photo). I didn't bother - have no objection to changing keys to start the vehicle. I just bought new cab door locks, rekeyed one to the other. then did the same with the rest.

No point rekeying worn locks though as the barrels wear too. Likewise, worn out wafers should also be avoided. Wafers are identical - the difference is the shape of the slot in the middle. Been a while since I did mine but I think there are only four wafer numbers.

Work on a large white sheet as parts can spring about

I think most has been covered above.
These locks are wafer locks (wafer is the correct term) I have re-wafered numerous locks.

To answer your unanswered question (3)....

The late tailgate lock WONT fit in an early tailgate!!
The lock/key profile and wafers are the same but the lock casing is larger on the later lock.
This means that a later lock won't fit into the hole on the rear hatch.

Cause the wafers are the same this means that the cut heights on the key from an early to late are also the same.

What you need to do if you want a key for the rear tailgate that fits the rest of your van....

Obtain an early lock and put the wafers from the original later lock into the early lock.
I have done this - not difficult and can provide help/advice pics if you need it?

Good Luck.

As you can see the lock bodies are different and the tail piece differs also.
Needs to be re-waffered.

Thanks for the detailed tailgate info Craigy.
And for the re-wafering info Covkid.
I got my new front handles today and re-wafered one to match the other and also my slider to match it too.
My old (non vw) front handles donated some of their wafers.
I now have one key for ignition and one for doors and one for tailgate.
The wife also now has a door key which is handy. but not an ignition key which is good too.
Just need to do the tailgate to match my ignition now (it's N profile which the others arn't).

Now borrow a mates key, and see if you can get in. Then try your old keys and see if you can get in his

CovKid wrote:Now borrow a mates key,

None of my mates are daft enough to have a T25.
I'll have to wander around the tourist car parks looking furtive while trying all my keys in their locks.

Ok, next question.....
How long is a short / late sliding door handle?

Looking at pictures-
late ones have a bit of a flange where the handle meets the door, like this:



Early ones look like this:
With no flange.



I have an '86 (late?) van but my slider handle doesn't have the flange, otherwise it looks like the late one, it has the plastic insert along the inside, it's 17.5 cm overall length.
I have an early tailgate so maybe I have an early slider too.

Try a golf one