Wrangler Lockout Tip

Unlocking a vehicle is one of the most common services a locksmith technician will do during his time as a technician. There are many methods for unlocking a vehicle where each one is used depending on the make and model of the vehicle. Most locksmith technicians will use an across the window tool in order to unlock most types of vehicles. This method proven to be one of the most effective way to unlock a vehicle in a timely manner without damaging the vehicle. However, some vehicles will make it very hard to open with this type of tool.

I remember few years ago I got a call to unlock a 96 Jeep Wrangler. The customer accidentally left the keys inside the vehicle and locked it behind him while jumping to the store to get something. I had experience unlocking many types of vehicles before, but I don'r recall ever servicing a Jeep Wrangler before. I figured it shouldn't be much different than other vehicles I've done before, so I took the job and started heading the customer's location.

Normally, for most vehicles, I use an across-the-window tool and air wedges which proved to be very effective way for unlocking vehicles more than other types of tools I've used before. However, in this case, I did not know that the Jeep Wrangler window frame would be so tight which did not gave me much room to maneuver with my tool.

After multiple tries of attempting to get with the edge of the tool to the lock button to unlock the vehicle, I finally gave up. I decided to call a Reno locksmith co worker of mine for a last advice before going with a little more expensive route of actually making a key for the vehicle in order to unlock it. My co worker mentioned using a cord tied to the edge of the tool which allowed manipulating the edge of the tool making it much easier to unlock the lock button. Once I was able to find a cord in my van, I made few attempts using the trick and to my surprise it worked and I was able to unlock the vehicle within couple of minutes.

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Lock Re-key

I remember a few years ago I got a call from a customer who needed to re-key all the locks in his home. Like most locksmith technicians, once I got to the customer's home, I inspected the locks that needed to be re-keyed for compatibility making sure I could key them all the same. Most of the time its not a big deal, but In this case, the customer had four doors where each one of them had a Titan deadbolt and a Corbin entry lock. 

The first step for me was pulling all the locks. Before starting re-pinning all the locks, I did a little testing. I noticed that I was able to use the new key I made for the Titan deadbolt on the Corbin cylinder, but only when the plug was out of the sleeve. I then had an idea to grind the bottom surface of the blade about 1/32" and the key seemed to fit in the Corbin Plug even after re-pinning and assembled it. I finished re-keying all the other cylinders, put them back in the door and the customer was satisfied since now he had to worry about only one key instead of two.

Luckily, I got this idea from a Reno locksmith co-worker of mine who recommended me to always have a set of around six keys made for each common lock manufacturer before any re-key job. That way, the next time I will face a similar job, I would come prepared and save some time. It seemed that in this area, the most common lock manufacturers are Schlage, Kwikset, and Multilock, so now I have a set ready for each one of them which will save me the time of cutting them on job location.

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Premier NW Locksmith Reno (775) 538-2159