Passenger door key lock

[bkahler]

I'm trying to figure just how the key lock mechanism works on the passenger door.  If you look at the attached picture you can see I have the square shaft of the key lock properly inserted in the lock mechanism.  However, I can't seem to get the key to actually do anything.  I can rotate the key almost 360 degrees, but I always have to rotate they key back to where I started to be able to remove the key from the lock.  No matter how much fiddling with I do I can't seem to get the locking mechanism to work. 

 

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if the mechanism is broken somewhere.

 

Help

 

[Young Ed]

Sounds like you have the lock clocked wrong in the latch.

[bkahler]

26 minutes ago, Young Ed said:

Sounds like you have the lock clocked wrong in the latch.

 

I didn't realize the key locks were supposed to be oriented a certain way.  That helps a lot, thanks.  That's something the manual doesn't cover at all.   Earlier I had pulled the key lock out and brought it up to the house and I started tinkering with it.  It turns out I can turn the lock fully clockwise and pull the key and vise versa I can rotate it fully counter clockwise and pull the key.  The issue in the rotation is in one direction it is harder to pull the key out, and at the time I was trying to be careful and not force things. 

 

Tomorrow I'll squirt some graphite into the lock, just in case, and re-install again. 

[Robert Harrison]

If your pilot house trucks key assembly is similar to the 39-47 type which it probably is.  Your corresponding tumblers should be on the top as it goes in the door.  They are under the flat area that is about a quarter inch wide and about 3/4s of an inch long.  This would mean in the normal position where you can easily pull the key the notches of the key are pointing up.  I believe it is normal for you to be able to turn the key assembly out of the truck anyway by close to 360 degrees.

 

I assume the Tonge (the 1/4 inch shaft) of the assembly turns with the key.   If reorienting the assembly in the door does not work not being specific here sometimes there are clips that come off of the door latch assembly in the door.  If you can stick a long screwdriver or long piece of square stock in the door with the key assembly and turn the female slot left and right you can see if the assembly is working maybe by sticking your phone in the door while you manipulate the slot you might figure out something.  The other thing is if the key assembly was installed incorrectly.  I suppose it is possible with all the fidgeting that the mechanism itself is now also out of clock.  This means that there are up to 4 possible combinations of the two assemblies for timing so try first of all setting the keys teeth facing upward and see how it goes.  But dont give up you may have to turn the internal slot around the other way and try again.

 

Ed is probably right.  I had this problem years ago on a model A or early Corvette and all I had to do was turn the key assembly around.  Please let us know what you find might save me a little frustration when I get to it on mine.

 

  

[bkahler]

2 hours ago, Robert Harrison said:

If your pilot house trucks key assembly is similar to the 39-47 type which it probably is.  Your corresponding tumblers should be on the top as it goes in the door.  They are under the flat area that is about a quarter inch wide and about 3/4s of an inch long.  This would mean in the normal position where you can easily pull the key the notches of the key are pointing up.  I believe it is normal for you to be able to turn the key assembly out of the truck anyway by close to 360 degrees.

 

I assume the Tonge (the 1/4 inch shaft) of the assembly turns with the key.   If reorienting the assembly in the door does not work not being specific here sometimes there are clips that come off of the door latch assembly in the door.  If you can stick a long screwdriver or long piece of square stock in the door with the key assembly and turn the female slot left and right you can see if the assembly is working maybe by sticking your phone in the door while you manipulate the slot you might figure out something.  The other thing is if the key assembly was installed incorrectly.  I suppose it is possible with all the fidgeting that the mechanism itself is now also out of clock.  This means that there are up to 4 possible combinations of the two assemblies for timing so try first of all setting the keys teeth facing upward and see how it goes.  But dont give up you may have to turn the internal slot around the other way and try again.

 

Ed is probably right.  I had this problem years ago on a model A or early Corvette and all I had to do was turn the key assembly around.  Please let us know what you find might save me a little frustration when I get to it on mine.

 

  

 

Success!

 

The lock itself can only be oriented one way, there is a tab on the lock that matches with a tab in the hole in the door which orients the swivel cover so it pivots from the top.  The square opening has the corner pointing up when the latch is in the locked and/or unlocked position.  That's where it needs to be when inserting the key lock assembly.

 

 

 

The lock mechanism that is in the latch assembly rotates 180 degrees.  CW = unlock door and CCW = lock door.  I tried several approaches and found that the key (no pun intended!) to getting it to work is orientation of the 3/16" square shaft that sticks into the door latch. 

 

The square shaft has to be rotated 1/2 rotation (roll pin pointing down) before being inserted into the latch assembly.  I don't think it matters where they key is at this point, as long as the little pin in the 3/16" shaft is pointing down when you engage the door latch mechanism, it should work.  When the pin is pointing down the 3/16" shaft will be oriented to match the opening in the door latch.

 

 

I was able to reach in from inside the door and guide the shaft into the latch.  It was a bit fiddly when doing so but I managed to accomplish the task six or seven times and got faster at each time