Super Glued Locks - How to free them

[StuartO]

Having learned this lesson, I thought it worthwhile to describe how to do it on a stand alone thread, as an easy to find reference.

 

It only takes a few seconds and a small tube of super glue to immobilise a MH and there is no quick fix. The best way to avoid it happening to you is to avoid any situation in which someone might be tempted to punish you or take revenge on you in this way.

 

If your locks get glued:

 

1. Do Not try to operate or free the locks with screwdrivers and the like - that will permanently damage the locks.

 

2. Both heat and solvent can be used to destabilise superglue; I decided that solvents were the way to go.

 

3. Go to a pharmacist and buy a small syringe (as used by diabetics) and a longer needle (about 30 mm) and a bottle of acetone (nail varnish remover). But two bottles if you have several locks to free. You will also find a tiny drill (1.0 mm or 1.5 mm) and a pair of small snipe nose pliers.

 

4. You will need time and cool comfort for the next bits, so go somewhere peaceful and shaded if you can.

 

5. Use the syringe to squirt acetone into the lock. MH locks have sliding plastic weather shields and your first task is to unglue these so try to squirt both in front and behind them, then use a small screwdriver or the key to get them loose. Apply solvent repeatedly and wiggle gently until the slider moves. Clean off and/or pull out the gobs of glue which will come free.

 

6. Your next objective is to open up a pathway through the centre of the lock using the needle and solvent or the small drill. You will see from your key that the pathway into the lock is a wiggly slot but starting with a hole helps because you can then get solvent inside the lock. I used lots of solvent and it did not damage the plastic components of the lock housings at all, although I was careful to mop up external sills and runs with a rag. Use the needle to try to widen the hole and pull out the hogs of glue which will appear.

 

7. Eventually you should be able to try to insert the key, dipped in solvent, and work it in and out to introduce more solvent and gradually get the key deeper and deeper into the lock. Do not try rotating the key until you have got it all the way in. Even then you should try to use the key to loosen the in/out movement by repeated insertion and removal, dipping in solvent frequently.

 

8. Once the key slides in and out freely inject lots of solvent, insert the key fully and then try to rotate back and forth. Expect to take a while with lots of solvent injection and key dipping but eventually the key will suddenly rotate. Don’t relax yet, you need to keep inserting more solvent and re-inserting and rotating until it is happening freely and the key comes out clean.

 

9. Now you must lubricate to stop the remain glue re-setting when you leave the lock and the solvent evaporates. I found that WD40 worked well and it also seemed to gelling the remaining glue coming out of the key. Wipe the key, squirt or dip into WD40 and re-insert and operate the lock. Do this lots of times and use lots of WD40.

 

10. If you have several locks to free, it will help to start getting solvent into them even though you will have to tackle them individually to get them free. You might easily spend an hour freeing each lock but with patience, this method does work.

[Hans]

Good lord pull out the cylinder for a new one. And recode them to your present key.

[Hans]

These cylinders have audible clicks in open and close. 90 degrees turn. Or miss i the boat here?

 

[Kennyd]

Just don’t fall out with people ??

[laimeduck]

Kennyd - 2019-10-05 7:09 PM

 

Just don’t fall out with people ??

 

Strikes me Kenny, (Pun intended), that you've hit the nail on the head there?!

[StuartO]

Kennyd - 2019-10-05 7:09 PM

 

Just don’t fall out with people ??

 

I think our recent experience shows that there are some people, hopefully not all that many, who can fall out with you all too easily. Fortunately our experience has also been that there are lots and lots of really decent and supportive motorhomers too.

 

This thread is intended to be a technical reference source to anyone who needs to deal with an emergency situation. May I suggest you express any non-technical comments on the other thread.

[StuartO]

Hans - 2019-10-05 7:08 PM

 

These cylinders have audible clicks in open and close. 90 degrees turn. Or miss i the boat here?

 

Yes, I suspect you have. If you have a key- operated lock which has been filled with glue, how are you going to rotate it if you can’t get the key in?

 

Clearly this thread does not apply to other types of lock.

[StuartO]

A couple of afterthoughts, to add to the above instructions:

 

1. After you have freed your locks, leave them unlocked for the next 24 hrs so you can check they still work freely. If they don’t squirt more solvent into the lock and work the key in/out then rotate and back until free again, then wipe clean and re-lubricate with plenty of WD40.

 

2. Be very reluctant (and then very careful if you do) taking locks to pieces. For example the toilet door lock has two screws holding the backplate on and removing these can easily result in three springs and several plastic components jumping loose - and this will be of no help freeing the lock anyway. Work only from the front with solvent and key insertion to free your locks.

[Hans]

As i said pull out the cylinder. Very boring to read this. life is short stuart O. :-D

[StuartO]

Hans - 2019-10-06 5:41 PM

 

As I said pull out the cylinder. Very boring to read this. life is short stuart O. :-D

 

I tried to respond to you politely so now I will spell it out. You cannot extract this type of cylinder without being able to insert the special red key to release the peg at the far end of the key way and even with a healthy lock it doesn’t always work - indeed it doesn’t often work at all. Changing these lock barrels is very difficult and often requires considerable dismantling of the housing. If the lock has been filled with superglue you stand no chance of getting any key into it. You are talking complete rubbish. You don’t have to read this but at the very least you could stop spoiling it for others.

 

 

[Conrad]

Hans - 2019-10-06 5:41 PM

 

As i said pull out the cylinder. Very boring to read this. life is short stuart O. :-D

 

Then, firstly, don't read it, secondly, don't be rude to someone who is trying to help others.

[arthur49]

Conrad - 2019-10-06 6:13 PM

 

Hans - 2019-10-06 5:41 PM

 

As i said pull out the cylinder. Very boring to read this. life is short stuart O. :-D

 

Then, firstly, don't read it, secondly, don't be rude to someone who is trying to help others.

 

I agree 100%

[goldi]

Good morning,

 

I suspect one of the main components is patience when doing this. All very usefull to know.

[StuartO]

goldi - 2019-10-07 8:14 AM

 

Good morning,

 

I suspect one of the main components is patience when doing this. All very usefull to know.

 

Indeed yes, patience and persistence pays off. I have avoided saying precisely how long it takes - to avoid giving perpetrators any feedback and because it does get quicker and easier as you get the hang of the techniques involved. As I got better at it I was freeing a lock in a matter of minutes.

 

The main point is that it is perfectly possible to deal with supergluing of locks and ultimately all the attacker achieves is to delay you for a while. The cost of the materials you need to do the job is negligible - in my case a total of 1 Euro 70 cents!

 

The prime suspect in our case seems to earn her living by publishing on the internet and there are apparently ways to seriously damage her reputation by reporting her behaviour towards others. I won’t be doing any of that (wouldn’t know how) but she upset quite a few people during her family’s visit to the Site where we were attacked and there are some clever people now on her case. There is CCTV and other physical evidence and so the possibility of a police investigation for criminal damage. People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t throw stones!

[spirou]

I'm just curious what happened between all of you to piss them off ? You have to admit it was a clever and mostly harmless "revenge". Certainly better than paint scratching, tyre slashing etc. that would be the more common childish reaction.

 

And please, I'm not saying it's your fault or that they should get away with it, but usually people don't just go around gluing locks for fun.

[StuartO]

The short answer is a family of 11 religious nutters (all dressed in white) invaded a campsite to do a massive amount of laundry, dominated the facilities excluding everyone else and the matriarch behave in a bullying way - a bit like a bunch of gypsies. I never spoke and just steered clear but my wife had a word about access to a washing machine because we were leaving the following morning (nothing aggressive) and that seems to have been enough to trigger the ‘punishment’ reaction, just as we were leaving. One of the children was used to do the attack while the Mum distracted. She had rows with others too. No real warning they were so inclined. Maybe part of the “we are right” religious thing.

[Rayjsj]

StuartO - 2019-10-07 9:55 AM

 

The short answer is a family of 11 religious nutters (all dressed in white) invaded a campsite to do a massive amount of laundry, dominated the facilities excluding everyone else and the matriarch behave in a bullying way - a bit like a bunch of gypsies. I never spoke and just steered clear but my wife had a word about access to a washing machine because we were leaving the following morning (nothing aggressive) and that seems to have been enough to trigger the ‘punishment’ reaction, just as we were leaving. One of the children was used to do the attack while the Mum distracted. She had rows with others too. No real warning they were so inclined. Maybe part of the “we are right” religious thing.

My response would have been to introduce a red towel into their washing plus turning the temp to boil. Revenge is best served boiling.

[StuartO]

Rayjsj - 2019-10-08 7:54 PM

 

My response would have been to introduce a red towel into their washing plus turning the temp to boil. Revenge is best served boiling.

 

I must confess to day dreaming (and small hours dreaming) all sorts of vengeful ideas myself but I came to the view that while they might be willing to pull dirty tricks like flying up locks because someone has irritated you, which is all it could have been really, I wasn’t going to stoop to that sort of thing.

 

And by the way there is a purpose-made antidote to superglue available on EBay which might work faster than acetone - but might also be a biggest risk to paint work, so check that before slosh too much around.

[StuartO]

Some further information which will be useful for anyone facing lock problems.

 

I damaged one of my locks by hammering a screwdriver into it before I discovered that several locks had been superglued and that a solvent was the way forward - so although I had managed to unlock the affected locker, once I got home I decided to replace that lock. I telephoned the ever-helpful Darren Leadbetter at Brownhills and lerned that I could either order a non-matching Vecam barrel with its different key (quite cheaply) or a matching numbered barrel (with or without a matching key) from Hymer, which would cost more. The Hymer price was about £20 for a barrel and £10 for a key so I went for that option; fortunately a pair matching my MH's existing locks was available.

 

The lock I needed to replace was that of the offside garage door which had a "cube" type locker lock still available from motorhome stores such as Leisureshop Direct. It is simple to remove, just undo four large cross head screws and the two moulding (which are on the inside and outside surfaces of the locker lid) come away. It's the outside moulding which carries the lock barrel which is held inside a plastic tunnel at the inside end of which is an extension flange on to which the centering spring is

mounted under a cover retained by a circlip. It may not be necessary to remove the cover and spring, so don't rush into doing that.

 

The plastic tunnel into which the lock barrel is fitted has a pair of keyway-type grooves which are deep enough to allow the lock barrel to be removed providing that the innermost tumbler, which retains the barrel in the tunnel, is partly depressed. Normally this is done by inserting a special (red handled) lock removal key which is slightly longer than a normal key and can therefore reach and depress the innermost tumbler. As the red key is inserted, the final couple of millimetres of movement

engages the innermost tumbler and a notch further back on the key engages with the second tumbler to prevent the key from being withdrawn from the lock. Thus the red key can then be pulled and the lock barrel comes out with it. You cannot rotate the red key in a lock, only insert and then withdraw. You cannot separate the red key from a lock barrel once it has been fully inserted until the lock barrel has been withdrawn, when you can depress the second and then the first tumbler with your fingernail and the red key will come out.

 

Unfortunately while this barrel removal procedure works flawlessly with a new lock barrel, with a used or glued up barrel it may prove extremely difficult to insert the red key all the way in, so it cannot depress the innermost tumble to release it and nor will it engage with the second tumbller to allow it to be used to pull out the barrel. I used a lost of solvent and had the damaged lock turning freely (with the normal key) but the innermost end of the barrel was still somehow bunged up. Fortunately the innermost tumbler lug was visible on the inside of the lock housing; I could push it down with a small screwdriver and this should have released the barrel to allow removal but for some unknown reason I couldn't get this to work. I solved the problem by grinding off the retaining tumbler lug using my Dremmel and then out popped the lock barrel when I applied pressure from the inside end.

 

It's often reported on forums (and declared by those selling them) that the red keys designed to remove Vecam lock barrels don't always work and clearly this is true. But once you understand how the lock barrel operates (using the replacement barrel you have bought) you stand a better chance of getting an old barrel out. The red key has to go all the way in and then operate the final (retaining) tumbler and it would seem that even a small amount of dirt or glue down in the very last corner of the keyway can be enough to stop a red key doing its job.