How To: Re-key your door

[R_W]

I haven't seen a how to on this, but I have seen a lot of questions on how. Might be one out there, not sure.

Option 1: Pull your door handle and take it to a locksmith. That's probably the best approach...

Option 2:
I wanted to figure this out on my own for fun. So here goes how I did it:


5 keys came with my truck, and not one of them would unlock either door.

Once your inside door panel is removed, the door handle comes off with 2 screws or bolts. It's pretty easy, and you can actually open the door with it removed.


The lock cylinder mechanism comes right out of the door handle after removing a spring clip. A pair of needle nose work great to get that loose.


Pop off the thumb cover


The cylinder is shown above. Tumblers are under the spring cover, held down by tiny springs. The cylinder lock is what keeps the cylinder from rotating until the key is inserted. Next gently pull the spring cover off using a pick or something similar. It is thin metal, so work it gently from both sides.

Once everything is disassembled, it is recommended to clean with alcohol. Once it is back together, lube with a dry graphite lock lube. Do not use a wet lube as it can jam the tumblers in their slots.


Spring cover off, extra tumblers shown


And now for the puzzle, you have to match the correct tumblers to your key. The way it works is the the notch in the tumbler when lifted to the correct height by the key allows the cylinder lock to retract. The cylinder lock is spring loaded to retract, and held out by the tumblers when the key is not in. The difference in the tumblers is the notch, it will be at a different height for different heights of the key cut.

You will need extra tumblers. Since I planned to use the inner door handle to lock the passenger side, I pulled tumblers from there.

I started by trying to match a tumbler to a particular height on a key cut. Put that one tumbler alone into the cylinder at the location you think it matches, hold the spring in with your hand and insert the key. If the cylinder lock retracts, you have a correct match. Once you have found a matching tumbler to a key cut height for other similar key cuts you use a similar tumbler.

Slot by slot you figure it out until you have matched the correct tumblers to the key you wish to use.

Once you have it matched, re-assemble in reverse order.