Too many keys!! What do I do?

James Romano

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So my 65 Sport Fury has a key issue... Basically too many. I have an ignition, door lock, trunk, glove box AND center console lock each with it's own key.

What the heck do I do? What keys are supposed to do what? The pentstar is for door and ignition right? Round for trunk only or trunk, glove and console? Does the console have its own key?

Any advice to get my key issue down to two or three keys a most would be grand!!

JR
 
Think EEEbay has kits if you don't mind doing the work yourself. it's doors, trunk and igntion. I too have many keys.
 
Two keys. Doors/ignition and trunk/glove box/ console.

You will need to remove all the lock cylinders and take them to a good locksmith.

@cantflip may be able to help.
 
Thanks for the super fast replies!

Ok, I'll wait and see what he chimes in with. I'd like to avoid tearing apart my door panels, by the looks of the keys, those are original. The trunk is as well. If I can get the ignition and glove box/console rekeyed to the matching originals I'd be really happy.
 
@cantflip may be able to help.

Here is the Man plying his craft at Carlisle...

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Two keys. Doors/ignition and trunk/glove box/ console.

You will need to remove all the lock cylinders and take them to a good locksmith.

@cantflip may be able to help.
When I installed the console in my car, I took the tumbler to a locksmith along with my trunk key and they re-keyed it for me.

@James Romano if someone replaced your ignition switch, they should have swapped the original tumbler unit into the replacement switch. It is easy to do once you have the ignition switch out of the car. If you still have the old ignition switch with the tumbler that works with your door key, then you can swap that yourself.
 
When I installed the console in my car, I took the tumbler to a locksmith along with my trunk key and they re-keyed it for me.

@James Romano if someone replaced your ignition switch, they should have swapped the original tumbler unit into the replacement switch. It is easy to do once you have the ignition switch out of the car. If you still have the old ignition switch with the tumbler that works with your door key, then you can swap that yourself.

Unfortunately I don't. I have just about everything else for it. The guy that owned it before me was a car guy, but not a mechanic. He saved a lot of stuff that was replaced, but not the tumbler/ignition switch. I'll likely need that re-keyed along with the glove and console locks. I was watching videos on you tube learning how to do it myself, seems fairly simple. But if it can be done for the right price... I'll go that route.
 
Thanks for the super fast replies!

Ok, I'll wait and see what he chimes in with. I'd like to avoid tearing apart my door panels, by the looks of the keys, those are original. The trunk is as well. If I can get the ignition and glove box/console rekeyed to the matching originals I'd be really happy.
Options and information...

Your Pentastar key should work the doors and ignition (primary). The round head should work the glove box, console and trunk (secondary).

In many ways, your best option is to search EB and find a complete set. I some cases they are available for a price that just can't be beat, even if they are repops and the shiny bits won't last as well, chances are your car won't see the same weather and abuse as it originally was designed for.

I do have pin kits, cylinders, etc for some cars... but cannot claim to be prepared for every situation. To work an original cylinder, you must be able to take it apart cleanly enough to be able to get it back together. I make no claims of expertise, but it is more a matter of patience than anything and sometimes does come down to which part you choose to sacrifice. Once apart, you can do a lot with minimal effort and parts necessary, just sorting through what you've got. I once made a couple cars work off the same primary keys using the existing lock pins and a few spare cylinders. I did leave out a pin or two where I had no replacement, and worked off a key that I accumulated lots of pins for.

Glove box and console locks typically used wafers (GM), not pins, so be extra careful. I have a project I haven't gotten to yet to work on those in the future... but haven't proven out the parts yet. Also, Mopar lock cylinders had a number of changes up until the end of the 60's. Many replacement cylinders were done using 70s/80s keyways and pinouts... so an older car could be a real mix and match job and I have not gone so deep on one.

As for me, I briefly thought this would be a nice service to provide for a fee... Then after looking at the pricing, I decided it was never going to be worth my time. I am willing to help the membership out, but gratis, and at my convenience. I recommend trying an local locksmith, probably the older the better. Try to find replacements on EB. Finally, reach out to me... with a full set of originals, I will try to recreate a single pinout or match cylinders I can safely work with to ones I can't. Your car will need lock cylinders in the meantime, because I will probably only do this at Carlisle or Ocala during the evening or morning off hours. Too much distraction during prime time and I don't really want to get into mailing stuff back and forth.

To be clear a full set of primary locks is the door and ignition cylinders, plus a working key for each. Trunk, glove box and console locks are trickier, depending on how they come apart. A full set would also involve a working key, but the truck locks often require the face cap to be removed and not all have a replacement available. Original face caps were not intended to be easily removed, the replacements, if available, are never quite as nice... This is tiny detail stuff most folks never notice, until they focus on a part, then it becomes glaringly obvious. I don't particularly enjoy providing less than excellent results, which is another reason I decided to abandon the idea of providing this as a paid service.
 
I have had this occur many times on older cars. I have a good locksmith who has taken 2 different door locks and keyed them all to the ignition thus creating one key between three different ones. It has never been an issue for me and I dont view mixed tumblers an issue - as long as the internals are A OK a good locksmith can reset the internals to meet a one key approach. Plus I love recycling all my old stuff instead of buying new repo stuff.
 
I have had this occur many times on older cars. I have a good locksmith who has taken 2 different door locks and keyed them all to the ignition thus creating one key between three different ones. It has never been an issue for me and I dont view mixed tumblers an issue - as long as the internals are A OK a good locksmith can reset the internals to meet a one key approach. Plus I love recycling all my old stuff instead of buying new repo stuff.
.

I agree with this approach as well. All the locks work, they just don't share the same key. Both doors on one, the ingition on another, trunk on another, glove box another and console another.. So five working keys total.
I'll look in my area for a good locksmith and see what happens
 
I went through that when I bought my 300. Except the 2 trunk keys i got did nothing! I found NOS parts, matched door lock, ignition tumblers, trunk, glove box and console locks and redid them myself. Took about 90 mins. Had to drill out the trunk lock, my trunk release vacuum hose had come off. But all I have to carry is 2 keys. Found parts on ebay. Good Luck.
 
.

I agree with this approach as well. All the locks work, they just don't share the same key. Both doors on one, the ingition on another, trunk on another, glove box another and console another.. So five working keys total.
I'll look in my area for a good locksmith and see what happens
Lock everything and tell your friend to get stuff out of the glove box and console.
 
You say you did this yourself? I'd like to try, where did you find the info on how to do it?
It's mostly experimentation. If you can accumulate spares it works better for the car not sitting apart if you need something.
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I agree with this approach as well. All the locks work, they just don't share the same key. Both doors on one, the ingition on another, trunk on another, glove box another and console another.. So five working keys total.
I'll look in my area for a good locksmith and see what happens
The lock pin kits are unnecessarily expensive for what they are. If you find yourself with a lock cylinder apart, I could help you with new pins and springs and pin covers for a fair price vs paying $100 plus for a pin kit. Sometimes a used pin kit comes up for fair $$ on EB, but lots are too overpriced and mostly used up. I'd recommend starting with pictures to assure I have the correct cover and a caliper to measure the pins you need. On cylinders you can get to the pins without disturbing the covers, many of the covers are staked into position. You have to be careful not to chew up the pot metal so bad that you cant re-stake a new cover, but you never have to mess with the face cap that way, so they stay looking good.
 
Hey James, I searched on youtube to get general idea on changing ignition tumbler. The ign switch on mine came out real easy. The door panels also fairly simple to get off, once you can see the lock assembly its easy to figure out. I hope you get yours changed out.
 
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