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I've got a caravan hitch lock which is a sort of.. I dunno - brass or bronze barrel where you turn the key and pull, and it pulls a pin out. The lock itself is steel and quite rusted, but the brass/bronze bit appears to be corrosion free. Except it's not, cos it's seized up. I've tapped it back and fore with a hammer a few times and it's moving but still too stiff.
Anyway the whole lot is supposed to come out of the steel housing, but it's totally stuck. If I could remove that I could maybe work on it a bit better.
Any ideas for either the barrel or the whole mechanism?
sorry whats the question
Heat, plus gas and time.
Pichurs?
Anyone have any tricks for loosening the lock mechanism? I'll get some pics in a mo.
Show me a pichur and I'll tell you where to hit it. 🙄
is the lock currently locked to something? A hammer, some mole grips and a vice usually help in these situations. piccy would be good maybe this could be as much fun as the "help me open my safe" thread.
ps. are you using the correct key? and turning the right way?
Im with flatfish on this one .
9 times outa 10 them locks are buggered
Spray it with lube and hope for the best give the hitch a lite tap with a hammer while you keep working the lock
Have you tried getting hold of Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez?
Right, I got the mechanism out with a good deal of banging.
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8240/8589722391_8ab196428e_c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/11569254@N06/8589722391/ ]P3252180[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/11569254@N06/ ]molgrips[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8241/8589722593_bddda4a67a_c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/11569254@N06/8589722593/ ]P3252179[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/11569254@N06/ ]molgrips[/url], on Flickr
Second half of the travel is really stiff. Can't see any obvious corrosion, don't even know what it's made of.
Now you've got it out, the best thing to try is putting it in a bath of lubricant overnight.
If that doesn't work and it's still stiff, it's probably a spring thats got jammed betwixt the plug and the body of the lock.
If thats the case it'll need rebuilt but would be cheaper to buy a new assembly.
It feels like it's corrosion. It was fine when we got it (3 years ago, but it's clearly much older) then it got a little stiffer, and I couldn't remove it one day without a load of faff.
However there's no evidence of corrosion, so your spring idea could be a good one. The key turns silky smooth though. Is it likely to be a standard mechanism? The hitch locks themselves are £50 at least.
It moves through half its travel then gets stuck, it feels as if I'm jamming it into a space that's corroded, rather than anything metallic getting caught up.
I should try the lube bath, any tips on what kind of lube?
Anything really, engine oil, chain lube, GT85....
Quick google turned up this,
[url= http://shop.al-ko.co.uk/products/replacement-lock-cylinder.html ]Replacement cylinder[/url]
For a locksmiths time to rebuild it you would be looking at £45-£50 around here in the Bristol area.
If I was sure it was corroded, and I knew exactly how it was corroded, I could try dissolving it...