Kwikset Smart Key Lock Opening

[jones]

I'm really unsure of where to post this so anyhow,
My neighbor locked herself out, she had a kwikset smart key knob & I see now that I should have simply used my kwikset knob cylinder puller, but instead I tried cutting a kwikset blank to all #3 depths and then cut the head of the key off plus about 1/16th on an inch. I pushed my key blade into the cylinder, put a large bladed screwdriver up against it in the keyway and gave it a couple raps with my hammer. The lock opened with the help of my crescent wrench affixed to the screwdriver shaft.
After pushing my key blade out using a small pin punch I tried the original key & It Worked! I was soo excited for ten minutes until the neighbor reported the key would no longer enter the keyway. After giving it a bash, i pushed the key in & unfortunately it no longer does work. I will try my reset cradle on the lock cylinder when I get time, to see if it can be made to work again, or not.
Still it wasn't a bad way to gain entry, not too messy.

BTW The second time I opened this lock, I used the same key blade and gave it another couple hits with the screwdriver/hammer and it opened right up again. Still didn't work with the original key tho

Also I had a late night call the other day, my client had a smart key deadbolt lock that their original key had worked on a week prior. I managed to pick open a profile lock that had a key inserted from the inside- to open and after reseting their faulty smart key deadbolt I set it to the original key again. It worked fine, but I did notice the original key was not cut correctly to the kwikset code. It was about .015 too low. Two days later and I had to go back out, as the lock refused to stay keyed to their off-code key. Today I replaced it with a used Titan 6 pin deadbolt & simply swapped their scalp cover to keep the color looking nice. Funny cause the two other smart key locks in the garage still work fine with their off-code key, so why not the front door?

[MBI]

Probably bent the tabs inside, the part that engages the wafers. Sometimes you can bend them back if they haven't broken off, but it leaves them weak so the lock can break without warning in the future.

[jones]

Probably bent the tabs inside, the part that engages the wafers. Sometimes you can bend them back if they haven't broken off, but it leaves them weak so the lock can break without warning in the future.

I put it in my van, cause I wanna tear it apart to see, and I will check out these tabs
I saw a guy use just a key blank to do this same opening, but I hoped I could spare some inner parts with a depth of three's on my keyblade tool.

It did rip a hole through the end of the keyhole, but other than pushing against the spindle, I didn't see any other damage.
Still was a nicer opening than the drill would have been, much less messy too. I will check the prices on a couple of smart-key replacement cylinders and prolly quit being ascared of them in the future.

[jharveee]

If you have some 300 extra dollars, MBA is now selling a device that allows you to look into the key-way and decode the key cuts.
Then its just a matter of code cutting a key.
If I remember correctly it was a Keypicking member that sent me a PM about this tool.
Great invention.
If I had the money I'd get one.
Just more cost effective to break the lock and replace at this time.
Hope these decoders don't get into the wrong hands.

[jones]

Lockmasters is selling them as well, but as mentioned $300 is a lot of money to open one type of junky lock

[MBI]

If it's the tool I'm thinking of, Farmerfreak invented it. Or at least the concept. It uses a modified blank with a longitudinal slot cut away and a 45 degree angled part of it near the tip, polished to a mirror finish to allow you to look in and see the reflection through the pin/wafer "channels" cut into the sides of the lock. There's a bit more to it than that, but that's sort of the basic gist of it. Hopefully Farmerfreak will see this thread and have time to chime in with some details and correct the mistakes I'm sure to have made in this description.

[Farmerfreak]

If it's the tool I'm thinking of, Farmerfreak invented it. Or at least the concept. It uses a modified blank with a longitudinal slot cut away and a 45 degree angled part of it near the tip, polished to a mirror finish to allow you to look in and see the reflection through the pin/wafer "channels" cut into the sides of the lock. There's a bit more to it than that, but that's sort of the basic gist of it. Hopefully Farmerfreak will see this thread and have time to chime in with some details and correct the mistakes I'm sure to have made in this description.

Looks correct to me.

[Oldfast]

I was not aware of that! Just ONE MORE reason I've always been so impressed with FF.

From my beginnings, you've always given me a CRAZY amount of inspiration in so many ways.

We're really blessed to have someone like FF around here... willing to share his experience & discoveries.

[JA_Pruflock]

kwikset knob cylinder puller. The only thing that involves kwikset that actually works well. You should have yanked it, threw it in the trash while the customer watched and then make them swear to never buy kwikset again under penalty of death.

*note: ANY rigid flat rod that will fit through keyway and stand up to the torque can be grasped with vice-grips +turn = CRUNCH and you're in. In some cases you can just sneak up on a Kwikset lock and say "BOO!" really loudly and it will pop right open.

[jones]

kwikset knob cylinder puller. The only thing that involves kwikset that actually works well. You should have yanked it, threw it in the trash while the customer watched and then make them swear to never buy kwikset again under penalty of death.

*note: ANY rigid flat rod that will fit through keyway and stand up to the torque can be grasped with vice-grips +turn = CRUNCH and you're in. In some cases you can just sneak up on a Kwikset lock and say "BOO!" really loudly and it will pop right open.

If you are correct then why has Major Industries discontinued their Smart-Key tool?
I agree, I should have just used my puller tool, on this knob But I still need a way to open
the deadbolts.

[MBI]

If you are correct then why has Major Industries discontinued their Smart-Key tool?

Do you mean the force tool, that has a hardened steel end on it shaped like a key blank, quickly widening out to a thick rod where the key bow would be and a T handle for forcing the cylinder to turn?

If that's the one you mean, I'd heard they started to have some breakage issues, with the hardened key blank shaped tip breaking off during use. Which I'd guess is because in the second version of the SmartKey they strengthened it somewhat against this type of forcing attack.

[jones]

Yes the TT-4, I think Major called it.
That just leaves the Canadian guy on you tube, his tool was $100
hardened steel blade, but no T handle, you use a vise-grips for torque.

Actually I tried cutting a Dexter nickel-silver blank to all 3's the other
day & I tried gentle turning torque with a vise grips and the head tore
off anyhow.

[jones]

Probably bent the tabs inside, the part that engages the wafers. Sometimes you can bend them back if they haven't broken off, but it leaves them weak so the lock can break without warning in the future.

I put it in my van, cause I wanna tear it apart to see, and I will check out these tabs
I saw a guy use just a key blank to do this same opening, but I hoped I could spare some inner parts with a depth of three's on my keyblade tool.

It did rip a hole through the end of the keyhole, but other than pushing against the spindle, I didn't see any other damage.
Still was a nicer opening than the drill would have been, much less messy too. I will check the prices on a couple of smart-key replacement cylinders and prolly quit being ascared of them in the future.

I tore this lock apart today, just far enough to notice a couple of the wafers had sheared off with all my pounding. I just bought a new Smart-Key deadbolt and I noticed the heavy, hardended steel spring clip that holds the cylinder in place has been replaced by a very light-duty bent clip. Really makes me wonder if my knob cylinder puller might remove the cylinder from the newer smart-key deadbolts?

[GringoLocksmith]

Yesterday I traded a customer an old Schlage deadbolt for a Master Lock deadbolt he'd just purchased. I thought I was coming out even in the deal until I looked more closely at it and realized it was a self-rekeying lock, which operates exactly like a SmartKey lock, though the keyway is offset from the center of the plug and the entry point for the rekeying tool is all the way at the periphery of the plug. The whole thing feels even cheesier than a Kwikset. I can't find it on the Google though. Anyone know what they call this product?

[Farmerfreak]

It's a master Recodable, at least that's what I know it as. Not many of them out there. I remember hearing that they had issues with them. Haven't seen one in years, figured they gave up on it..

If you can get a shim to go between the cylinder housing and the lock housing, tension can be applied to the sidebar and it can be picked. Otherwise I wanna say it has sloppier tolerances than Kwiksets Smartkey making try keys a decent option. It can not be decoded the same way the Smartkey lock can.