LocksportSouth's Stash

[LocksportSouth]

Welcome! With the Ruko RG2647, we’ve officially left the 1200 series / D12 core behind – all locks from here on out use the Garant Plus core, Ruko’s top-tier core which integrates a cool laser track sidebar system. We’re still continuing up through the ranks so we’re still on grade 2 / green stripe locks at the moment – today we’re looking at the 2647.

The 2647 takes the shackle length of the 2643 (52mm) and combines it with the shackle thickness of the RG2646 (10mm). Internally, the lock is still the same as the 2641 (and really all other green stripe / grade 2 Rukos, except the shutter lock), however it differs from the 2641 in that the shackle is both longer and thicker. This is the last such identically-bodied grade 2 Ruko padlock that we’ll be looking at.

Of course, this one also has a different core, so we’ll be stripping that down in this post!



The Garant Plus core also comes with a snazzy credit-card sized code card complete with a bank-pin-letter style obfuscation label which is pretty cool.



Close-up of the new code card:



The Garant Plus keys are a golden-tinted-silver colour rather than the plain silver D12/1200 keys. They also have that cool laser track (though only the normal six bitting cuts):



For some reason all the Ruko keys – 1200 series and Garant – have two holes in the top of the key bow for keyrings – a normal round hole (offset) and a longer oval one. I’m not 100% sure why.



Another difference – the end of the plug / keyway entrance on 1200 series locks is a golden / brass colour, whereas the Garant Plus core has a gunmetal-grey finish. Not sure why the key and plug colours don’t match!



Shackle of the 2647 – 10mm, same as the 2646, but also longer like the 2643:



These locks all have that odd round plug in the body on the closed shackle side:



Drain hole on the opposite side:



Unlocked:



Screw removed:



The screw removal process is just the same as the other grade 2 Rukos, as is the actuating mechanism. You can put a Garant Plus or D12 or 500 or 600 series in here; it doesn’t matter too much:



Garant Plus core removed:



Time to see what’s inside this bad boy! Same as the 1200 series, first remove the “Z” backplate...



You can then see the reverse of the plug:



These cylinders to have these top loading holes for pins, but I’ve never really used them myself:



Pop out the plug...





Two major differences we can see in the pic above – firstly, it has a sidebar (facing us). Secondly, the plug appears to have anti-drill pins on the key entrance bezel.

If we pop the sidebar out (so it doesn’t get lost) and flip the plug over (might be a wise idea to de-pin it too, which you’re at it!) you can see the side pins underneath:



These are not actually removable and will not come out even if you remove the key. While there are technically 6 “pin holes”, each pin is actually two independent sliders, so there are a total of TEN sidebar pins plus the six normal pins that you’ll have to pick (these are active pins as they use a sidebar). Nice!



The sliders move up and down, and are moved along by the cut in the side of the key. When they are brought to the correct height, a slot in the side of the side pin will line up with a nub in the sidebar – and when all the slots and nubs line up, the sidebar can be depressed and will slot into the plug.

Sidebar and springs:



Pins – six standard key pins and six ASSA uhm.. Inverted spools, or whatever, for the drivers. If you didn’t see my ASSA Mogul post (which had the same pins), these have very fine and sharp outer edges, like a very thin-edged spool, then they dip down, but then come back up in the middle section. Basically they seem to be an ASSA thing. Quite cool! All the pins seem to be stainless steel, too. Weirdly the KEYS seem to be brass, which makes me think they’ll wear down much faster than the pins – maybe that’s intentional.



Pins and plug:



And we’re done with the first Garant Ruko! I won’t strip down any of the other Garant cylinders because they’ll be identical to this. I do love these Garant cores, though. Sixteen active pins to pick, dayum.

[Riyame]

The plug in the side is from the hole they drill for the ball bearings. Normally it is hidden better to look like a part of the lock which is why most people don't know about it.

[LocksportSouth]

The plug in the side is from the hole they drill for the ball bearings. Normally it is hidden better to look like a part of the lock which is why most people don't know about it.

Ah yeah, that makes sense. Interestingly the plugs in the shutter locks are made from some kind of rubber/plastic and *are* removable, as that's how you get to the screw to get at the cylinder .

[LocksportSouth]

You may recall that my last update, I mentioned that the RG2647 was the last such 2640-identical grade 2 lock body that we’d be looking at. Today, we’re taking a look at the final “green stripe” lock from this collection – the RG2647 shutter lock.



This lock shares honours with the RG2647 of being one of only two locks in the grade two category that I’ve fitted with the Garant Plus core. We’re already stripped down a core, so we won’t be doing that again today – but we WILL be taking a good look at the workings of this shutter lock, which confused me a little at first!

First off, I just wanted to point out that all of these shutter locks – green, blue and red stripe – lock on only one side, as opposed to the open shackle locks that have ball bearing locking on both sides. Just wanted to make a point of that before we start.

The key:





I can’t get enough of these Garant keys, very cool.

ASSA RUKO 2 imprint:



Straight-shackle shutter lock design. If anything, this specific lock (maybe the blue or red stripe one; I don’t especially remember the colour) is one of the first “cool” locks I remember seeing as a kid, and one of two locks that got me into security to begin with.



The opening edge of the bolt. Curiously, the end of the bolt has a flat cutout as it for screwing it in – not sure why, as AFAIK there’s no way to unscrew this bolt to remove it.



The top of the lock. Remember on previous locks I mentioned that there’s a strange plug on the side of many of the locks whose purpose I’m not sure about, possibly for the purposes of construction? Well this one has a very specific purpose – lock disassembly:



Bottom of the lock. This is the last lock we’ll be looking at where you can directly see the bottom of the actual cylinder unit itself – the grade 3 and 4 locks all have a bottom plate in the way:



When the Ruko shutter locks are unlocked, the shackle pops open sideways – they’re spring loaded:



The grade 2 and grade 3 Rukos both pop open all the way, whereas the grade 4/5 red stripe Ruko shutter lock only pops open a little bit – probably due to the heft of the huge shackle not being able to be pushed far by the spring (if a spring large enough to push that shackle all the way was used, it’d probably be too hard to close!).

Shackle:



Remember that little plug from the top of the lock that I mentioned earlier? It’s a plastic plug, and it turns out that it’s the secret for dismantling this lock. First, unlock the lock. Then remove this plug – you’ll need to find something to pull it out with, which is a bit tough as it’s totally smooth:



You can then look down inside the closed shackle side:



You’ll then need to use a thin but strong wire, a small screwdriver or other tool to push the spring loaded bolt-stopper down, so that the shackle can come out:



Then simply slide the shackle bolt out:



You can see the bolt stopper module inside the hole:



Just tip the lock upside down to tip it out, along with the spring. Its operation is simple – the spring pushes it upwards, and the.. uhm, bolt nipple on the top will catch in the shackle bolt bolt groove, which is rounded on the side which faces the rest of the shackle (to allow the bolt to close) and flat on the exit end, so that the bolt doesn’t slip out.



Shackle, shackle retaining bolt, spring and rubber stopper:



With those bits removed, you can unscrew the torx screw held deep inside this access hole to remove the cylinder. This is the method used for all three of the shutter locks, and the hole is so deep that I actually had to buy a special ser of long torx screwdrivers just to get to this screw, as all my other sets were either too short or the shaft of the driver were too thick!



A little pile of all the bits taken out so far:



Inside the lock body. These shutter locks work using a totally different mechanism than the others. In the following photo, on the right hand side you can see the screw hole where the screw holds the cylinder in, and on the left you can see the round cutout for the main section of the cylinder. If you look VERY closely, you can see a pin thing on the right hand side, in the shadow:



I didn’t notice it in this particular breakdown, as it was held in with grease, however that is the locking pole which holds the shackle in place when locked. It’s pushed upwards (or left to sit lower, allowing the shackle to move freely) by the actuator that sits in there:









In short, the plate on the back of the cylinder turns the two-prong button thingy, which moves within the constraints of the actuator plate. The back of the round button thingy has a slot on it which allows the locking pole to come down, or not.

Cylinder (Garant):





Actuator plate at the back of the cylinder, which interacts with the two-prong dudey:



All the parts:



To re-assemble, basically just do the reverse of the disassembly, and you’re done:



And with that, we’ve finished looking at the grade 2 (green stripe) Rukos. Onwards and upwards, then

[LocksportSouth]

Ah, we’re progressing swiftly! Now we’re going to escalate to the next grade up – Grade 3, signified by locks with blue stripes rather than green stripes. As before, for more info on Rukos in general, check out my specific Ruko thread .

In each higher category – Grade 3 and 4 – there are only two lock options in each – one open shackle and one straight-shackle shutter lock. I assume that’s because the wide variety of shackle lengths in grade 2 wouldn’t be compatible with the heightened security at these higher levels, and all of the shackles are quite thick anyway so the 8 vs 10mm shackle differences would be somewhat pointless.

It goes without saying that I bought all of these with Garant Plus cores .



Nice! Meaty lock. Let’s take a closer look...





Still love those laser track keys...



You’ll notice that the bottom of the lock is now covered by a bottom plate which protects the core. The mode of opening is more or less the same though...



Unlock the lock:



Remove the screw:



This time, the screw holds the bottom plate on rather than the core directly. Slide the bottom plate off...



There’s the core, along with the armoured plate:



Back of the cylinder, pretty standard:



The actuator inside is pretty much the same, too. Just the cutout has changed to add a new section for the plate securing hole:



And there we go! The core is the same – Garant Plus, so we won’t be diving any more deeply into that. The step up to grade three has given us a thicker and more rugged body, thicker shackle and a new cylinder protecting bottom plate – good stuff!

Next time, we’ll be looking at the grade three shutter lock....

[LocksportSouth]

In this post we’re going to look at the Ruko RG3649 straight-shackle (Shutter) padlock. This is a grade three padlock and one of two in the series. I’d argue that the shutter locks are slightly the more secure of the two due to the fact that the shackle is concealed, although technically they have the same security rating.



I have this lock with the Garant Plus core. Disassembly is much the same as the grade two shutter lock, the 2649, which we’ve taken a look at previously – the exception of course being the bottom plate.







Same rubber stopper on the top:



The bottom plate is pretty much identical to the other grade 3 series Ruko, too:



Unlocked:



Same disassembly trick – find a way to pop the rubber stopper out, depress the retention grommet, slide the shackle out, drop out the insides and unscrew the torx screw at the bottom of the hole – in this case, holding the bottom plate on:







You’ll notice that’s a much longer screw than the grade 2 version!

Bottom of the lock with the plate removed:



You can see that the core is a bit scratched. This bottom plate just did not want to come out for some reason, and I spent ages digging at the plate trying to remove it, which earned the insides a few scratches sadly .

Inside bits including the bottom plate:



Inside the lock. It’s a little different, as the actuator stopper plate is held in with another screw:



Back of the core:



You can unscrew that plate to remove it, along with the actuator. The locking/unlocking principle is the same as the grade 2 version:



More bits – lock body (semi offscreen), rubber plug, shackle, shackle retaining doodad, spring, screw, bottom plate, actuator & actuator stopper, cylinder... And that silvery bullet looking thing with the spring on the back, to the far left, is the locking pole that I talked about (but forgot to show) in the grade 2 photoset:



Looking down inside the lock, we can see the locking pole more clearly here. The bit that sticks out on this side is nudged up and down by the actuator:



Cylinder back in, just did this shot to show how the bottom plate fits into the bottom of the lock. I’m not sure why there’s a giant crevice in the middle of the bottom plate – it makes it look like a snap-off piece, and there’s really no reason for that to be there as there are no obstructions on the bottom of the lock. Seems like a weakness to me.



Re-assembled:



And that’s it for the 3649 – and for the grade 3 locks. Join me next time for a look at the first of the two final Rukos – the highest end Ruko padlocks you can buy, the grade 4....

[Riyame]

If you ever get another stuck plate like that put the screw back in a few threads and then kit your screwdriver. This will push the screw down and the plate out.

This makes me regret selling my big 4-5 model

[LocksportSouth]

Good plan! I can't remember if I ever tried that - I tried a few things but it was caught between the lip that lock into the body and the core - that prob would have solved my problem though, d'oh

You can get more if you want! Check out my Ruko thread and Lavpris Laase. So nice to find a source for these finally!
Now I just need to find an S&G 826C.... And an 831A, and an 831B. And a NAPEC . Oh, I hear there's an 844 too.
Ye gads, lock collecting is a financial black hole!

[LocksportSouth]

Here we are at the penultimate lock in the Ruko series – and dayum, it’s a nice one. The black finish is unfortunately a little scratched and chipped – it was like that when it arrived – but considering the hassle I had getting these to arrive, I daren’t risk a return. Besides, I think it can handle it .



I find it funny that where most high security lock manufacturers say “Oh, we need a much more high security design for a padlock – let’s move away from padlock designs and give it an interesting design – like the Rotalok, or a rugged and compact appearance – like the S&G locks” Ruko basically said “Ok, so let’s take the design blueprints for a normal padlock... And then Make It Huge .

The 5641 looks like the grade three series lock, or even one of the originals – like the 2640 – just REALLY BIG. It’s kinda cool, and quirky, and c’mon – giant-ass Ruko, who’d complain, right? . Just an *interesting* design choice, is all.



So anyway, moving on. I find it interesting that where usually the first of the four numbers represents the grade (2641 is a grade 2 lock, 3641 is the grade 3 version), with this lock, the first number is “5”. I don’t know if that implies this lock would be equivalent to grade 5, if it existed (the stamp on the shutter grade 4 lock, which will be the next post, is “ASSA RUKO 4-5”) or whether it’s just a stylistic or inventory management choice – maybe there already were a range of 4XXX locks from Ruko – but it’s interesting, regardless.



You’ll notice that the bottom plate is quite a bit longer on this lock. I’m not really sure why, other maybe than the fact that the screw HAD to be in one place (inside the shackle hole) and the cylinder HAD to be in another (where it is, nearer to the other end):



ASSA RUKO 4



I like those milling mark bobbles on the top. Some might say that it’s a poor finish but I like the sense of manufactured-ness that it gives:



Drain hole:



Weird side plug thingy:



Unlocked:



Remove the screw from inside the shackle hole – it’s about as long as the grade three one. Interestingly it appears to have been put in with threadlock RED but it was just as removable as blue. More or less.



Plug comes out...



Inside the body – actuator and restrictor plate on the left at the bottom, bottom plate screw hole on the right:



Bottom plate. I like how the screw area is much thicker and heavy duty but I still don’t understand the big cutout in the bottom plate. Tut tut:



Garant Plus cylinder:





And we’re done with this lock! Join us next time for the last Ruko... And the last lock, for now!

[LocksportSouth]

Thanks for joining me! Here we are, at the final Ruko – and the final lock for this series. Thanks for sticking with me and checking in on my posts and lock updates, and I hope you’ve been enjoying reading and taking a look at the posts as much as I’ve enjoyed making them .

Okay – enough dilly dallying! We’ve got locks to inspect!



G’dayum, that’s a chunky shutter lock. As I mentioned previously in the other Grade 4 post, oddly these locks start with a “5” designation – though there is no grade 5. Even more interestingly:



Does that imply that this is a grade “4 or 5” equivalent lock? Who knows!

Keys again:



I did debate for a while whether to leave them attached to the cards but decided to just tag them up as I normally do and store the cards away!

Key close-up. You can see the little round milling marks in the laser groove – cool!



Love this lock.











Unlocked. This is as far as the shackle pops out when unlocking it – as I mentioned in the 2649 review, that’s probably because using a spring strong enough to push this all the way would likely be near impossible to force back by hand – especially when keeping one hand free to turn the key! These are all key retaining...



That’s one hefty bolt shackle.



Same method for disassembly – remove the rubber grommet:



Depress the shackle locking bolt, pop all the bits out:



Bottom of the lock with the plate removed. Note the big depression on the left hand side where the bottom plate locking nub fits into:



Bottom plate:



Remove the cylinder:



The actuator and blocking plate are screwed in, same as the grade 3 shutter lock:



Cylinder:



Closer look at the bottom plate retention notch:



Back of the cylinder:



Lock re-assembled:



And there we are! Thanks again for joining me – it’s been super fun to take a look at these Rukos and see how they tick – and hopefully share that knowledge with anyone else who might be interested in how Rukos work.

If you have any questions, requests for photos or investigation or other comments please do let me know! Ruko padlocks are a learning journey for me. And if you have any suggestions for what I should look into getting next... Let me know!

And so, with that final Ruko, we are at the end of my big lock update....
......
...........

Or are we?
Maybe a new parcel of locks arrived recently? Who knows....

Keep your eyes peeled

[LocksportSouth]

The last few posts I’ve made are all of locks that I’ve had for a couple of months, and just haven’t had time to deal with due to personal life stuff. However I recently received a new parcel of locks in the post courtesy of forum members so I’m excited to bring to you: A new set of four padlocks, which are ACTUALLY new (to me anyway; they are old padlocks!)(Edit: I actually wrote this like a month ago lol. Time keeps flying away!). Anyway! Let’s get started with a Sargent and Greenleaf 8077 AB.











The “modern” generation of Sargent and Greenleaf combination padlocks (you may recall the details about them that I posted in my 8088 and 8065 posts – low “security” but high tamper evidence, used for high security filing cabinets, etc) is the 8077 series, which consists of (at least – there may be more that I do not know about) the 8077, 8077A (same thing? Not sure.), 8077AB, 8077AC and 8077AD (I’m not sure why A and then another letter rather than just the second letter – 8077B, 8077C etc – anyone care to elaborate?). The progressive number indicates a slight modification of design – a version number, if you will. Some have green dials and some black, some have a spy ring (the metal cover that covers up all but about 10-20% of the dial, for privacy), and there are other subtle changes too.

I *am* looking to collect the whole set, but for now I have the 8077AB – so let’s dive in and take a look!

As you can see in the pics above, the box style is very reminiscent of the older 8088. The box contents, and the lock itself are somewhat familiar, too:



A box, change key, instructions and the padlock – simple enough. Let’s take a look at the instructions...





The operation and change process has changed a little, although the fundamentals remain. I will be doing a code change operation and documenting that here. Here’s the change key:



The left hand side is the change key part itself, the right hand edge (looks like a flat screwdriver) is for undoing the screw on the back of the lock to remove the back plate – and you even use the corner of the tool to turn a change dial!

Lock from the side:





Beefy back plate:



The back is inscribed with a unique ID (to prevent destroy & replace spying operations), patent and company info, the model number – 8077AB – and the manufacture date – 1990. You can also see a screw in the top right corner, which is used to remove the back cover:



My usual process for trying to open these locks is to try the two factory standard codes that these locks generally use, first – first I try the shorter of the two, 25-0, and then the other one – 10-20-30. If that fails I’ll look on the lock body, instructions and box etc so see if there’s a custom code. Let’s start with 25-0:





Hey, it worked!



Alright, time to change the code. I decided to go back and change all my S&G combination locks back to 10-20-30 to keep a uniformity between them and make it easier to remember which has which code – especially when the boxes are to be stored away and the locks mounted!

So, we’ll set this one to 10-20-30 too. The first step after unlocking the lock is to screw this screw in – it’s the only thing stopping the back plate sliding up and off the back, and will only screw in when the lock is unlocked:



With the back removed, we can see the “true” back of the lock – lots going on there:



Another closeup of the removed back:



And the reverse side of the back plate:



It has a lot of pitting and a couple of burn marks for some reason. It’s also stamped with “4”, which I assume is part of the accountability / lock destruction checking:



To change the code we then need to undo the screw again (as the lock won’t lock with the screw screwed in):



And re-lock the padlock:



P.s. while we’re at this view level, there are a couple of things I forgot to check when I opened the lock for this review, so I just opened it again – the two stainless steel ball-bearing looking things on the middle left and right of the lock do not move, and seem to actually be bolts of some kind – I assume something to do with the non-reversible assembly process to stop “fiddling” with the insides. Also, that divot in the middle-left of the lock is a rivet, or something like it.

P.p.s. It didn’t occur to me when doing the original photography to check why the screw will not screw in when the padlock is locked, or why you have to unscrew it to change the code. I assumed that it would jam on the disks, but as I thought about it, I realised that would be a really easy way to tamper with the disks – in actuality (and I just checked this during this second disassembly), the screw actually unscrews into the shackle hole – and when closed, it is blocked by the shackle. That makes a lot more sense and renders attempted manipulation using the screw impossible .

Back on track. We now need to dial the currently-correct code into the change index, which on this padlock is the notch in the cover about three bars from the opening index. In this case, the code is 25-0:





On the back of the lock, we now need to turn the brass dial from the CLOSED to OPEN position, unlocking the change key hole below. We can use the shoulder corner of the change key to do this:





With the hole revealed, we now insert the change key...





And turn it 90° clockwise:



For some reason, my change key DID NOT want to go into that hole even after re-dialling correctly a few times, very precisely. In the end I managed to get it in by inserting it backwards and “nudging” the disks into place. I think that possibly the 25-0 was set slightly off.

Now that the key is set, we’re ready to change the code. Even though we’ve mentally resolved to set all the combo locks to 10-20-30, it’s good practice to write it down anyway:



At this point, I was too focussed on getting the combo right to remember to take photos. Oops! But the process is simple – simply dial the new combo to the CHANGE index (not forgetting the final zero!), and then rotate the key back 90° counter-clockwise and remove it. Test the new combo on the change index a couple of times (you will be able to re-insert the change key if you’ve done it right) Then re-lock the brass dial to CLOSED:



Screw in the screw again:



Slide the back cover back on, untighten the screw, and zero the disks by spinning the pack counter clockwise a few times:



And now we test the new combo on the opening index. 10:



20...



30...



Zero, and open

[LocksportSouth]

Welcome to another update! I have a pretty awesome lock to show today, and a final compliment to my big-S&G-padlocks collection:



The Sargent & Greenleaf 831. I believe that the model number is technically the 831 B, and mine specifically says that it’s the 831 B-M-1(or I?). I’m not sure what the significance of those numbers is, though. As far as I know there are only three of these large S&G padlocks, if you don’t count the 826 series (being slightly smaller) and other similar padlocks such as the Hi-Shear and NAPEC DCP.

(Edit: Since writing this I've learnt that there is the 831A, 831B (which is similar to the B-M-1 but it has a chain and chain coupling point), and the 831-B-M-1, the one that I have. There's also an 844 which I've only ever seen one of. God knows what else is out there!)

There’s a few interesting things about this lock that I’d like to point out. First, the disassembly method is totally different from the 833 and 951 (which are nearly identical) – but we’ll get to that later. Secondly, although the finish of this lock is very similar to the 833/951, the shape is slightly different – it’s rounder, less oval/blocky, and with its shallower back indent on the shackle end and rounder shape, it feels almost tubular. Thirdly, if we take a look at the text stamped onto the back of this lock, it’s not hard to get a sense of why the shape is like that – Ingersoll.

Something I’ve always found fascinating is Ingersoll’s involvement with military padlocks. I’ve not researched much, but the company seems old, and their involvement in locks seems to stem past their own special brand of padlocks and deadbolts. I’m not sure if Ingersoll manufactured for S&G, or vice versa, or if they just collaborated to bring some locks to fruition – but I’ve seen the Ingersoll brand on more than one non-obviously-Ingersoll padlock, and I’d love to know more about the why and the how. Regardless, we must press on – just a cool fact to note (and a clear inspiration – either this S&G lock an inspiration for their Ingersoll padlocks or vice versa, I’m not sure which came first!).



I was lucky enough to be able to secure this padlock (heh) with the “Control key” card, as well as the three usual keys, too .



The back (or front, depending on how you look at it!) of the lock just has the patent number stamped in:



Close-up of the patent stamp. I dunno if it’s a legal necessity to visibly place the patent number on the product that is patented? If not, is this basically just a marketing pull? (WARNING THIS IS PATENTED DON’T TRY TO STEAL IT), or even if so, I wonder why they stamp it so large on the body? Ah well, questions for another day.



The shackle has a kinda pitted appearance, similar to the 833 locks. I assume this is something to do with it being hardened steel:



Down inside the under-shackle area, you can see a metal plate stamped “86” – this is the removable plate that allows the lock to be stripped:



At the back of the inside shackle area (on the body rather than the removable plate), that “FF” logo is stamped that we saw on the... 951 I think? I wonder if this is a S&G thing, or if it relates to the metal in some way? Also – from this angle, I guess that removable plate number might be 98 also, lol.



One side of the lock, showing the removable disassembly plate:



Bottom of the lock – the keyway cutout in the plate operates in a similar way to (though less refined than) the 833 and 951 ones. It also has an “Inspected by 31” sticker:



Keys! This lock comes with a control key, two operator keys, and the control key warning card that you’ve seen on my Hi-shear – very cool!



Control key:





Operator’s keys:







Opening the lock with a standard Operator’s key:







And now we’ll look at disassembly. Insert and counter-rotate the control key, like you would for a 833 or 951...





And unlock the shackle. There’s where the similarities end, though:



Next, we need to slide this plate that’s inside the shackle area out through the side of the lock:





See that greyish metal round-with-long-part doodad with the nub sticking out of the top? That’s the actuator.

Hole from the side:



The cylinder protector plate. See how it retains the point silver metal bolt doodad to the 833 and 951:



Underneath the cover, you can see the mechanism for that spring-loaded bolt (just like the equivalent one in the 833/951, it provides shackle feedback and the mechanism by which the plate is locked in place):



Removing the actuator from the top of the cylinder is a little fiddly, but it really amounts to holding the lock upside down and jiggling the key and shackle until it falls out. The disassembly process for the 831 is no-where near as elegant as for the later models, but IMO it feels a lot more secure...



The long piece cutting across the centre column is actually the locking pole for the padlock – rather than using ball bearings, the small edge intersects with the back of the lock and the non-removable shackle, and the long edge locks into the closing shackle portion:



The underside of the actuator fits onto the cylinder, obviously:



With the actuator removed, you can see the cylinder at the bottom:



Drop it out to reveal the bottom of the lock. Unlike the 951 and 833, there is no anti-drill protective cylinder cover to fall out – the cylinder sits directly on the body’s keyway cutout:



All the “base parts” from disassembly – the body (with shackle), the cylinder cover, the actuator and the cylinder – very simple design and hard to go wrong:



Let’s take a look at that cylinder! “C88” is stamped on one side:





The other side is plain:





Pop the C-clip off...





And take the plug out...





Good ‘ol Medeco pins:





The sidebar and springs:



Empty plug:



And the sidebar groove in the plug:



All the cylinder parts:



Pins and springs laid out – this lock has two mushroom pins and four standard pins, plus the usual Medeco key pins:



Re-assembly:



It’s been great to finish the large S&G locks collection... But there are still two locks to go....

[LocksportSouth]

Okay, so. Today’s update is a bit different, because technically it’s post three of four, and I did photograph and edit most of pics for this post before I worked on post four. But as this lock needed cleaning, and I left it to soak in GUNK overnight, I did a momentary pause on this post and then photographed and wrote up the next post first. So if the way that next post is written oddly (such as me covering some topics twice, or whatever), you know why. It was written first and posted last.

Anyway, enough of this poppycock. We’ve got locks to investigate!



Dayum – you have no idea how happy I am to get this lock. Despite all these updates coming more-or-less “at once” for you guys, I’ve had the 833s and 951 for a while now, but the 826 has been on my hit-list for ages. I’m still short a certain 826C.... But we’ll get there . What you’re looking at right now is a Sargent & Greenleaf 826D, and it is awesome.



The 826D is characterised by a thicker shackle and a thicker/heavier body – The 826A is “the rare one”, I believe with a thinner shackle as standard, and the 826C has the thick shackle of the ‘D’ but the thinner body of the ‘A’. I’ve not seen an 826B, but I’m sure it must exist somewhere. The A and C variants usually have the model number stamped clearly onto them, whereas the D does not – although mine does have it stamped on very lightly – but being the only one with a thicker body, that doesn’t matter as much for identification purposes.

At the same time as Sargent and Greenleaf have developed their top-tier super-strong and incredibly-heavy closed-shackle lock series – the 831, 833, and 951 – there has always been a call for middle-range S&G locks – stronger than the 8088 and 8077 series (which are pretty much fancy security seals) – and of course key operated, but also able to be locked to chains and hasps where the heavy-duty NAPEC hasps aren’t called for, or where an open shackle, non-restrictive lock are needed.

The 826 series are the padlocks that filled that niche. They still have that heavy-duty appearance and “blast-proof” claim of the bigger siblings, but I believe they aren’t rated for liquid nitrogen attacks and of course have that exposed shackle.

In the photo about you can see the lock as it came to me – with three keys (two operator and one control), two keyrings and the lock itself. The body looks to be in decent condition considering the age of these, and operates nicely .

Closeup of the front of the body:



1983 – it’s older than I am! Above the properly stamped in logo info, you can see the “826D” designation very lightly stamped in, and deformed through use. I assume that this was done after the lock’s production, as I’ve also seen these without a model number stamp at all.



Side of the lock with the chain attachment and drain hole:



The other side – the cutout at the top is the disassembly plate:



View from the top - you can see the full extent of that plate here, starting at the right hand edge of the lock, encompassing the “open” shackle end and extending almost to the other shackle. That plate is removable, and is the method by which this lock can be disassembled:



Plate from the side:



Bottom of the lock. The keyway cutout in the body bears resemblance with the 831 – specifically it’s shape, and lack of rotating anti-drill disk:



There are some odd numbers engraved and crossed out in this lock – I have no idea what that’s about. “10” “18” and “1”. Some kind of UID or inventory number maybe – not sure why they got crossed out though:



The keys:













Padlock unlocked with the operator’s key:



What a beast!





Even with the shackle removed, this plate will not slide out in the “normal” open position:



This lock works in the same way as all the other S&Gs – you need to use a control key, which is missing a key shoulder, and can rotate counter-clockwise to both unlock the lock and remove a blocking element:





With the actuator set in a specific position, the plate will simply slide out sideways along a track (fun fact: the 826 locks are very simple and, apart from the cylinder and cover plate, only have one element which acts as both the actuator and locking pole – we’ll get to that):



That’s one chunky plate!



The bottom is stamped with the number “2” (I assume, like the 80** series of combination locks, this acts as a deterrent to destroying the lock and replacing it with an identically-pinned duplicate). There’s also an odd groove cutout on the left hand side – that’s where a nub in the actuator fits, to ensure that this plate can only slide out when the key is in the control position. In both the locked and unlocked (normal) position, the nub will slide to various points along the closed-off edge. Only when in the control position will the nub be positioned adjacent to the open cutout in the side of the plate:



With the top plate removed, you can see the actuator inside. The little nub sticking out the top of the back of the round portion of the bar in the middle is the nub I was talking about which interacts with the top plate to keep the lock from being disassembled:



There’s a quite specific and fiddly method to opening these locks, and I actually spent ages fiddling around with it before giving up and checking the instructions, which luckily came with this lock. The complexity and fiddlyness of disassembly is likely one of the reasons that S&G changed to using a split-body design in their new, large locks (I’ve not come across anything like a modern equivalent to the 826 – I assume that in this day and age everything is simply locked with integrated cylinders, or electronic control doodads, so there is no call for padlocks anymore).



To easily disassemble these 826 locks (and the 831), it helps to understand how they work. Unlike the modern 833 and 951, these locks do not use ball bearings, or even regular lock latches, to hold the lock closed. In the modern style locks, the cylinder will interact with an actuator, and the turning of the actuator will force BBs out or allow them to retract – that’s how most of the high security locks (as I understand it) work – including Abloys and S&Gs. However, the 831 and 826 work differently.

In these locks, there is a cylinder, and then there is a single piece of metal, which has a central round “pillar” area and a long/narrow “post” crossing across it, which is shorter on one side than another. Take a look at this pic:



On the underside of the round section, a cutout is shaped to interact with the bottom of the cylinder. In effect, this becomes the actuator – in fact, you could say that this whole unit is the actuator. However, it is also the locking pole – by turning the cylinder, you rotate this entire metal block, and the ends of the “long” part of it slot into the cutouts in the shackle. In this way, it is impossible to rotate the key inside the lock when the shackle is in the incorrect position – just like how in the modern locks the actuator is unable to turn because the BBs are unable to enter the shackle holes because the shackle is in the way, in this lock, the actuator rod itself is unable to fit into the shackle area because the shackle blocks it.

Returning to that original pic, the trick to disassembling this lock is to first ensure that you are using the control key. Rotate to the control position (anti-clockwise), unlock the shackle and slide the plate out. You will then need to drop the shackle down outside of the padlock (It has two “drop heights”, and I believe that the deeper, and correct one drops around the 180° mark from the closed position, and will only allow rotation for the remaining 180°) and keep rotating the shackle until it’s right up against the body. This allows the shackle locking hole on the closed shackle side just enough of a gap that the actuator can be partially rotated into it – jiggle the key around between “locked” and “control” position while jiggling the actuator or holding the lock upside down and the actuator plate should just fall out. Once it does, you can see the inside of the lock and rear of the cylinder:



(If you look closely, you can see the shackle locking cutout inside at the back of the lock).
Let’s take another look at that actuator plate:



You can see the nub on the top, which fits into the underside of the top plate and stops it from sliding out when the key is not in the control position. You can also see that the ends of the long part of the actuator are worn down from rubbing on the shackle locking cutouts all the time.

From the side, you can see that this is quite a thick and hefty piece of kit – vital for the unit that acts both as the actuator and the locking pole – I’d argue that it’s the most vital part of the lock, mechanically speaking:



The underside shows another unique ID stamp (4), and the cutout for the cylinder – the round hole for the back of the middle part, and the raised edges which hold the rectangular part of the cylinder in place:



If we slide the cylinder out, you can see that there’s really not much of anything else going on inside the lock body – no fancy anti-drill disks or ball bearings. This lock is simply and a total workhorse:



Now let’s take a look at that cylinder! It’s brass, unlike the green ones in today’s 833 and 951 locks. Unlike today, I don’t think that this implied “non-military” – that was just the standard design of the day. I believe that this is the older (classic?) Medeco cylinder:



On one side of the cylinder, “D 95” is stamped into the bible. I wonder what this could mean? Maybe D is for the lock model number – 826D? Maybe “95” is the year of manufacture (if this isn’t the original cylinder), or a batch number, or a UID to prevent destructive replace spy attacks? One of those three, I’m guessing:



The front of the cylinder has seen better days – I guess that’s one part with more exposure to grubby keys/fingers/etc than others!



Let’s get this stripped down! First we remove the C-clip....



Then pop out the core using a plug follower.



Note the three anti-drill pins on the key end of the plug. This one’s also looking a little grubby:



Medeco sidebar removed:



With the sidebar removed, we can see down inside the sidebar cutout:



Removing the pins, we can see that they are standard Medeco wedge pins, designed to be rotated by the key to allow the slot in them to line up with the cutout in the widebar slot, allowing the sidebar to slot inside of these pin grooves when rotational pressure is applied to the plug:



All the pins laid out. We have two brass mushrooms and four steel standard drivers in addition to the normal Medeco pins:



One thing that I did just notice – I recall that in my 833 and 951, the key pins have spool or serrated-like, well, serrations in the side of them, increasing pick resistance. These ones do not have that feature and I believe that’s one of the differences between the newer Medecos (either Biaxial or M3, not quite sure of the difference yet) and the older generation.

All the cylinder parts laid out:



Now, since this lock came a little grimy, I decided to clean it up a little and put it back in nice clean working order. At this point I did leave the parts to stand in solution overnight, so the next (and final) post was actually written first, in the meantime. Apologies for any duplicate content or odd continuity errors!



I’ve still not quite figured out what works best for cleaning lock parts, but I have GUNK (car engine degreaser) and WD-40 to hand so I tend to use those – I’ve fallen into the habit of soaking in GUNK (which I’ve seen recommended elsewhere), and finishing off with a quick spray and wipe down with WD-40 – but if that’s a bad way to go about things, please let me know! Of course, I always finish off with some lube – usually Tri-flow for the cylinder and silicone grease paste for the BBs and other hardwearing parts.

I was a little worried that the GUNK would damage the delicate parts or strip that strange S&G gunmetal-grey coating from the components, so I wasn’t sure whether to add the body shell itself or not. In the above photo only all the “parts” were added, but I did end up soaking (half of) the body in this pot too, in the end. I left the components overnight, “stirring occasionally”, and then wiped them all down the next day thoroughly before blasting with some WD-40, wiping down again, and blowing clean (in the little crevices) with compressed air.

Here’s all the parts fresh back from the garage:



Looking much shinier! When I was debating whether to add the pins, one issue I had was “If I dump all the pins into this one pot, how will I know which to put back into which pin stack?”. I figured I’d just use the key trick – put the key into the plug and load the pins into it, testing for correct height and moving where appropriate – but one thing I forgot to factor in was the rotation. Because Medeco pins rely on a specific angle for the side cuts in them to line up with the sidebar channel, you can’t rely on just the height of the pin – you also have to check whether a gap has been left clear in the slots within the sidebar channel. So, that provided an interesting little side puzzle later on .

Here’s all the parts loosely tossed onto the pinning mat:



Photo of celebration showing “all dark” in the sidebar channel slots after getting the key pins correct, finally:



The driver pins I managed to figure out by studying my old photos – luckily everything before the “big clean” was already photographed, edited and sorted by then



Cylinder re-assembled and working. Yay!



In the process of lubing the cylinder. I just sprayed a little tri-flow at each end and zipped/rotated the key a bunch until it seemed like the lube would have worked in by then. Not sure if there’s a better way...



Lock mostly re-assembled at this point – just had to fiddle to get that actuator bar in there!



All reassembled and done – you’ll notice that I’ve gotten the key tag sorted now (along with all my other locks):





Thankfully the gunk didn’t damage the lock’s appearance (although it has probably “lightened” it a little, due to removing the black oily grease stuff that was on the outside and especially in the embossed lettering stamps).

And that’s it! We’re done with this lock, and now have only one final lock to look at... Time flies when you’re having fun!

[Riyame]

In case anyone is interested in how to get the 826 padlocks apart

[LocksportSouth]

Nice find . That's pretty much the experience I had too - fiddly, but not too bad when you know the tricks. I'm thinking about starting to post videos on my Youtube channel when I've finished doing all these write-ups and such; it's always easier to see how things work in video than to try and photograph and explain in text how it works.