American 1105 S-s-s-s-tretched Spring

[HallisChalmers]

I picked up an 1105 on ebay and had a hell of a time trying to pick it. It was hard to unlock - even with the key.

Since I had never taken a lock apart - let alone an 1105, I figured WTF.

I finally broke down and gutted it, and took all the pins, springs, etc., out.

Everything looked good as far as I could tell - but then I found this stretched out spring.

So here's my question: What would cause this spring to stretch out? Does this occur from aggressive picking - or is it something that happens from just being worn out?

What gives?

I don't think it was me that stretched it out when I took it apart - as I felt nothing really binding. But then again, I'm pretty ham-fisted and just like freaking Iron Man, I'm not exactly a delicate genius.

[Josh]

it being stretched like that would either be from it being caught between the plug and the core housing while turning the lock after picking, or during keying or disassembly...

[Houndour]

Arrggghhh its like my abus 83/45 nightmare all over again!! X.x;;;

[m0ose]

Yeah, picking wouldn't cause that. I've done that a couple of times myself. Basically, when rekeying a lock that has an extra hole or a missing pin, if you pull the cylinder out wrong, a top pin and spring can fall into one of the bottom holes. I myself have personally done this exact same thing, and instead of working it slowly, I pulled very hard. Since you bought it on Ebay, I wouldn't doubt if the previous owner was a little inexperienced and wanted to check the innards, but instead of doing it correctly, they made this same mistake. I'm more surprised that it was still in there like that and working.

[HallisChalmers]

Mo0se...I was thinking that too. It may have been damaged by the previous owner if he was repinning the lock.

Like I said, it was hard to unlock. Out of the 3 that I bought from this guy -this one stood out.

Oh well, at least now I'll get to re-spring it. I need the practice pinning locks, so this will be an excuse to spend some $$$$ and buy a pinning kit.

[m0ose]

This is where I need to brush up on my learning - taking apart a lock proper. I took my master 930 apart, but was careful not to drop out any pins etc. I just wanted to pull out the lock and stuff to see into it more. I may try to get everything out and look at the pins and then try and put it all back together. I am sure I will mess it up, but seems like a good way to learn!

The problem here, or so it looks to me, was that when the lock was either removed or put back in, either the follower slipped and the pin/spring dropped between the plug and the follower as he was pushing either way. Or, when he was taking the plug out, he neglected to turn it in a way so that the top pins stayed in their respective places. Keep that in mind when taking apart locks.

[HallisChalmers]

If anyone needs stuff, this guy sells some pinning kits at a reasonable cost.

http://www.clksupplies.com/shop/index.php?cPath=21