Master-Lock Deadbolt Fix

As a locksmith technician with many years of experience in the field, I provide many types of services around the Boise area such as lockouts, lock repair, re-key, locks installations and more. Most of the time doing lock installation will go fairly smooth as it should be. However, like any other product, sometimes there are manufacture defects which will be hard to detect and cause the average locksmith technician  to think he or she was at fault doing the installation wrong.

I remember few years back I got a call from a customer who just moved into a new place and wanted 4 new deadbolts installed for the extra security. He did however informed me he had already purchased some deadbolt from the local hardware store. I normally wouldn't do lock installation unless I would supply my own products, but in that case he agreed not to hold me responsible if the locks ever get a malfunction.

I got the customer's information and headed to his address. Once I got to his home, he showed me around to take a look at the doors that needed the installation. He then showed me the deadbolts he got which were Master-Lock. I then went to my van and grabbed all the tools necessary to start removing the old deadbolts off the doors. After the old deadbolt where off, I installed the new ones in. However, as I finished installing them and started testing them for operation with a key, it seemed that 3 out of the 4 of them where not functioning properly.

It seemed that there was some sort of a problem removing the key after unlocking the lock. The plug did not seem to be properly lined up which caused the key to be stuck. After playing with the key a little bit more, I realized it may be a serious issue with the lock. I decided to call a fellow Boise locksmith friend of mine hoping he might have an answer for the situation.

After getting my technician friend on the phone and told him the story, he mentioned that it is a common problem with these types of Master-Lock. According to him, it was a manufacturing defect with the tailpiece which caused the lock to malfunction. He then said the solution was fairly simple. All I needed to do was remove the tailpiece from the cylinder of each deadbolt that had the problem and just file the roughness at the end of each deadbolt which caused it to bind. Once I did that, the deadbolts were functioning properly as they should have been in the first place.