KWIKSET SMARTKEY LOCKS AND PROBLEMS THEY REPRESENT

Smartkey locks are a pain in more ways than regular pinned locks. I am a locksmith and when I first started hearing about these locks I asked Kwikset what happens when a person locks them self out of the house, their response was "the person needs to find alternate method of entry". So I asked does something like breaking out a window fall into that answer? Their reply "the person needs to find alternate method of entry". So I left it at that.

Some time later I read about a tool that could be used to open locked Smartkey locks (Major KTT-4 tool) it would not be possible for the lock to be re-keyed once this tool was used to open the lock. I purchased and used the tool with great success, even once on a sheriff lock out. I always let the people whose lock(s) i was going to open this way they should replace those locks and why.


Last year after breaking the blade on the tool I found two things one is that Major Manufacturing decided to discontinue manufacturing the KTT-4., and two, that Kwikset has redesigned the locks making it much tougher for tools like the KTT-4 to be used.


On another subject I had recently learned that people were having some failure issues with the Smartkey locks. I found this issue of keys not working right after I had re-keyed the lock. Maybe one key would work and another not, so I tried to re-key the lock again using the key that didn't work as my new code key, 99% of the time that worked. The other 1% I found there was a problem with the lock it self. 


The last three times I had issues with Smartkey locks were one, I was called to a person who had a locked door needing to be opened, I saw it was a Smartkey and right away told the person I needed to drill it open; two the person was having problems opening a lock with a newly cut key it did not work at all, so I got my learn tool and re-keyed the lock using the new key, problem solved; three I had a returning customer who had lost the key, so I told her I had a tool to re-key it with again problem solved.


Not to get to far off the track I recently re-keyed a house that had one lever Schlage SecureKey lock and it would not stay re-keyed. Once re-keyed the key failed to open the lock. After tying several things I decided to replace the plug re-keying it to the rest of the house, again problem solved.




2016 ?? Protecto Keyed: Re-Visited (Again)



I had a call sometime ago about a lock that was sticking it was the deadbolt on the front door and the gentleman could not get it to open or lock. He had broken off his key trying so hard to get the thing to lock. When I got there I took the lock off the door and completely took it apart to see what the problem was. I took the snap ring off the back of the lock and started to push the plug out and found it to be jammed really tight, so I popped the cap off where the springs and top pins are.

I found that the lock was protecto keyed even though there was not sticker on it. After I dumped the pins and springs out into my tray I found that the plug was still jammed really tight. I tapped on the back of the plug until finally it came out and to my surprise a wafer thin master pin popped out with it.

I reassembled the lock and made some key and tested the lock.

Then I reinstalled the lock on the door and once again tested it to make sure it worked smoothly.
THERE ARE SEVEN PINS STACKED BESIDE THE DIME'S EDGE!!

Once again I highly recommend that anyone who has protecto keyed locks on their doors have the locks re-keyed and have the master pins removed. Nine times out of ten this will make your locks work much smoother and will eliminate the possibility of any future problems.