TR2/3/3A TR3A Door Handle Key Question

[PatGalvin]

Hey Guys (and Viv):

Can door handles be rekeyed to match key? I need new PS door handle (stud broke during removal) and have a line on a nice used one. Would like all to be keyed the same, although I don't think I'd ever lock it so this might be much fuss about nothing...

Pat
59 TR3A

 

[CJD]

If you have the original, you can swap the tumbler parts over. If you don't have the original, you either need a selection of tumblers, or you will have to buy a whole new lock set for the car.

JP is the best to give you details...!

John

 

[MGTF1250Dave]

Aloha Pat,

You can make your current key work on the "new" door lock. Remove the tumbler from the door handle, insert the key you want to operate the lock and then file down any pins protruding out of the tumbler body. Years ago, back when the BCF didn't have seperate marque forums, a gent from the UK helped me with this. I was able to make the boot lid and door locks all work with the glove box key I had.

 

[Tr3aguy]

Pat,

I sent you a PM..

 

[PatGalvin]

Thanks guys. This is very helpful. Glad I can use a new (used) door handle and get it keyed. Much appreciated.

Pat

 

[CJD]

Dave,

That's ingenious! That would have saved me a lot of time over the years, looking for lock parts!

John

 

[TR3driver]

Of course the result is a lock that can be opened by many keys. Basically any key between the one it was originally keyed for, and your new key, will now open the lock.

Not that they were ever all that secure to begin with.

And the door locks on a 3A are particularly silly IMO, since one can simply unsnap the tonneau or slide the window in the side curtain, and open the door with the inside handle. I never locked the handles on my 3A, and don't really miss even the entire handle not being there on the 3.

I do get strange looks from riders, though, when they try to open the door :laugh:

 

[Tr3aguy]

Not entirely true....but it would take a long in depth writing that shows how the lock operates and such. Lets just say modified locks do not operate or secure as well as they could.

 

[vivdownunder]

Pat, my current 3A had mismatched door locks and I just took both items and the key into a locksmith and all sorted.

Now I see from Randall that 30 other TR owners can get into my car through the left door, or was it the right door ?.

Cracks me up that the factory ever bothered to put keylocks on sidescreen doors. I reckon the fly off handbrake gives better security, given the trouble new owners have releasing it.

Viv.

 

[gprtech]

Any locksmith that has the old parts can rekey these locks.

I keep a rekeying kit good for all of the old Union locks and now provide lock services:

www.key-men.com

Just email me and I'll give you a quote.

 

[TR3driver]

Wow, George, registered for over 8 years and this is only your third post? You don't talk much!

BTW, the proprietor here frowns on this sort of thing. He wants to be paid for advertising.

 

[Geo Hahn]

Though you are allowed a URL in your signature line so a low-key (pun intended) approach may be okay.

I have called on George for key help in the past found him very helpful.

 

[Don Elliott]

There is a law in our area that requires that all car door and trunks be locked when parked. This sounds normal and logical for a closed car. But I remember about 5 years ago where a BMW owner had parked his car for 5 minutes while he dashed into a convenience store and he had left the doors unlocked and his convertible top was down. He got a ticket because his doors were not locked.

THE LAW IS THE LAW ! And he had to pay the fine.

The original tumbler locks in my 1958 TR3A have been corroded with winter salt slush inside the handles since about 1965. Nothing can make them move or turn. I found this out in 1987 to 1990 while I was restoring the car. It's been driven 108,000 miles since then and the door-locks have never been locked. I guess that I have been lucky not to have been on the receiving end of one of those silly tickets.