Toolbox Trouble

[Bill Grumbine]

Greetings all

I have toolbox trouble. I have a very large, very nice Delta toolbox on the back of my truck. I have been experiencing problems with the locks - again. Delta replaced the first set of locks under warranty a couple of years ago, and now the current locks are doing the same thing. So, I called to get replacement locks again, only to find out that:

a) the company that made these locks are out of business (no surprise to me, given the quality) and

b) Delta does not have a retrofit.

The box is only about 3 1/2 years old, so I do not want to have to scrap it because of bad locks. The Delta guy suggested WD-40. I will give it a try, but I am not sure it is going to work. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with this sort of thing and might have a suggestion. With the tools and traveling I do, I need a box this size, and I need it to lock, and I need to be able to get in and out of it without having to wrestle with the locks.

Thanks.

Bill

[skip coyne]

hqve you tried a locksmith ?

sems like they should be able to advise you

[Bill Grumbine]

I haven't tried a locksmith yet, but I just got off the phone with Delta again. I am getting the "so sorry but there is nothing we can do" story. I responded with the "so sorry, but if I have to fork out for another toolbox, it AIN'T gonna say Delta on it". I have been passed on to the quality control manager, who is out of the office until Monday. The next guy up is apparently the president, and they didn't really want to pass me on to him.

It seems the whole issue revolves around the warranty, which expired about six months ago. They are apparently replacing boxes still under warranty. I told the lady I did not want anything but to be able to replace my locks, and I certainly could not consider buying again from a company which is going to delcare products obsolete and unsupported after a measly three and a half years, especially when those products are supposed to be durable.

edit in: I forgot to mention, WD-40 has actually made things worse! For some reason now, the lock does not want to turn!

[Steven Wilson]

Bill would one of the Large Recessed Lathes from Reliable Hardware company work? I'm thinking about the A3000. I've used these on road cases and they work quite well. You would cut out the current latches, fit these, and then rivet them in. You might want to check into the Toolbox latches on the Eberhard Manufacturing (Canada) site. They look a lot like the ones I remember seeing on Delta tool boxes.

[Norman Hitt]

I

edit in: I forgot to mention, WD-40 has actually made things worse! For some reason now, the lock does not want to turn!

Bill, I have been using WD-40 for nearly as long as it's been available to keep locks freed up and working, in both areas that have a lot of dust/sand/moisture, and areas with salt in the moisture. Sometimes if I have waited too long give them a treatment, it takes a little "EXTRA" effort to make it work, especially if the inside has corroded with moisture or salt spray. The secret I've found is to use the little red tube stuck into the key slot and flush it then run the key in and out several times without trying to turn it, and then flushing it again and repeating until the excess doesn't seem dirty, and then without much pressure rotating the key back and forth many times and then flushing and repeating the rotation and flushing until whatever bit of corrosion or other that had dislodged and locked it up had been crushed and dissolved and flushed out. I have occassionally spent a half hour and a "Large Portion" of a can of WD-40 on those occassions, but so far, I have never been unable to free up a lock yet, thank goodness, and I usually remember (for a while, that is) to give them the treatment more often. The other thing that will cause a lot of extra work, is if someone has used the powdered graphite to lubricate the lock, and then the WD-40 at first, incombination with the graphite will tend to lock it up and it takes a lot of fiddling with it before the graphite is all flushed out and the lock will free up and operate normally. I know that most locksmiths advise against WD-40 and really push using the graphite, but from my experience I think it is so they will get called for a repair job, because the worst problems I've ever had were caused by packed graphite. I haven't used that stuff in over 25 years now and I'll stick with my WD-40.

Keep trying, and I hope it will work for you.

[Bill Grumbine]

Okay, the locks are working marginally better, and most likely it is going to be relatively short lived. I disassembled them as far as I could. It is not actually the lock cylinder itself which is the problem, it is the crummy design. The lock is part of an oblong push button. The lock cylinder rotates just fine, or at least they did for a long while. But since Day One the pushbutton has been stiff, and getting stiffer. I discovered two O rings wrapped around the body of the button. Removing them freed up the action quite a bit, and now they are sliding much easier. Of course, the cylinders themselves are chewed up from me trying to operate the locks. The push button is such that it binds and twists in normal operation, causing it to stick in its housing. The O rings just made the problem worse, although I suspect their job was to keep water out.

I am not holding out a lot of hope for any help from the company. The attitude seems to be that even though these things have been defective since the beginning, and they know it, they are not going to do anything for me besides "try" to see if they have a lock that I could modify. When I told the guy on the phone that if I could not get this to work, I would have to buy a new tool box, he had the gall to actually say he would be glad for the business! I will give him the business all right! But I wouldn't buy another tool box from him.

Bill

[Joe Pelonio]

Norman,

I too have always used WD40 to lubricate locks, especially on my '72 El Camino where they tend to get sticky. Always seemed to work fine.

Then one day I had a locksmith in changing the lock on the shop door after firing someone, and he sprayed something different to lubricate it so I asked him about it, and who knows if he's right or not, but thought I'd pass it on.

He said that WD-40 is not really a lubricant but a solvent and water displacer. It's so thin it coats the metal and protects from rust but the lubrication ability lasts a very short time. If you use it you have to repeat frequently. He uses a teflon based spray lubricant. He also said that graphite works well only when that's all you ever use. When mixed it gums up as you said, so he never uses it since someone some day will probably put something different in the lock. He did have WD40 in the van but uses it as a cleaner mostly on disassembled parts.

[Brad Schmid]

I feel your pain Bill... No matter the brand, I've never had good long term service from these toolbox locks. I finally gave up on these cheesy things and retrofitted my boxes with hasps and weatherproof padlocks. Not the most elegant looking solution, but it's much more secure, and if a good padlock does eventually become problematic, you can pitch it and get another in a hurry. I would also prefer the original manufacturer provide better hardware, but I am a realist Good luck in your quest!

[Lee DeRaud]

He said that WD-40 is not really a lubricant but a solvent and water displacer. It's so thin it coats the metal and protects from rust but the lubrication ability lasts a very short time. If you use it you have to repeat frequently. He uses a teflon based spray lubricant.

Yup. I use Breakfree gun lube for stuff like that: it's available either in aerosol or liquid...a bit pricey, but a small can of it seems to last forever.

[Joe Tonich]

Rem-Oil gun oil with Teflon is what I use for locks n' stuff if they're not out in the elements. I spray Lithium grease into the cylinders of the outside locks. Keeps em workin for me.

[Mark Cothren]

Hey Bill, is that a Delta Pro toolbox? If so, I have one of their truck boxes and have had problems with the locks starting less than a year after I bought it. I disassembled as much as I could, cleaned, lubed, said voodoo witch doctor incantations over it (okay, not really) and nothing has helped.

The oblong pushbuttons stick when you push 'em in and won't return. The locks seem to work just fine - just the springs aren't working properly.

I, like you, will not be purchasing another Delta tool box.

[Bart Leetch]

Hi Bill

I have been using a produce called Tri-Flow recommended by my locksmith to keep 62 door locks & 56 mailbox locks working for 13 years with very few replacements the apartments are 29 years old so I don't think thats to bad. I am pretty much sold on this product. I use it on all four vehicles too.

Bart

[Jon Eckels]

Bill, what sort of lock is it? if it's a cam lock body it'll be easy to replace just the cylinder. I do some locksmithing work on the side (though i'm not a bona fide locksmith). If you can give me a good description of the lock, or maybe a picture i might be able to find something.

Oh and btw, never use WD-40 (or any other sort of oil) to lubricate any sort of lock, pin, wafer or otherwise. go with graphite powder, or liquid graphite (Graphite powder in alcohol solution). WD will gum up a lock quicker than just about anything. what a wonderful experience it is to have to clean out all the pin holes of a household cylinder when the customer needs it rekeyed, after they've sprayed WD into it a bunch of times. whoo wee!

[Nancy Laird]

Hi Bill

I have been using a produce called Tri-Flow recommended by my locksmith to keep 62 door locks & 56 mailbox locks working for 13 years with very few replacements the apartments are 29 years old so I don't think thats to bad. I am pretty much sold on this product. I use it on all four vehicles too.

Bart

I have to agree with Tri-Flow. MUCH better than WD-40.

Nancy

[Chuck Wintle]

what about getting some dry graphite into the lock? Try coating the key with graphite then inserting it and see whay happens.