One morning recently we at Mr. Locksmith-Auto for a call from a RV dealer in Langley. The dealership had a RV on a Ford E450 chassis, someone the previous night had broken into it and tried to steal it. In doing so they had punched out the driver’s door lock and ripped the ears off the ignition as well as spinning it the wrong way breaking off the tailpiece inside the the switch housing and also jamming the release pin.
As well trained and as many Ford ignition cylinders as I have replaced each one can provide it’s own unique challenges, in this case with the cylinder retainer jammed I had to drill past the wafers into the area of the retainer. I pulled out the spring and the vll bearing then gently with a hammer and punch knocked the retainer out of the way. That allowed me to remove the cylinder and see what was happening inside the housing, using a small screw driver I was able to move the tailpiece into the proper position and removed it using a small key extraction tool.
Using a part number 707624 cylinder repair kit from Strattec I was able to build a new cylinder to the client’s existing key and install it into the vehicle. No further damage was noted to the ignition system, the cylinder turns smoothly and the vehicle starts.
The punched out door lock was a pretty simple repair, disassemble there was a damaged face cap and dust cover, as well the number one wafer was bent, after replacing the damaged parts and finding the lock retainer inside the door it was a easy reinstallation.
Kudos to http://www.strattec.com for building a great product for us locksmiths, it’s nice and easy to work with. In the kit there are extra springs wafers and the retainer ball bearing.
