Door Lock Repair

[Bill B]

Our front door lockset has been giving us problems for a couple weeks (it's probably 25 years old).  Last night it was entirely jammed.  Couldn't use the thumb latch from the outside and the inside lever would lock up entirely.  So I took the lockset apart this morning and discovered a lever inside the lockset that moves the plunger which secures in the door frame was completely grooved and wouldn't let the lockset work properly.

Since the lever was steel I figured why not add some metal, via MIG welder and re-profile the lever.  So I got out my high dollar Harbor Freight MIG welder (it was on sale with a coupon  ) and sparked away.  Now my welding skills are about as good as my brain surgery skills  (Hey I was almost a doctor, until I figured out I was in the wrong class  ), but I think it worked out pretty good and the lockset works as advertised.  Hopefully we can get another 25 years, but I did see momma looking at new locksets, but at $300+ I think we can wait.

Bill

[jtwill98]

Nice to see old items repaired and back in use.  Nice job!

[oldmanjoe]

   Nice   The old one was weldable ...  The new one is glue able .     

[Gfish]

Yeah, nice job Bill. At $300+ a new one had better be high quality steel, but nowadays ya never know.

I wish I could weld. My beloved recliner had 2 brace bars corrode and break at the attachment point. I used flat bar stock, but hada saw and drill and play around with fitting. Reclines great now, but the original apparatus is lightweight and cheap, so I'll prolly eventually be back in there again.

[foakes]

Excellent job, Bill —-

Best, Fred

[Jimmer]

Great job, and the new metal might be harder than the original. -  Jimmerr

[Shark Hunter]

Great Job Bill!
Old School rules!

[Donnyboat]

Good, was well worth a try to restore it, glad it worked for you, thanks for posting it, cheers Don.

[boon]

Nice job. Honestly it's impressive that the mechanism itself has worked correctly for so long that the parts simply wore out! Looks ready to give another 25 years of reliable service.

[Benni3]

Very cool,,, you fixed it and you got to see the South Park video about handyman's being  billionaires now because  nobody knows how to fix anything,,,,,,,

[Rancanfish]

Good work Bill. I bet you could work on fishing reels too.

Sort of coincidentally, I locked my door but left the keys inside. I grabbed the wrong ones.  I went and did an errand in town and discovered I was locked out upon returning.

I took a 20 0z hammer and wacked the lever handle and broke it.  Back to town and bought a replacement. $40 later... Good thing that isn't possible with the deadbolt.

[Bryan Young]

Way to take things in your own hands and make it new again.

[Bill B]

Thanks guys, I'm definitely not a locksmith, welder, or brain surgeon but I like how this turned out.  30 minutes in the shop and it's back in business.   One thing left to figure out is the inside lever only works when its pulled up instead of pushed down.  There maybe a fix by simply turning a rod but won't know until I try.  If it doesn't work I'm not worried, I still have a smooth functioning locket for a lot less than $300.  The welder (machine not me 😉) paid for itself on this job.

Bill