Hey All,
With some inspiration from Karl, I now know more about replacing the key barrel/cylinder in X doors than I ever wanted to know.
First thing to know:
Keys are not required to withdraw the cylinder/barrel from the door handle. So, say you have an X with no door keys, but the handles are lovely, and you have a set of working locks on a spare set of ugly handles, there is nothing to stop you from swapping the good cylinders to the nice handles. FWIW, all cylinders have "silver" (I assume stainless steel) faces whether they are in chrome or black anodized handles.
Pieces and parts:
Handles, lock cylinder/barrels, springs, and roll pin are identical left and right. If you don't have keys, the lock barrel/cylinder has a 6-digit code on the side which corresponds to the six pins in the lock barrel. This can help you ID matched sets.
The spring at the back of the barrel/cylinder, just in front of the pot metal pawl, has two functions. It retains the lock cylinder in the handle mechanism. It returns the lock barrel/cylinder to "zero" after the key has been used to lock or unlock the door. The spring is held in place exclusively by spring tension, but is also captured to a lesser extent by the pawl ...that is, to get the spring off, it is best to remove the pawl.
The pot metal "pawl" that fits on the end of the lock cylinder, (has a ball shape cast in to it, a known weak part which tends to snap off) is side specific (mirrored parts) and is THE ONE AND ONLY part, along with the "up" or "down" orientation of the lock barrel/cylinder, which determines whether the finished handle assembly is a left or right handle. The pawl floats through 90° of rotation on the end of the lock barrel/cylinder. It is held onto the lock barrel/cylinder with a rolled steel pin, driven through the pawl and a slotted opening in the body of the lock barrel/cylinder.
The work:
It is an impossibility to perform a swap of lock barrel/cylinders in the car. The handle must be removed and the operation performed on the bench. Simply, unless you're a contortionist, there is no way to get tool into the door to drive the rolled pin out. If you've done it in the car, you are IMO either a double jointed freak or a miracle worker.
I popped the push rod off the lock actuator lever inside the door and left the other end attached to the pawl. When trying out disassembly on a couple spare handles, it wasn't too much of a trick to snap the cast ball off of the pawl. I figured it best to leave it be.
I removed the three 8mm nuts and, like most folks do, could not help but drop two of the nuts and almost all of the six washers down into the door. It's nearly unavoidable.
Once on the bench, I carefully braced the pawl in a bench vise (with the handle up against my stomach) and drove the rolled pin out with a drill bit and light weight hammer. Drive from the depression in the side of the pawl. Of the four I drove out, two were easy, one was tougher, and one broke two drill bits. Once the pin is mostly out, it can be grabbed with channel locks and pulled the rest of the way out.
The spring comes off easily with a small electrician's flat head screw driver. Then the lock barrel/cylinder slides right out the front of the handle with no effort at all ...more than likely will fall out.
Once apart, this is a great opportunity to lubricate. I cleaned everything with WD40. Once dry, I lubed with a spray in, penetrating white lithium grease.
Re-assembly takes keeping your orientations straight. When viewed from the outside, the key hole of the lock barrel/cylinder is, of course, always vertical. It will only fit vertically, but can be fit upside-down. Correct orientation is with depression in the face always at the bottom of the vertical key hole. Right side handle has the depression pointing to the rear of the car. Left side handle has the depression pointing toward the front of the car. Once the spring is refit and the "zeroing" has been tested, the pawl can be refit.
Identifying the left and right pawls, if you've confused them isn't too tough. Orient your handle on the bench, with the lock barrel/cylinder already in place, with the bottom closest to you. Set the pawl on the lock barrel/cylinder, with the fat "pointed" end toward the main body of the handle. If the ball on the pawl is at the top, you have the correct one; if the ball is at the bottom, try again. The rolled pin drives back in very easily. Tap the pin part way in, then use channel locks to squeeze it the rest of the way home.
Done. Reinstall in the car.
A couple quick tips on reinstallation:
1) If you don't have one, get one of those magnets on the end of a telescoping antenna. They're cheap and most auto part places have them. You will need this to fish out the hardware you drop inside the door ...and you will drop hardware inside the door, count on it. You don't have to see what you're doing, just kinda slop it around blind in the bottom of the door. I was able to recover all nuts and washers I dropped.
2) load up the handle studs with anti-sieze. Ya, it'll keep the studs from rust, but more, it's just viscous enough to help keep the washers in place as your working.
3) In advance of installation, use a drop of super-glue (a.k.a. cyanoacrylate, I use Pacer Zap-A-Gap) to glue together two sets each of flat washer and lock washer. The handle stud which lines up behind the window track is a real headache to get the hardware back on. It's unavoidable that while trying to get the lock washer in place, you'll knock the flat washer off and down into the door. Gluing the two together gives more thickness, heft, whatever, to stay in place on the stud so you can then get the nut in place. Trust me, it works.
I hope this helps the next guy!!!
John O.
