Ignition lock assembly

[dmjlambert]

I will start another thread to maybe get the lock cylinder figured out, so I won't pollute the Making Keys For The ’60 -‘66 Chevy Trucks thread too much.

Here's the story. LockDoc made keys for me so I could release the cylinder from the ignition lock. I've got it apart and cleaned up. I can't figure out how to get it back together. This is on my 1963 C10.

While trying to figure it out I tried to find out the names of the parts by searching the www but I may not be good at that. So here I'm giving the parts these names. If there's better or more official names I would like to know, and I'll edit my post.

1 cylinder keeper slot
2 spring cover
3 side bar
4 pin release hole
5 pin block
6 cylinder keeper
7 latch up positions

Pictures

[dmjlambert]

More pictures

[dmjlambert]

More pictures

[dmjlambert]

My observations
I think I'm showing the incorrect orientation of the pin in the first 2 pictures, because when inserted this way the pin pushes down but it sticks in the down position. In pictures 3 and 4 I inserted it the other way and it presses in and springs up. I don't know for fact the orientation because after I removed the cylinder I touched the pin and it popped out and onto the floor of the truck.
Cylinder keeper 6 appears to keep the cylinder in the assembly in all normal positions of the key. Push the pin through the pin release hole 4 in order for the pin to clear the pin block 5 to move the cylinder keeper 6 into the cylinder keeper slot 1 and that allows the cylinder to release and come out of the assembly.
I have noticed the latch 3 is depressed when the key is inserted, and the latch sticks out when the key is removed. The key can only be removed if the latch is not being held in. So areas in the assembly that are the latch up positions 7 are places where the latch is free to move up and therefore those should be where the key can be removed.
The spring cover 2 does not move, it is swaged into place.

So here is my problem. When I put the cylinder back in the assembly and it snaps into place, I can depress the pin through the hole and turn the key to the right and it moves through the off, on, and start positions. In the start position the key will tend to spring back to the on position. All good so far. If I turn the key to the left past the off position, it sticks in that position forever, unless I depress the pin through the hole again. Then I can turn the key to the right back to the off position. I can remove the key in any position. The whole assembly worn out, or just the cylinder, or something else wrong?

[LockDoc]

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This ignition lock cylinder is the standard GM side bar lock cylinder used from 1935 - 1966 ( to '67 for trucks) The part you have listed as #3 is called the "side bar". That is what keeps the cylinder from turning when the key is removed. When the correct key is inserted the side bar retracts into the lock body and the cylinder can then be turned. The side bar lock cylinders use flat tumblers or wafers instead of pins.


The retaining pin goes in small end first. It is not supposed to come out. It was originally staked in from the factory. Arrow in picture points to the staking mark. That is why you are having trouble with it sticking. When it is turned to the off position the pin is pushing up into the release hole because it is no longer staked into place in the lower hole. I have fixed them by drilling a hole in the side of the switch housing on the opposite side of the staking mark and using a tool with the same end configuration as the tumbler cover staking tool, only longer, and re-staking it. You have to hold the pin down while staking it and again it is easier with two people. Do not over stake it or the pin will not move. It shouldn't take much to make it stay in place.
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[dmjlambert]

Wow that is fantastic information, thanks. I fixed the pin and the lock acts much better. I made a couple of staples out of small nails that I cut the head off and bent into a U. I taped the switch to a 2x4 and used a finishing nail and staple to hold the pin in. I prepared a regular nail where I removed some of the head to create a flat side, and used a staple to hold the head right at the factory stake point. Then I put the largest square thing I could find against the nail head, the handle side of a punch worked for that. I used a steel ruler to protect the threads of the switch and to provide a guide/slide for hammer swing, and struck the punch handle with a hammer. New better stake and the pin stays in.

[LockDoc]

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Good old American ingenuity..... Glad it worked for you.
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[dmjlambert]

This switch is interesting. Here are my observations.

There are limits of travel of the cylinder that make it stop traveling past locked/off position and past start position, and pressing the pin allows you to move past the locked/off position enough to disengage the cylinder keeper or retainer.

The switch has 4 detent positions and they are different from what I'm used to in my 1969 truck. The positions are "off and locked", "off and unlocked", "Ignition and accessory on", and "Start with accessory off".

Because the side bar is not held inward in any of detent positions, and the side bar is only blocked between the first and second detent positions, the key can come out in any position. And if turned to the "off and unlocked" position, the key could be removed or partially removed, and the cylinder will switch to on or start and back to off using something other than the key or without the key fully inserted. This appears to be by design.

If I wanted the key to be retained in the cylinder in every position other than "off and locked" I could fabricate a key keeper accessory out of metal or plastic of sufficient thickness and insert it into the switch at the position shown in my second picture to keep the side bar pressed in and disallow key removal.