Schlage Flair look-alikes?

problem with ANY 'residential' lock is that due to the design, you cannot stick a good HS cylinder onto it.. Schlage used to ahve a pretty good web site showing all they had available, house wise, might look there and see if there is something in a grade 2 that is 'usable'

--Shiva--

Well, yeah, I know the F series is junk.

I really do not care if the lock is Schlage or not. The customer only wants levers that match as closely as possible.

Doesn't Arrow make something similar? In their residential line. Is that easy enough to pull the cylinder out of and replace with a good HS cylinder?

cant help ya there. all the Arrows I seen were in the trash can.. if they DO make a good one, its never made it back to my area of the country YET.

--Shiva--

Medeco and Mul T Lock both make a cylinder for the Schlage F series lever, Medeco would most likely be special order from your distributor, but it is available part number 20X01400-XX-XX.

Dave

Yeah, but I'm not looking for Medeco. I upgraded a home to the GMS MX keyway and they wanted their old style levers so I have to find something similar.

You said high security, not Taiwan GMS crap, there is a difference, but being that you already have the crap cylinders, you can use a matching quality Arrow C series lever with it.

Dave

I never said "high security". I said "higher security".

And it's Chinese, not Taiwanese.

What I like about the MX keyway is the degree of difficulty in picking it that it presents, and the fact that my local hardware stores and 99% of the locksmiths in town do not stock the keyway.

if the 'smith, is rich enough he can get his OWN keyway.. thats the beauty of that system.. my 'supplier' bought their own key way.. so I got a fair to middling chance nobody ELSE has it around here too

--Shiva--

pull the knob off one of them, see if the lock has a tail piece like a grade 2.. I got a funny feeling it does..

--Shiva--

Your a locksmith, use your imagination. I needed a Schlage Flair lever keyed to Kwikset keyway in a flash, here's what I did.

I modified a GMS knob cylinder to fit in the Schalge F series lever. Granted it took a little work (about 20 minutes) and I wouldn't do this for just anybody, this happened to be a really good customer and I didn't want to tell him I couldn't do it. But I tell you it worked great.

This will work with the MX cylinder except you won't be able to pin it

I hacksawed the end of a F series knob plug and used it as a driver (it took a bit of filing). You also have to file the cap on the back of the GMS plug. The driver is installed after you secure the cap on the back of the GMS cylinder. You have to file a knotch in the back of the plug (see pic) this is why you can't pin all 6 chambers.

Pardon me if this is a stupid quesion, but what does GMS stand for?

Bob

GMS is just a brand name.

Thanks. Are they good? How do they market them?

Bob

The deadbolts are garbage. Well to be more specific they are lousy to install. I ordered my usual Lori deadbolts and the distributor substituted GMS deadbolts because the Loris I ordered were out of stock.

I called the distributor who suggested that since I had them I should try them because they were really good. I agreed (but insisted he credit me fore the difference in price).

I waited for a chance to install them (26D with standard face bolts). When I finally did, I swore I'd never use them again. I don't remember specifically what went wrong, I just remember them taking an ridiculous amount of time to install.

As far as how well they hold up, I've never gotten a complaint from the customer but the doors aren't really high use, either.

I found the deadbolts to be good. The cylinders are mainly what I like about them. The "restricted" keyway.

I don't like the fact that I have to order the deadbolt in pieces. I have to order the body, the cylinders, the latch, and the latch face plate all separately.

OK...OK, Block. I'm looking at the attached .JPG and thinking.... 'Thats some serious work you did!!'. But to, accomidate the wiednesses of some peoples requests. That's the 'Smithing part of Locksmithing' and you had no problem with a solution. Nice work.

Thanks for the input, mac