Re-Keying the locks... This will be two posts. This half is building the locks.
I re-key all used vehicles after I get them. Just like a new house. New house New locks. That way I'm the only one that knows he has working keys. Not the only one with working keys but the other people that do are blissfully unaware that their keys will fit my rig or my house...
I'll sell the old locks and keys as a set of three used but working locks and two mating keys on evilbay.
There is a procedure for notifying GM of the new lock codes so that keys can be cut from your VIN. If you don't record the wafer numbers for your key and stow em with your title paperwork and/or notify GM of the new key numbers for your VIN and you loose the keys you are SOL.
Building up Ignition, Door, and Spare tire locksets from kits.
Part Numbers for my 2005 Silverado uncoded lock kits. This should be valid for the 03-07 2nd design trucks.
- 1, 704599 Strattec GM Uncoded Spare Tire Hoist Lock package. Tumblers, springs, spring loaded dust cap, and lock cylinder with parts to assemble outer lock cylinder housing with seals.
- 1, 706592 Strattec GM Uncoded door lock package. Tumblers, springs, and lock cylinder with spring loaded dust cap and outer housing.
- 1, D1469G, 15298923 AC Delco Uncoded Ignition lock kit Tumblers, springs, spring retainer bar, and lock cylinder
- 2, 15026223 GM uncut bowtie logo key
NOTE: I'll use known pedigree spray lithium or WURTH HHS to lube the locks once they're assembled in the truck rather than the tube of old separating lithium grease in the kits.
Some tech info;
- This truck uses four different tumbler sizes (one to four) and ten cut positions on the keys. This gives you somewhere north of 1 million possible combinations... 4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4=1,048,576. There are probably 40 or so combinations you would never use but that's still over 1 million forty eight thousand five hundred combinations. Even with that many possible key combinations GM made multiple millions of these trucks... so there's probably several trucks out there made between 2003 & 2007 with the exact same 10 tumblers as mine. Since none of the locks use all 10 tumblers the keys that will work in those locks become even more common.
- Cut position ONE is nearest the head of the key or the opening of the Ignition cylinder. The other locks don't use the positions close to the key head.
- The deepest cuts are 4 and the shallowest cuts are 1.
- The spare tire lock has five tumblers at cut positions 5-10. This is the only cylinder that uses position 10.
- The door lock has seven tumblers in the middle of the key at cut positions 3-9. Funny story about 7 tumbler door keys... The owner of another Black Impala SS parked right next to my car and my mind was elsewhere so I didn't notice there were two Impala SS cars with 35% tint on the windows and Ohio plates while I was walking. I hit the remote unlock and the horn beeped... but when I got there the door wouldn't open so I assumed the latch was flaking out, got annoyed, and opened the door with my key. The key wouldn't start the car and then I noticed my coat and flashlight were missing and someone elses stuff was on the passengers' seat. I exited the car post haste... locked the door with my key and left in my car ASAP. No telling what the other person would've thought about me opening their car with my keys. It might've been a good laugh or they might've gotten very upset...
- The ignition lock has nine tumblers at positions 1-9 but it looks like only eight tumblers at positions 2-9 actually actuate the locking bar. Tumbler 1 appears to be extraneous. I'll be interested to see whether position 1 is populated in the original ignition cylinder. This is the only cylinder that has tumblers at positions 1 & 2.
Given the above if your key was cut for tumblers 3124134242 (Not any key I have anything to do with).
- Ignition tumblers would be 312413424
- Door tumblers would be 2413424
- Spare lock tumblers would be 34242
NOTE: Any half competent locksmith should be able to cut you a key that will only open the door by only cutting positions 3-9 on the key blank. Much safer to hide one of those somewhere on the truck than one that can start it.
You can mate an existing key to a new cylinder using a semi trial and error method.
Why?
Say you bought an already keyed door lock with two new cut keys and you want to mate ignition and spare tire lock cylinders to that key so the whole truck has one key... or keys and one door lock or...
Once you know the ten key cut numbers you can get a door lock kit and build a lock to match a new already keyed ignition cylinder. The same goes for the spare hoist lock.
You can even get a decent looking door or spare tire hoist lock from a salvage yard then disassemble and re-key them to your ignition key yourself with a $20 tumbler and spring kit.
To start you need the ten tumbler numbers that will match your key... I believe any half decent locksmith can cut a key with just the tumbler numbers so you have at least one cut master key not a ground duplicate key.
I gave a locksmith the tumbler numbers I wanted to use for a re-key of my truck and built all three cylinders from there. There's a bit of translation to go from the raw tumbler numbers to the key cut numbers but he was competent and knew how to do it. I could've had him assemble the locks but where's the fun in that....
I could've just assembled the locks from the known tumbler numbers I had the locksmith cut the master keys from but being an inquisitive soul I went about it as if I didn't already know the key number and I learned a few things about these locks... The odd things that amuse someone with Asperger's.
My 2005 key has 10 cuts but, as I said above, it only has 4 different cut depths. The cut depths differ by roughly .050" so they are different enough that you can make a fair guess at what tumblers to use. I measured all the way across the key at each cut with a machinist dial caliper and came up with a fair approximation of the tumbler numbers needed. Keep in mind that GM cut some keys with the same cut depth side-by-side. This means there may only be 8 different depths and a pair of the same cut or 6 different depths and two separated paired cuts.
You'll need a decent stainless dial caliper. Even the Harbor Freight $18 dial calipers are more than capable of making this kind of measurement.
These are measurements from a used ground key. The differences between height is enough that these numbers should be close enough to get you a sequence of tumblers to test in your new cylinder.
- =@.312"
- =@.265"
- =@.212"
- =@.165"
Test your WAG by inserting the tumblers in the cylinder and testing function.
I'd do the door and/or the spare tire lock cylinders first because it's easier to visually see whether the tumblers drop to the height of the cylinder. The door gets you verified numbers on all but two of the ignition lock tumblers because #10 is only used on the spare tire lift lock.
The ignition cylinder tumblers must be pressed down against the key with a small tool to make sure the spring loaded bar is engaging the groove in the tumbler and not going past when it's fully seated. You don't want to install the springs and retaining plate in the ignition cylinder til you're fairly sure you have the correct sequence.
If you're replacing one cylinder and keeping the same keys... you could disassemble an already keyed door cylinder and have seven of the ten tumbler numbers... OR... If you have a non or barely functional ignition cylinder that you can still remove and disassemble you'll have all of the tumbler numbers with the exception of number ten.
Once the cylinder functions properly with your chosen key install the springs and, on the ignition cylinder, install the spring plate.
NOTE: The ignition tumbler springs are installed in the centre of the slot not at the ends and you should install them with the key out of the cylinder... so the tumblers are as deep into the lock as you can get them. It makes installing the spring retainer bar much easier to have a deep spring well.
The ignition lock cylinder has L shaped tumbler wafers and a spring loaded bar that mates with notches in the sides at different heights on the side of the wafers. When all nine notches line up with the bar it drops to the same diameter as the rest of the lock cylinder so it can be turned. When the key is removed the wafer springs push the wafers deeper into the cylinder past the notches and push the bar out into a groove in the outer cylinder when an incorrect or no key is inserted in the lock. The bar also locks the tumblers down keeping the ignition key in place when it's not in the off position.
2005 Silverado Ignition Cylinder kit assembly blowup. NOTE the L shaped tumblers.
2005 Silverado Ignition Tumblers and Springs. You can see the difference between the #1 & the #4 notch depths from the key.
Assembled Ignition cylinder with no key and locking bar extended at the top side of the cylinder. NOTE: I haven't staked the spring retainer in place yet.
Assembled Ignition Cylinder with the key inserted and locking bar retracted... Yes, it looks like it's still slightly proud of the cylinder but the dial caliper tells a different story. It actually measures .009" below the diameter of the cylinder.
2005 Silverado Door Lock kit assembly blowup. The Door and Spare Tire Hoist Lock cylinder tumblers appear to be similar, if not the same, parts.
The Pawl #10 and rod clip #11 shown in the blowup are not included with the lock parts kit so they will need to be liberated from the old latch. The pawl retainer clip #12 is included.
2005 Silverado Spare Tire lock kit assembly blowup. NOTE the rectangular hole tumblers. The door cylinder uses similar, if not the same, tumblers.
Assembled inner spare tire locking cylinder with tumblers extended. This is #s 1, 2, & 3 in the blowup. NOTE: There's no retaining bar like the ignition cylinder. The tumblers are a tight fit at the top of the spring well of the tumbler slot so they slide up and down but don't just pop out without tools.
Assembled inner spare tire locking cylinder with tumblers retracted.
