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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Posts
    3
    Country: United States

    Default Help with a York safe.

    Hoping to find some information, and some assistance with a "new-to-me" floor safe.

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    I found this sitting on the side of the road in my community with a "FREE" sign on it. The door was opened, and under the "FREE" was "unknown combination - VERY heavy". So I decided to utilize it's wheels and push it home, which was about 5 blocks...

    Once home I was able to clean it up a bit, and tackle the minor rust spots with some steel wool and vinegar. I finished up my "restoration" with a thin layer of car wax to protect the remaining finish and stop the oxidation of any small rust spots.

    I then took the back panel off the door, and removed the locking mechanism cover. After a half-hour of fiddling with the lock, I was able to determine the turn order, and the combination numbers in order to unlock the lugs.

    The problem I am having now is that the door has 4 locking lugs. The 2 main lugs retract when the handle is turned, but the 2 smaller lugs in the middle of the door do not. They are spring loaded and are always in the "closed" position. If I shut the door, the 2 spring loaded lugs will never allow the door to open again...

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    It doesn't appear as if the door plate was ever removed previously, and it doesn't look like any parts are missing, but when the handle is fully open, and the 2 main lugs retracted, there appears to be no way in which the smaller lugs can be retracted...

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    I guess my only open is to torch off the smaller lugs in order to use the safe, or perhaps I am missing something simple here.

    Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    147
    Country: United States

    Default

    A nice find. You just can't beat free. It must have been quite a site seeing you push it home. I love it.

    Do not take the smoke wrench to anything! While I am not familiar with that lock set up, someone will be along shortly with helpful advise.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Posts
    3
    Country: United States

    Default

    Yea I had a few odd looks, and some cars slowed down to see what the hubbub was all about.

    I finally broke down with about a football field left to my house (uphill), I flagged down a landscaper with a trailer and gave him $20 to help me with the last leg of it's journey. An interesting Sunday indeed.

    I certainly do not want to permanently modify the safe unless it's my last option. I plan on trying to get some better pictures behind the main locking bar to see if there's anything hidden behind to help solve this mystery.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    leeds
    Posts
    609
    Country: Great Britain

    Default

    Hopefully one of our American members will have pictures of how it should look, but I suspect that the two middle bolts are held retracted by the lock back cover or a plate that went over the back cover and would only fire locked if the lock was attacked or punched, do you have the back cover of the lock?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Posts
    3
    Country: United States

    Default

    Gary, you are absolutely correct!

    I just got it back together again and working 100% now!

    I was looking very closely at all the inner workings of the lock and the lug bar again, and I just couldn't figure out what in the world would have kept those lugs back in the retracted position... until I began looking closely at the back of the rear door cover. I didn't pay enough attention when I took the back cover off the rear of the door when I was getting to the locking mechanism to crack the combination code, because the rear door cover certainly was holding back those pins. As you mentioned, it must be an anti-tamper mechanism of some kind.

    I wish I would have taken a picture of the back of the plate before putting it back together, but there are 2 small steel pins sticking out of the back of the plate, which just happened to line up exactly with the pin holes in the middle of the spring-loaded lugs. After pushing the plate back into position and slowly pushing both pins inward, at the critical moment of alignment the pins locked in, and the plate fell right into place!

    Screwed the plate back on, and made darned sure my combination worked about 10 more times until I finally built up the courage to close and lock the door.

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    Probably the first time it's closed in 20+ years.

    Thanks for all the input and assistance. I hope others can find this thread and learn from my mistake.

    Also, I'm afraid I may have found another hobby...

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