Opening locked rear glovebox?

I had a fruitful day at Pick-n-Pull and found almost all the rear cargo area plastics to replace ours that are totally beat up.

The rear driver side came with the glove box or lock box and of course it's locked.

I tried our key, no luck.

Anybody busted into theirs without destroying it? If I can get it open I can swap out the locks from the original, for which I have a key.

It's a junkyard piece, remove the whole compartment and cut into the rear to gain access to the rear of the lock.

remove the cylinder, then the door.

Superior Finish wrote:

It's a junkyard piece, remove the whole compartment and cut into the rear to gain access to the rear of the lock.

remove the cylinder, then the door.

I think he wants to use the whole compartment without damaging it.

Tom

I am hoping.to reuse , but I ned.to check my existing box and panel. I might be able to cut the box open then use the box from the current panel.

This may not help, but I found that the keys I got with my Boxie (dealership or key shop copies) had a plastic part molded on to the door key that prevented the key from going into the lock far enough to unlock the rear box. They both worked fine in the door's, the front glove box had no lock.
I trimmed part of the plastic off with a razor knife and all was well.


A competent lock smith can open what you have and re key it to match your door key, in his shop, for less than a $10 bill.

Thanks, Paul

you can pull it out and use a panel removal tool to pop the plastic 'rivets' and remove the whole bottom half without breaking anything. even reuse the rivets/christmas tree fasteners.

Red caddy makes a good point about the keys too.

I wasn't able to remove the lock and simply unscrewed my old door off and reused it on the new panel.

Fred K. told me how to go about getting the lock out after the fact, but I forgot as it was over a year ago and by then I was fine with the old door...

THanks Sprocket, I was looking at the christmas trees as another option, pop them out and pull the bottom off. That or unscrew the door from the bottom like you did.

well, popping the trees gets in you in to release the door and then you can unscrew it
If the new door is much better, I would PM Fred and ask him how to change the locks.

autoarcheologist wrote:

Anybody busted into theirs without destroying it?  If I can get it open I can swap out the locks from the original, for which I have a key.

Yup. I picked the lock. It's not a difficult lock to pick, any locksmith should have it open in 5 minutes or less.

I popped the Christmas trees off, unscrewed the latch from the inside, then removed the door.

Got all the parts cleaned up tonight, I just need to figure out how to swap locks and I can install it.

I was also getting ideas for a sub where the black part of the box was, and just making a flat floor for the "glovebox". Another project I will never get to...

I haven't figured out how to remove the lock yet. The door is off but its not obvious. Fred do you know?

I am a little rusty on removing the lock cylinder, but you have to pick the lock to get it out. They are not hard to pick. I seem to remember that I picked it from the backside, by using a wire to push the tumblers down so that they were even with the top of the cylinder. That allowed the cylinder to turn. Once you have it picked, there is a pin you push in at a small square hole near the backside of the door, and the lock cylinder will come out with a full 180 rotation from the locked position in the unlock direction.

If you are trying to remove the original lock from the original door, you have to push the pin in at the top of the cylinder, and insert the key with it held down. Then the cylinder will rotate freely to the 180 degree rotation and the cylinder will slide out.

I have a light blue door with the lock out, if you have that color of interior.

Thanks Fred, I can try it on the door we have the key to. Then pick the other one. I tried to learn lockpicking once so I know the basic idea.

Ha, I was able to pick the lock and get it to turn. Now I just have to figure out how to push down the pin and pull it out.

You can use an ice pick. There is a small square hole 90 degrees from the top that you can see the pin through. The pin is like one of the tumblers. It is close to the door panel. If you push the pin in, and insert a key, it should turn to the 180 degree position, and the tumbler will pull out.

Normally you have to push the pin in when the tumbler is in the locked position, because the key cannot be removed in the open position, then insert the key while holding the pin. The key holds the pin down while you turn the tumbler. You may be able to use a broken key to hold the pin, and pick the lock while it is in place. The access to the pin is at the top, next to the door panel, when the tumbler is in the locked position. If I remember, I got the tumbler out without a broken key, by just pushing the pin in at the 90 degree position. I am NOT tempted to reinsert the tumbler and try it again to prove that is how I did it.

I know the pin you're talking about, and wondered if that was holding it in. I will try that. Worst case I close it and have to pick it again. It should go faster this time.

Thanks Fred!