How-to: Key match your own yakima locks
Yakima makes some handy roof racks, but personally, I think that they charge way to much for their matching lock cores. Luckily, you can modify the cores that come with the gear to match on your own. It’s a quick, easy project and it’ll make your key ring smaller. Read on to find out how.
The left is a Yakima sks key blank that’s used to install and remove lock cores on Yakima gear. When you buy a set of lock cores, you’ll get on of these in the box. The other two are in the shot for comparison. (One is the original core key.)
To remove the lock core, you can use the blank key above. Optionally, you can drop by a yak dealer and have them pull it for you or you can use a lock pick to snag the final tumbler and pull it.
This is the key that matches the lock core I needed to modify. Each of the tumblers moves to match the sides of the lock core. We’ll need to make them do the same for the new key. The last tumbler is actually the lock core retainer. Leave that one alone.
This is the same core with the key I want to make work with it. There are two tumblers that will need to be ground down on the top and a single bottom tumbler that needs modification.
Put the lock and key into a vise to hold everything steady.
Now grab your dremel tool with a cutting wheel. Grind the protruding tumblers down to match the edge of the lock core.
Here’s the lock core after grinding. There’s a small protrusion on one tumbler, but everything will be fine.
Installing the modified core is the opposite of pulling it. Insert the key blank, insert the core and remove the blank while holding the core in place.
Now test out the modified lock. The new key works perfectly. Now, use the extra cash you saved to buy some new gear or some gas for that next adventure.
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Comments
Comment from willo
Time: January 6, 2009, 12:53 pm
The ballnuts come with small cardboard tubes in them to keep the bearings from falling out. To install them, you have to screw the nut onto the threaded ball screw. The screw pushes the cardboard out of the way. Reversing this process is difficult if you need to remove a nut.
I put the ball screw in my lathe and cut off a small amount of the material to let me slide the cardboard tube onto the end. That allowed me to stick the tube on the end of the rod, then unscrew the nut from the threaded rod without loss of the bearings.
Comment from Matt
Time: January 1, 2010, 3:14 pm
Great write up, you saved me some serious money getting the SKS cores matched up. It even helped me figure out how to pick one of the lock cores that I lost my key to, so thanks for great info!
Comment from willo
Time: January 2, 2010, 8:09 am
Glad I could help! This is really why I take the time to write up my projects – reference for everyone including myself. (I’d forgotten all about this one)
Comment from Pam
Time: January 5, 2010, 9:38 am
Lost keys are so common, that Yakima should have a simpler solution to removing a roof rack. I appreciate these instructions, but this is an absurd amount of trouble.
Comment from willo
Time: January 11, 2010, 8:45 pm
Not really. You can remove the lock cores pretty easily with a lock pick – just keep in mind that those lock cores are the only think keeping some of your gear attached to your car!
Comment from Tim
Time: May 15, 2010, 5:11 pm
Good job grinding down what little security you had before! Those wafers are the only thing keeping the lock from turning so when you grind them down what security do you have left? A screwdriver will easily turn it. lol
Comment from Mark in Idaho
Time: December 11, 2010, 1:13 am
You are doing extra work. Most likely, you can remove the individual wafers and rearrange them so that you will only need to trim a few. Push them out from the bottom. Be careful to not lose the tiny springs.
Prior to removing them, insert the new key slowly and notice if any of them become level with the cylinder body. Move that wafer to the proper location. A little bit of experimenting and observation will save much of the paltry security these locks offer.
Comment from Ben
Time: February 17, 2011, 7:27 am
@ Mark in Idaho
I just picked up a set of Yakima Viper bike carriers off the local classifieds and the person had lost the key. Luckily they were already unlocked. I used my flat key to pull the cores and check the numbers against the ones I already have. I have 134 and 147 these were 131. When I put my 134 key in it I noticed that 1 wafer poked out the top and the other the bottom so I used some needle nose pliers and pulled the wafers out the top (DON”T LOSE THE TINY SPRING!) then swapped the two locations. I must say that it worked like a charm too! Now my two oddball 131 locks are legitimate 134 locks without any grinding and it took about 2 minutes to do. I have not tried to convert a 147 to 134 yet but the wafers are much more off with that key so I assume the closer the numbers are the closer the keys will be.
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Comment from Robert
Time: December 21, 2008, 12:31 pm
Merry Xmas!
I am posting here because I simply couldn’t get the contact link to work so perhaps this will work. I have a question regarding your CNC adventure as I am currently attempting to duplicate your machine. When writing about your ballscrews you wrote “I also turned down 1/4″ the opposite end of the ballscrew to fit inside
the carboard spacer that comes inside the Nook ballnuts – allowing me to remove
the Y ballscrew without pulling the saddle to make some adjustments later on.” Could you elaborate?