Entry Lock

My side door entry lock broke this summer.  So I decided to upgrade the old girl a bit with a digital from Amazon. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CJ1OZ4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But be forewarned that as with most of my improvements I have posted, this is not a plug and play as the footprint of this lock assembly is smaller.  This means one needs to make a small plastic bezel to fill the space..  I used a 1/8 " white plastic sheet to do the honors.  See below.

Denny and Barb

Nice work you did there!

As for me, it would be a great help just to have a common key.  We both struggle with the two different keys.  I made copies with each having their own shape, but we still struggle.  I should take the lock off and run to our locksmith to get the tumblers key'd alike.  

The same for the compartments & spare tire cover.  I hate having so many keys.  Three keys would be ideal, ignition/van doors, main entry door, and one for all the rest.

Now I am thinking I have one more project to take care of.

Ron,
On the older models, there were two keys to open the entry door on the coach. On the newer PC's, there is one key to open the entry door.

Judi

Ron,
On the older models, there were two keys to open the entry door on the coach. On the newer PC's, there is one key to open the entry door.

Judi

So you still have the latch-lock and the dead bolt lock, but they use a common key?  Nice!

I color coded all those darn keys with nail polish.  Lots on each key and a large dot by or on each lock.

I am leaning heavy on getting the main entry door locks key'd alike, and also all the little locks about the rig to match each other.  It involves changing just two locks, one on the main entry door, and the spare tire cover to bring it down from 5 keys to 3 distinct keys for the RV.

Adding that there is the key for the locking hitch pin, the two keys for the padlocks to tamper-proof the tow bar, and then the key for the Jeep Liberty.

It's too many keys.  Taking out 40% from the RV will help.

Ron, we have one key for the Ford cab doors/ignition and one key for the house latch/deadbolt. Then one key for one bin and a separate key for the other bins. Then we have the hitch pins (three locking pins but one key for all), two for the locking bike rack (one locks the hitch, one locks the bikes on) and one for the hard shell car top carrier. Then one for the Subaru, the house, etc. The keys drive me nuts so I bought wire key rings for the rig keys and put them on separate rings in the order from the front of the RV to the rearmost item. That worked well until John unscrewed his ring and dropped all those keys. Now his ring is a jumble and mine is in order so I have to figure out which set I have before I start matching locks.

I love the idea of the electronic lock. We are staying at my son's house and he has one on the front door. It is awesome. We need keys for the car but other than that we don't carry the things. You do have to make sure you change out the battery before it dies. The battery lasts a long time so we tend to forget where we stashed the actual key for the lock. One of these days we're going to get locked out due to dead battery. You can change the code whenever desired on the electronic lock so it can be reset after giving out to friends or the dog walker. We can give the code over the phone and people can get in then we change it again for security. Very nice. Some of the new ones have "one time" use codes to give to service people or whatever. You can reset those also.

We will probably have one on the rig someday... once we figure out how the do-it-yourself portion of the install... or once we visit Phoenix and they do it for us. We are so bad at fix it stuff.

2 Frazzled/Holly,

I thought we carried a lot of keys.  One thing certain, you two and us two don't like all the keys.  And I am sure we are not alone.

One thing that helps us a little is to have a dual key rig like this one to organize the keys a little better.  It's hard to manage so many keys, and then doing so in the dark where a tiny key ring button flashlight helps but adds yet one more thing on the key ring.  At least with this setup, it lets me separate the flashlight from the critical keys.


The convenience of a keyless entry for a house is hard to beat.  You can type in the code and do so in private.  But I am not sure how to feel about the keypad being placed so high on our PC entry door where others can watch me punch in the code from a distance.  I would prefer to have a remote keypad mounted much lower on the PC door at the height the older cars have so my body and arms block the view, much like when at an ATM machine.  We could shield the view with our other hand but then it becomes a two-handed operation which I know my wife and I would surely get sloppy at.

Still I like the idea behind what Denny & Barb did, and it was done very cleanly too.  I don't mean to criticize it one bit.

I separated the keys onto two rings: ignition + house dead bolt + storage bays; and other house lock + storage bay by the batteries (2552) + spare tire cover. I don't carry the second key ring around, so I only have to deal with the 3-key ring. The trick is to never use the second house door lock. I keep the second ring hanging by the house door.

Well this thread had me taking action today getting my entry door locks key'd alike, and getting my spare tire cover key'd to the rest of the outside compartments.  I dropped off my lock parts at our local locksmith.  Total cost will be under $40.  For the spare tire, he is replacing the lock because the key is too different, but reusing the lever portion from the original lock at a cost of $28.  The main entry door re-key will cost me $17, but I handed him the tumbler and the right key which was no easy task.  To get the tumbler out, I had to drill out 4 rivets, then drill and tap threaded holes for reassembly.  I'll insert the re-key'd tumbler after final assembly.

UPDATE 9/7:  I got the lock tumblers back from the locksmith, reassembled quickly and am all done.  $40 for 40% fewer PC keys and less hassle.  Down to 3 keys now.  One more little PC project put behind me.

The key organization sounds wonderful. What we did in Elkhart at the plant was ask for elec keys for the front doors of our PC... as it worked out Earl knew a very capable man who was on the road making his rounds and he called and arranged to have him fly by. He reprogrammed and made us 2 push button keys.. I have not had a vehicle that had to have a key in the  door for years. My daily driver the key is in my pocket... never in the door. So we are pleased we did step one for push button keys, which look just like our pick up keys to open and lock the front doors. Saves steps and effort for low energy old people.  So any pending purchaser can arrange this too and get first class keys for their unit and have it done maybe by pick up date too... Its not cheap but it saves a lot. Now thinking about the outside shade cover from Camping World I saw last weekend for $79. and it covers side windows and windshield and was marked for the E450 so I want to try. Do not have approval  yet from the yeah or nay dept. Regards, Patricia

Hey guys (and gals)...  Got to use the digital entry lock system for a week now....  What's great, (or we think so... especially for me... the digital lock), is that NOW, I don't need ANY keys in my pocket to enter the Phoenix!  This is great as I don't like the all-day constant rubbing on my leg.... the Keys in my pocket. This is annoying to me.   

So I just leave all the keys in the coach, and enjoy the day.... (now to get rid of the back pocket wallet!   

Just thought I would share this info as we do a lot of ATV'ing, and the rough trails and such do, do a number on "what's in your pocket".   Just saying....

As far as someone seeing our combination, that we punch it in... Well first of all, it can be changed daily. Also if you program "same number twice", that certainly would confuse anyone from copying.   And... lets face it... if someone wants to break into our coaches... the driver or passenger windows would be the quickest.  With proper towels one could break a window without too much noise and be in within a minute.   But glad some of you are concerned about this....  Thanks


Denny and Barb

Hey guys (and gals)...  Got to use the digital entry lock system for a week now....  What's great, (or we think so... especially for me... the digital lock), is that NOW, I don't need ANY keys in my pocket to enter the Phoenix!  This is great as I don't like the all-day constant rubbing on my leg.... the Keys in my pocket. This is annoying to me.  

So I just leave all the keys in the coach, and enjoy the day.... (now to get rid of the back pocket wallet!    

Just thought I would share this info as we do a lot of ATV'ing, and the rough trails and such do, do a number on "what's in your pocket".   Just saying....

As far as someone seeing our combination, that we punch it in... Well first of all, it can be changed daily. Also if you program "same number twice", that certainly would confuse anyone from copying.   And... lets face it... if someone wants to break into our coaches... the driver or passenger windows would be the quickest.  With proper towels one could break a window without too much noise and be in within a minute.   But glad some of you are concerned about this....  Thanks


Denny and Barb

Where I volunteer at an auto charity, we occasionally need to get into a locked vehicle.  For someone who knows how and comes prepared with a simple home made tool, a thief can get into a locked vehicle quickly without breaking anything.

For a motor home, it would nice to have an adjustable bar that attaches to the driver and passenger inside door handles.  This way a prepared thief would not be able to open an unlocked door.  He would have to go the next step and actually "Break" in.  I suppose a cable & padlock would be just as effective.