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Locksmithing 101 | SAVE SHELF SPACE With This Padlock Hack!

When it comes to the Abus 83/45 series padlocks, there's nothing more versatile out there in the market today. You can buy them with a Schlage keyway, a Kwikset keyway, M1 master keyway, like you name it; they pretty much have them all. One of the best parts about it is they're easy to take apart to rekey, and you can pin them up to OEM specs with no problem. They're all around a great padlock.

A while back, I did a video on the key-in-knob kit for the 83/45 series padlocks. There's a kit that you can put in the padlock, and you're able to use any Ilco 1599 or GMS K001 cylinders, and you can adopt them and put them inside these Abus padlocks.

 Abus 83/45 series padlock

Why is that good? It sounds good because it allows you to simplify your inventory so you don't have to carry a bunch of K001 cylinders and a whole bunch of different keyways of Abus padlocks. You can buy the padlocks and even just one keyway per se; you can use your keys or one cylinder to fill in the gaps for any keyway that you need.

I didn't make an excellent point at making it because you can take any of the existing ones like the 83/45 200, which is a Kwikset Keyway, and you can take its cylinder out and use the kit inside of it. That way, you don't have to buy the 83/45 KNK padlock. You can use your existing basic one, as long as it's not like an LFIC or SFIC, just your standard 200 or 300 cylinders, the standard cylinder ones. You can take those out, and you get quickly, easily, and cheaply convert it to any primary K001 cylinder. So that's the best part of it, and this is my second attempt, because the first one, I didn't do a good job talking about that. The actual main point I want to make is that you can stop the 83/45-cylinder padlocks, and let's say a Schlage keyway, and must stock them in every keyway out there. Instead, you can reserve one keyway, and then since you're probably already stocking the K001 cylinders for a standard commercial lock, you can stock up on a bunch of these kits. Then you can convert these cylinders for about the same amount of money as you buy an 83/45 cylinder padlock the way it is in any individual keyway. You're getting the best of both worlds by just having this simple little kit. To make sure you know what I mean, we're going to put it up top, and I'm going to convert the 83/45 Kwikset Keyway Abus padlock into a K001 as a so the Sargent LA keyway. Let's get started.

CHANGING KEYWAYS WITH THE KIK ADAPTER KIT

Check the link for all of the items I'll be using below. They have the padlock, the little key-in-knob kit, as well as like the GMS cylinder. The first thing I want to do is to take the cylinder out of the Kwikset 83/45 200 cylinders. All that holds it in is the tiny Phillips screw so loosen it.

Changing keyways on a padlock

Changing keyways on a padlock

After pulling the cylinder out, make sure to set the Z-bar off to the side. That's for key retaining, non-key retaining.

 Changing keyways on a padlock

We will be left with the primary 83/45 cylinder without a cylinder. So then we want to grab the key-in-knob kit. As you open it up with the pieces in it, the important one for us will be the tailpiece that we're going to be using for the K001 cylinder.

Changing keyways on a padlock

Take this other one here, and set it off to the side.

 Changing keyways on a padlock

Get the K001 cylinder, the K001-SA-26D, the Sergeant LA keyway.

 Changing keyways on a padlock

All we must do is to use the mullet, and we're going to take off the back-tail piece. Get it to align, put on, and pop it up.

Changing keyways on a padlock

Please take out the tailpiece that came with the GMS cylinder, and put it on the one that came with the kit. Due to how wide it is, you can't use the mullet to put it back on, which is a bummer, or any K001 back tail piece remover. So you'd have to use the little multi-pick tool, and it put back on by pressing it down.

Changing keyways on a padlock

And then, drop our Z-bar in.

Changing keyways on a padlock

Follow it up by putting it inside the housing that comes with the kit as well. So this is what it's going to look like.

 Changing keyways on a padlock

Please put it in the lock. Anytime you do this, make sure that you can turn it in using the key; that's a good thing.

 Changing keyways on a padlock

Changing keyways on a padlock

The first thing I like to do before I put the screw in is lock it and make sure I can open it because you do not want to lock it up.

 Changing keyways on a padlock

When we are sure that it works, we're good to go here and put the screw in. When you want to interchange it out, it doesn't take a lot of time. It's quick, and you can just put it right. And there you go. It's that simple. 

 Changing keyways on a padlock

All right, well, I hope I did a good job explaining the key-in-knob kit for the Abus at 83/45 series padlocks. It's going to allow you to stock fewer padlocks yet do more with your K001 cylinders. I'd love to know what you think in the comments below. Thank you, and we'll see you next time.

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