desertdog

When I got my Jeep, the locks were shot. No key, no worky, no good. The guy I bought it from had ordered some replacement locks. Unfortunately I don't know where they came from or how much they cost. The key looks more like a 90's vintage, and the locks turned out to be slightly smaller than the old ones. I found a cure for that, as you will see.

First, remove your door panels. I like to use a long flat blade screwdriver to get as close to the plastic popits as I can, so as to not rip so many out of the fiberboard.

desertdog

Now you can reach up in there and pull off the keeper on the inside of the door. Looks like this

Now the lock can move a bit. You need to get the lock rod out. The rods go into a little plastic clip, like this


The trick is to reach in with a long screwdriver or something and flip the clip off the rod. Now the bend at the end will slide right out of the lock. You might be able to just pry it apart but the bushing will probably break. This is good to remember when you're taking the door handle off the inside too...first one I did I wrecked a couple bushings. At least my door still opens!

Here are the new locks. There is a right and a left, should be pretty easy to tell which side the arm needs to be on.

desertdog

I had to reverse which side the new bushings were on, I don't know why they were backwards but they were. This next part requires the patience of a Zen monk. You have to poke your new lock through the hole and get the rod back in. The new locks have a tab on the inside, which needed to be on top. You can tell by holding the lock in the position of function and turning with the key. The arm will be on the right or left. I suppose you could put the tab down, then switch sides with the locks. Anyway...
This is inside the door, where all the fun happens

I removed the plug in the end of the door, here.
I pushed the electric lock rod down so the door is in the locked position for this next part. The little arm on the new lock flops around and getting it to stay up where you can push the rod in would take some serious Jedi skills. With the door locked you're closer. With a long flat blade I got the plastic clip out of the way, open side facing the rod. You'd hate to get the rod pushed on and realize your clip was on the wrong side! Then finesse the rod into the opening...ok that sounds dirty, but that's what you gotta do. Once you have it started, you can push on the lock arm with the rod pinned against the door. I reached through that access hole and levered it over. One good push, and it slid right in. Now you can reach up and clip the retainer onto the rod. Lastly, put the lock straight up and down, in the door, and put on that metal keeper. Here it is!

desertdog

Yep, looks like crap. That's what I said. Plus it was all loose and moving around in the door, and I dint care for that much. Off to the hardware store where I found a 3/4 electrical washer that was nice and thin. It had a step which looked like it might nestle into the pocket on my door just nice. Cost 19 cents apiece. I bought two. I had to notch the washer to accommodate the features on the lock. Here's how that went
So a little patience with the hack saw, then carefully bend the tabs back and forth to break them off. The washer is very thin and soft and easy to eff it up. I wrecked one, so had to buy another. 19 cents gone like that. Once it's notched, slide it over the lock
There it is, good to go. Now just put it back in like before, and you get this.

Thing is, this makes that keeper inside the door very tight. I tapped the lock down with a rubber hammer to get the washer seated into the recess. And the keeper was still too tight to get all the way on, but I sure don't think the lock is going anywhere. At this point you should make sure you have the keyhole vertical....
Putting your door panel back on might be fun. My Jeep is a 90, this door handle assembly looks like someone trying to win a bet on the engineering team. I popped the black part with the lock and handle out of the rest. Plug the power back in, if you have that. Then put the handle/lock assembly up there and get the lock and latch rods back in. Good luck!
Here's another look at the clips you have come to love

And a nice shot of the new one all clipped up inside the door

I spent a little more time getting the tabs on the door hole all straight, then gave the lock a couple taps with the rubber mallet, and the keeper went on this side a bit easier. Still nice and tight. You can rotate it down then look up through the door and use that long handled screw driver and rubber mallet to drive it on. I pity the poor bastard who tries to remove these locks. Of course, my Jeep has a 6" lift and 35s so sitting down and looking in the door is easy....
At any rate I hope this is helpful for anyone needing to change locks.

desertdog

XJ Stryker

Not too bad but some of the pics are real blurry.

waltermitty

Necessity is the mother of invention. You'll do fine when the big one comes.

ruglyot

I'm into this same project on my 91. The previous owner had replaced the drivers door with a 90 (and somehow - the dash/VIN plate - it's now titled as a 90!). So to be able to lock it up, I ordered a new lock set from NAPA. The 91 double-sided key set is a smaller diameter for the 90 door and the lock pawl attaches differently. Now I have found NAPA's cross reference for a 90 door lock set is not correct.
In my case I have the original 90 lock cylinder, so I'm just going to recode it to the same cut as my ignition key (also a 90 column)and use it in the drivers door.
Your mod is a great alternative though. Russ

DocBoCook

How do you recode these cylinders? I have the same problem with the PO changing the door