Yakima Roof Box Both Locks Stuck

[gathermewool]

My three year-old, NEVER used before today, cargo box’s locks (one each side) refuse to open. I verified that the lock one lock on the side I opened to load the car from worked fine prior to loading it up and heading three hours away for vacation. The cargo box has been stored its entire unused life in my finished dehumidified basement. It‘s in perfect condition

Fast forward to our arrival. Neither lock will budge. What’s also of note is that the slot of the only lock I verified prior to use is lines up halfway between locked and unlocked. The other side lines up with the locked icon. Be that as it may, the lock still worked fine before we left. Also of note is that, while finagling the key in the lock for several minutes, at one point the cylinder slid out with the key!!! Before I could process that I slid it back in and it locked into place. No matter how much I finagled and pulled it did not come out again.

I‘m at a loss. 1/3 of our stuff is up; so I’m pretty pee’d off. All lock smiths are closed for the weekend.

To top that off, I’ve decided that it’s time to finally re-home our puppy. That last straw occurred just after we arrived to our rental beach house. As soon as we opened the car door our 10 month old reactive Husky/Shepard/mutt 40#+ dog bolted out into the road; sees some lady with a small dog and bee lines over to them.The lady was super pee’d off after having to pick up her dog and fend off mine. Luckily he chose this time not to be aggressive. He seems only to really be a threat to men and large dogs, thank goodness

He‘s seemingly fine around women, children and most smaller dogs, but has snipped at men and, during a trial play date with another medium sized dog, he aggressively went straight for its throat twice before my wife wrestled him away.

I know you guys most likely won’t be able to help me with the locks nor the dog. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[E365]

I have a Thule box and that key/lock is very sensitive to the top latches not being pushed down securely (the system that won’t release the key unless the top is closed).

I’d push down firmly on the top where the 3 latches are (spots with the rivets) and then try the lock. Or push down firmly on the top while you try the key.

 

[wpod]

Try to squirt wd40 into the lock where the key goes, use lots of Wd 40 and get paper towels to soak up the mess.

 

[Rand]

2 stuck??
Try having someone press up and down on the lid while you work the key.. try the side that is aligned correctly(lock unlock) first.

also is the one that is halfway between the lock that momentarily popped out? if so it might no long line up with the symbols correctly.

also are you using the correct key?
there are 2 types. not sure if it comes with both.

 

[greenjp]

I have a Thule box and that key/lock is very sensitive to the top latches not being pushed down securely (the system that won’t release the key unless the top is closed).

I’d push down firmly on the top where the 3 latches are (spots with the rivets) and then try the lock. Or push down firmly on the top while you try the key.

I have a Skybox similar to the OPs and this is what I was going to suggest. Definitely prone to getting stuck if it's not fully latched. Push down at the front, middle, and back and work the key.

jeff

 

[gathermewool]

A generous amount of WD-40, as well as two people pushing each of the three latches in the closed direction, jiggling, jangling, etc. had no effect - the lock cylinder did not rotate one little bit.

Just as I was about to give up the darned cylinder popped out again!!!

Im not 100% sure, but the picture below with the key inserted leads me to believe the key is not the correct one. Any opinions?

Also, the nub on the end engages a female portion inside the lock that moves down for locked and up for unlocked. It was in the fully down position when the cylinder came out. I tried as hard as I’m willing to try to move the slide up, but it only slid halfway up. It moves up and down from this position easily but will not move up all the way no matter what I do, including the above messing with the lid where the latches are.

Finally, looking online shows that the Yakima keys are silver and have ate labeled. I grabbed the first set of small keys in the key bin and, since they fit and operated the cargo box lock I assumed they were correct. Maybe the one lock is faulty and somehow allowed it to lock but not unlock. I’m questioning whether I did actually test the lock in the lacked AND unlocked position.

Im off to continue my vacation. I’ll get a pic of the inside of the lock later.

 

[Astro14]

The code on the lock cylinder - A136 - should match the code on the key.

Make certain they actually match.

 

[gathermewool]

 

[gathermewool]

The code on the lock cylinder - A136 - should match the code on the key.

Make certain they actually match.

I know for certain that there are four numbers on each key. I don’t have them on me right now.

 

[gathermewool]

Both keys are etched with 8210…

 

[gathermewool]

The code on the lock cylinder - A136 - should match the code on the key.

Make certain they actually match.

My wife found out from the etherwebs that (every?) REI keeps a set of universal keys. There was an REI halfway on the way home, so we stopped. The first girl had no idea what I was talking about, but, luckily, a second guy showed up and immediately pulled out a huge ring of keys from the back.

So, each key he had on the ring is etched to match its respective cylinder, just as you say @Astro14. I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t have my cylinder in hand, but it probably would have involved blindly fumbling through the key ring. There were like 50 keys. I was actually surprised there were so few keys. Maybe they didn’t have a key for ALL available cylinders.

Anyway, the long and the short of it: it took all of 20 total minutes to buy and replace the cylinder and be on my way. $50.

I got home and found the correct keys. I don’t know why the wrong keys locked the darned thing. It is what it is. Now I’ve got a spare…