The lock cylinder in my spare tire lock is damaged and needs replacement. I noticed that the lock cylinder in my gas cap is the same. The one in the passenger side door handle appears also the same although I have not taken it apart to verify.

Now both these other objects are not easy to find so getting a donor one to provide the cylinder is probably not practical. So I was wondering if there is any other object, say from the passenger car, that uses this cylinder?

I doubt if they are the same as the ignition and door used a Briggs and Stratton key and cylinder and the add-ons like the tire lock and gas cap had a different brand key and cylinder if I remember correctly.

Wasn't the spare tire lock standard on small trucks?

It was an accessory.

Sweet! Now I know my truck has an uncommon accessory. All I need to do now is fix it.

BTW, why is it not then shown in the accessory brochure?

Upon on farther research the tire lock listed in the accessory section of the 1941 parts book was for a passenger car. It looks as if the lock was standard equipment on trucks. (although not mentioned in truck data book).
The lock is listed as a part in the 1941 parts book and the key is the same as a the ignition key so it is a Briggs & Stratton lock cylinder.

That is what I needed to know. Thank you kindly!

Even though your tire lock uses the B & S key, it is doubtful that the cylinder is the same as a door lock, etc. I have some tire locks around somewhere maybe I can help. Do you have the nut?

Mike

Mike,
If you have an extra spare tire lock that is correct for the 1940 1/2 ton pickup, I'd be interested in buying one. I believe the nut I have is original. It's about 1" tall, with a round section between a hex at each end.

Mark Yeamans
VCCA #35724

Yes I do have the nut. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike, I would have sent you this in a PM but it says that you are over your limit on PM's.
I'd really appreciate it if you could post a few pictures somewhere of those locks that you have. They’re kind of hard to come by and I would like to give a try at making a clone using a currently available cylinder out of a new Reese or Master hitch pin lock donor.
I have access to machine shop tools and think I can make a case for the cylinder that looks quite similar to the original. Here are a couple of pixs of the ‘J’ hook and nut that I made, all I need now is the lock to complete the package. http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/122748004/large
All fits on this carrier: http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/121819675/large
Thanks
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, sorry about the delay. Was working on reproducing the 1941 whip antenna this weekend so I didn't get to it right away.
Anyway, heres some pices:











No attempt was made to dimension the part in a formal manner. The dimensions were what my calliper read +/-.005. The part is cast iron and somewhat crudely manufactured so it was really impossible to get an exact dimension.

Man O man Jon, I didn't expect you to engineer the part for me, THANKS a bunch. I really, really do appreciate all that effort. I do a lot of CAD drawings of the parts that I have to remake for the truck and the tooling that I have to make for it and I know how much time it takes. I'm down loading all the pixs right now for the reference file.

Machining the housing from a billet to take a new lock cylinder doesn't seem to be that far fetched. A little rough file sculpting or grinding after the machine work is finished could make it look like the casting. I've already bought a couple of donors for the lock cylinder and I'm gonna look at a few more before I decide on which one will be the best. In fact I might even look into using one of the replacement glove box cylinders from the vintage truck vendors as my choice.

I was pondering your key question and I would think any good locksmith should be able to re-key the cylinder to accept your ignition key as long as the side wards in the plug are the same as the key grooves.

And once again, a great big THANK YOU!

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL