Identifying broken part

Question

I presently have a brass hardware set on my Anderson sliding door. I believe my internal mortise is 82-037. I recently purchased white replacement parts to match my interior decor including a latch (82-043) and pull handle(88-013). I wish to keep the brass color on the outside. However, I now notice that when I put the key into my current key lock (which I think is 82-318) the key just turns round and round and does not grab the latch at all to either lock or unlock. Can you advise from this description what parts, if any, need to be replaced? Mortise? Key Lock? Both? Is it likely that a locksmith could just repair without replacing parts?

Tom · Accepted Answer

I don't think it's the mortise. From what you describe, it sounds like the key cylinder may not be set properly in its housing. I would try removing it and then reinstalling it. Sometimes when you install a new key lock, the cylinder kind of gets skewed and doesn't interact with the mortise lock properly. There's no science to it, you just sorta have to mess with it.

Hopefully that makes sense! It's something you get a feel for, so it's hard for me to put it into words. If you still run into problems, let me know and we can try to come up with another solution.