Trouble with 82-081 Key Lock

Question

I am having trouble getting the key lock on a new replacement handle to engage the mortise lock. As another person mentioned, my instructions don't contain any info about the lock.  When I reviewed a video about installing a lock it said to check engagement before attaching handle.  It just spins in there.  Also the guide here says to cut the tail to the same length as the previous tail. We did not have a key lock before so there is no previous tail.  Thanks for your help

Tom · Accepted Answer

Thanks for reaching out to us. The way the 82-081 key works is that the tail of the key cylinder fits through the door and into the forked end of the thumb lever, which is coming in from the opposite side. You can see what that forked end looks like below.

Thumb lever for 82-081

The thumb lever is what turns the mortise, technically. The key cylinder tail simply fits inside the thumb lever. That way when you turn the key, you're also turning the thumb lever.

When you describe your key as constantly spinning, that tells me that the key tail isn't reaching the thumb lever. That might mean that you cut the tail too short to actually reach all the way across to engage with it. You should check that first before you do anything else: remove the interior handle and look through the hole where the thumb lever usually goes. It should be obvious whether the key tail is reaching all the way through or not.

If the key tail is cut too short, you need a new one. The 82-310 should work fine for this application.