Follow-up time!
I filed a warranty claim with Weigh Safe for the seized up lock on the hitch pin and, without any questions, they got a new one headed my way. Huge credit to Weigh Safe for their customer service here. They were also quick to respond and make things happen. Also pleasantly surprised when I realized they have a lifetime warranty!
Wholeheartedly recommend WeighSafe as a manufacturer.
With a warranty replacement on its way I felt better about playing around with the old one to see about getting it working again. Instead of an aerosol, opted for 3-in-1 general purpose oil purely for cleanliness.
It took a good 15 minutes of dribbling oil into the lock cylinder and trying the key - I was moving the key every which way - as well as dribbling some oil into the lock portion from the pin end, but I got it to move! At first only a tiny bit, but slowly more and more until it unlocked.
When I separated the pieces, there was a “gritty” feeling. But I think the bigger factor is the internal design of the lock definitely needing regular lubrication. Let’s dig into why.
Here’s two pictures of the inside of the lock I’ll be referring to. First picture is in the locked state, second in the unlocked.
You’ll notice the way this works is the key turns a metal rectangle. In one direction, the rectangle isn’t touching anything. In the unlocked position, the rectangle has rotated 90 degrees and is pressing against two pieces of metal that run along the length of the locking portion.
These pieces of metal have ridges that, when locked, engage with the pin, thus locking everything in place. When unlocked those ridges are pushed away from the pin, allowing it to free up.
Rotating that rectangle is where things froze up. It wasn’t in the lock cylinder itself. Opening those metal pieces with just the corners of the rectangle piece is fairly unnatural, and requires a fair amount of outward force at the same time as the pieces are expected to slide against each other. Without bearings or some other mechanical means to reduce that friction, you’re relying solely on the natural lubricity and slip of metal on metal.
That works great when new, but wouldn’t take much grit to get in there and dramatically increase that friction.
Of course that’s where oil comes in. It provides a dramatic reduction in friction to allow things to move. It also means that the critical point to apply oil is
not in the key hole (though that can’t hurt, either) but to this rectangle from the other end.
After a liberal application of oil along with many key cycles, everything is operating better than it did when new! With regular oiling I actually like this design a lot. It just needs that regular servicing.
Hope this helps out some folks.
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