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A while back, we did a video on the LAB LFT000 plug follower for Schlage F-series style locks. On the back of them, they have the oblong plug, which can make it difficult to rekey. I'll show you how you can use a standard plug follower, or how you can use this LFT 000, which makes really quick work of it.
After the video went live, a YouTuber Kevin Bacon sent me in the longer version of this F-series knob cylinder that I was using, because the difference between the knob cylinder and the lever cylinder is actually quite substantial and he was wondering if this LFT 000 would work with it and/or would there be any other options.
The lever one is quite a bit longer. It's important to note that the lever cylinder has a compressible top while the knob cylinder has none. However, the compressible top one is identical to the other, so don't let that fool you if you're not seeing the little cap.
Turn the plug until the oblong shape of the back of the plug is straight up and down with the shear line to the bible. After that, put your normal plug follower on and slide it through. Sometimes you had to wiggle it back and forth a little bit. Make sure that the pins are facing up to avoid dumping all over. Put it back together in the same way.
If it gets a little stuck because you have it at an angle or you’ve moved it a little bit, slide it back and forth a little bit to get it loosened up.
If you struggle with that, go ahead and grab a piece of shim stick. Get it aligned along with the shear line in the bible, take a piece of shim stock, stick it, and take your follower and push it through.
It will be a little smoother, just having that there.
Rekeying F-series knob cylinder with LAB LFT000 follower makes really quick and easy work of it. When you put it over the back of the plug, it just fits perfectly. You don't need to bring it over to a certain spot to get it aligned, you can seriously just turn the key any way you want.
You can still rekey them with a standard plug follower. On the knob cylinder, you're turning it quite a bit to get the Bible of the plug aligned with the knob or the levers cylinders, you don't have that luxury. If I were to turn it to the same degree, that's not going to get us where we want to be. What we are going to do is barely turn it. Pull the plug and check the bottom pin and make sure it is a little off from the shear line and bible. At the very end of the flat part on the back of the plug, push your follower through. It will stuck a little so wiggle it back and forth. Do the same thing when putting it back.
Always use the follower to push. Don’t pull the plug with your hands!
With the lever cylinder, there's quite a gap right there, isn't there? It dips down quite a bit, which is going to cause some problems.
It is getting stuck but it will go through just like that so...will it work? Yes. Is it as good as it works on the knob here? I don't really think so. But I still do think it is helpful if you're doing a lot of these F-series lever cylinders.
That's how the LAB Schlage follower held up to the Schlage F-series lever cylinders. I think it did okay. It's not quite as easy as the knob cylinders, but I think it did pretty good for the plugs. Kevin, thank you so much for sending the plugs in for me to test and I'd love to know in the comments below all of you out there, do you guys have any other good suggestions for those levers cylinders? What's your preferred method? I would love to know!
Want to know more information about Schlage Locks? Check out our Schlage Rekeying Guide.
