Medeco Lock Rekeying in Los Angeles, CA | Strongbox Lock & Safe Co.

Medeco Lock Rekeying: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide

Medeco lock rekeying in Los Angeles typically runs $89-$180 per cylinder and can be done same-day, with most residential jobs finished in under an hour. We stock Medeco key-in-knob, deadbolt, and rim cylinder pinning kits on every truck, so your lock never leaves the door. Most Los Angeles homeowners discover they need a rekey after a move, a lost key, or when their Medeco suddenly refuses to turn - often in the damp weeks after our first winter rain, when grit that settled over dry months swells and jams the pins.

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Which Medeco Models This Applies To

Medeco has produced several cylinder families over the decades, and each rekeys differently. The residential locks we see most across Los Angeles are the Medeco Biaxial (1980s-2000s, identifiable by the angled key cuts and “Biaxial” stamped on the face), the Medeco M3 (2003-present, with the slider bar and “M3” marking), and the newer Medeco X4 (a pin-tumbler system without the classic angled cuts). Commercial properties in downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District often have Medeco Original rim cylinders or Medeco KeyMark interchangeable cores.

We carry OEM Medeco pinning kits for all four systems, plus quality aftermarket equivalents for the Biaxial and Original lines where Medeco’s own supply has thinned. The gotcha: Biaxial and M3 keys do not interchange, and an M3 cylinder cannot be downgraded to accept Biaxial blanks. We check this at the door before touching a screw. If your lock face reads “ASSA ABLOY” without a series name, it is likely post-2010 M3 production. We measure the cylinder diameter too - 1-1/8″ standard, 1-3/8″ for thick doors common in 1920s Los Angeles Spanish Revival homes.

Signs Your Medeco Lock Rekeying Is Failing

• The key turns, but the bolt does not retract. The tailpiece or cam has slipped its timing, often from years of forcing a sticky lock. Rekeying alone will not fix this - we reset the cam alignment and test with the new key before we leave.
• The key works in warm weather and sticks in cool, damp mornings. This is classic pin swelling from moisture absorption in the lubricant, common in Los Angeles canyon homes where marine layer moisture lingers until noon. A clean rekey with dry graphite lubrication solves it.
• You feel grinding or stepped resistance turning the key. The Medeco sidebar or slider is hanging up on worn pin chambers. Continuing to force it will oval the chambers; we catch this early and can often save the cylinder.
• The key inserts but will not rotate to any position. A sheared top pin or foreign debris is wedged in the chamber. We disassemble, clear, and rekey rather than drilling - the cylinder is usually salvageable.
• Your Medeco key works on a neighbor’s lock, or vice versa. This happens in older Los Angeles apartment buildings where original Biaxial cylinders were keyed alike by the developer. Immediate rekeying is warranted; we code a new combination from scratch.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

What drives the range: cylinder accessibility (a deadbolt in a standard door takes twenty minutes; a rim cylinder behind a steel gate in Venice Beach can take an hour), whether we are rekeying to an existing master key system, and if the cylinder needs cleaning or minor repair before pinning. Our price includes disassembly, pin replacement with factory-spec pins, new keys cut to code, lubrication, and function testing. Every rekey carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise - backed in writing, no arguing, no extra paperwork. We are an independent service provider; Medeco is a registered trademark of ASSA ABLOY, and we are not affiliated with them.

DIY or Call Us?

A Medeco cylinder can be removed from a deadbolt with two screws and a Phillips head - that part is straightforward. What comes next is not. The Biaxial and M3 systems use sidebar fingers that must seat in angled pin slots at exactly the same moment; one pin seated a thousandth off, and the lock will not open. The springs are small, the chambers are close-tolerance, and a dropped spring can vanish into a Los Angeles floorboard forever.

You can safely check: whether the cylinder face screws are tight, whether the key is clean and undamaged, and whether the strike plate aligns with the bolt. Beyond that, Medeco rekeying requires factory pinning kits, key gauges, and a code card to generate the new combination. We carry all of it. Tell me what you need. We will give you a price before we move, and we will stand behind the work when it is done.

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