Rotopax lock won't open | 4WDTalk - Overlanding and offroad Forum
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Rotopax lock won't open

Bacon Boy

Bacon Boy

Well-known member
This is drying me up the wall. Trying to get this off my truck to use and the darn lock won't turn. Is there a fix to this?
 
Ha! I'm dealing with the same thing. As I'm being told this is a common problem with these locks. It might be seized and need to be replaced.
 
Vincent Peri said:
Can't you just soak it in some sort of lubricant?
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Nope, not going to work as I was just told. I'm supposed to take a 5/16" drill bit and drill out the lock. I have two of these that are messed up. The gentleman I was talking to about these was telling me these are not weather proof at all, which I find that surprising. Companies need to know who their clients are. These locks are to keep our fuel/water tanks secure OUTSIDE our rigs. I'm guessing when it rains, you should take these locks out and bring them indoors. :ROFLMAO:
 
What?! Putting aside the faulty design, WD40 should breakaway anything if you let it sit long enough. Soak the locks and tap with hammer!
 
If you want the small flat design, there's one out there that looks like they copied rotopax and their mounting system. Ive seen people with them but have never met anyone who has had any of these for more than a year or two.
 
Perfect, I have a couple of these on my roof as well. I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!

Alex, I sent you a message on here. Please let me know. Thank you
 
There's good waterproof locks out there. They just chose not to use them. Its all in the material they build them with.
 
Oh damn, better to read about this now then realize out in the field and not be able to get access to your fuel or water!
 
Seems like a lot of work and potential for damaging other things. I have a couple of the handles with the locks in them, would you recommend just taking these off the truck to prevent being in position and not able to get these off? I would be pissed if I need to go drilling through some hardened steel lock. You better have a good set of drill bits and use drill oil, otherwise you are going to mess up your drill bit on something like that!
 
smritte said:
There's good waterproof locks out there. They just chose not to use them. Its all in the material they build them with.
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Are these something already made for these? As mentioned I have two of these handles/with locks. I'm tempted to just remove my Rotopax and prevent this from happening. If waterproof locks already available, as much as I hate to spend more $$ on a defective product, I would rather not have to spend a Saturday afternoon drilling out some hardened steel locks!
 
For these, probably not. What I was referring to was the whole lock market. A good example of something similar in size and exposure is a utility bed tool box or a trailer front box. If I had one to cut apart, I could probably tell why it stuck. I'm very familiar with locks and have seen this on the real cheap ones.

In reality, its only a few pennies more to install a quality lock assembly when its built. Everything will have a flaw. Most you just have to deal with. This flaw is preventable and is not new for RotoPax.
Imagine if your trailer tool box constantly had the issue or the small cargo doors on on your motor home. Those locks are all the same design.
 
While I have not yet fixed mine, I did have another discussion with another person at Rotopax last week while I was up filming in Big Bear and he shared with me that the company is constantly looking at improving these things. I'll keep you all posted!
 
Kind of surprised. I have Jerry cans, mainly because I wanted to save some money at the time. Now I did want to get Rotopax one day because of the locks. They best fix that crap, I don't have money to throw out the window.
 
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