Why correct barrel projection, angle and escutcheon fit are important.
The finished position of the lock barrel and escutcheon affects appearance, usability and resistance to attack.
A correctly installed deadlock barrel should normally sit almost flush with the escutcheon or protrude just a few mm. The example below projects by approximately 2 mm and mostly comes straight out from the door, which is the neat appearance most van owners expect.
Barrels are commonly available in length increments of about 5 mm. If a barrel protrudes approximately 6 mm evenly on every side, replacing it with a barrel 5 mm shorter could reduce that projection to around 1 mm. A barrel should not be recessed behind the escutcheon; at minimum it should be flush.
The external barrel does not always emerge square to the outside door skin. The lockcase must sit flat against the shaped edge of the door so the vehicle can close without the lockcase contacting the body. Because the barrel remains at 90 degrees to the lockcase, an angled door return can make the barrel appear angled from outside.
Door shapes vary between van models and even between different doors on the same van. Sliding side-load doors often have the most pronounced angle. We manage expectations before fitting and show customers photographs of completed installations wherever possible. We would rather explain the appearance in advance than complete work that a customer will not be comfortable with afterwards.
These extracts are from genuine five-star Google reviews.
★★★★★"Fitted lots of security features to my van in the same day and took lots of time to demonstrate and explain all about them too. Immaculate workmanship."
Roy Grassie · Google review, January 2016
★★★★★"Arrived on time to fit T series deadlocks. Installation very detailed, Matt clearly takes pride in his work."
Lance Chenery · Google review, February 2021
★★★★★"Matt was a particularly knowledgeable and thoughtful engineer and he worked brilliantly with his colleague in an efficient and diligent manner."
Kris West · Google review, July 2019
Review wording has been lightly shortened for display without changing its meaning. Full reviews remain available on the Sussex Installations Google Business Profile.
A correctly selected barrel sits almost flush with the escutcheon or protrudes only a few mm, rather than projecting excessively. Barrel lengths are usually at 5mm increments so a barrel that projects 6mm on all sides could be replaced with a barrel that is 5mm shorter; which would only project out 1mm.
Because the lockcase sits flat against the shaped edge of the door rather than the outside body panel, and since the barrel stays at 90 degrees to the lockcase, an angled door return can make it appear angled from outside even though it has been fitted correctly, with an extremely angled door, one side of the barrel might show up to 10mm, while the other side may only project 1-2mm.
Because door shapes vary between van models, and sliding side-load doors often have the most pronounced barrel angle, so we would rather explain the appearance in advance than complete work a customer will not be comfortable with afterwards.
Here we show what effort we put into doing a quality installation, we go further than most would in order to keep the rust away from your van body work!
Open video and transcript →
A demonstration of deadlocks, a replacement barrel and an alarm upgrade fitted to a Ford Transit Custom at the Sussex Installations workshop.
Open video and transcript →