Storefront Door Locks and Adams Rite Repair in Phoenix

What most people call an Adams Rite lock is the slim mortise lock built into the edge of an aluminum storefront door. When it stops working, the cause is often a worn cylinder or cam, a door that has sagged out of line with its strike, or a lock case that has simply worn out. We handle storefront door lock repair and replacement, including Adams Rite locks, across the Phoenix area, and a few photos usually tell us which problem you have.

This page covers how these locks are built, what the model numbers mean, what typically goes wrong, and when to repair or replace. Brand names identify hardware only and imply no partnership with the makers.

What a storefront door is

A storefront door is a glass door in an extruded aluminum frame: vertical side members called stiles, horizontal members called rails, and glass between them. Many are about 1-3/4 inches thick. On a narrow-stile door the stiles are only a few inches wide, which leaves very little metal to hold a lock. They are common on shops, offices and restaurants. Frameless glass doors use different hardware; see glass door locks.

Why the lock is different

A house deadbolt needs a large round hole bored into the door, and a narrow stile has no room for one. So the lock is a slim rectangular case, about an inch thick and six inches tall, set into a pocket in the door edge behind a flush faceplate. The key cylinder goes in a small round hole through the face of the stile, and a cam on its back turns the lock. The bolt moves sideways into a strike on the frame or on the second door of a pair.

With everything packed into an inch of aluminum, a little door sag or strike misalignment shows up fast, so many storefront lock calls involve the door and frame as well as the lock.

The Adams Rite MS family

The MS1850S is a common model. It is a narrow-stile deadlock: a bolt with no spring latch, moved only by the key or a thumbturn. The bolt is built from laminated layers of stainless steel with a ceramic center layer meant to resist sawing, and it extends about 1-3/8 inches into the strike. One full 360-degree turn of the key throws or retracts it. The key can only be removed when the bolt is fully out or fully in.

What the model numbers tell you

In Adams Rite’s catalog, the model number tells you the faceplate shape, so the 1850, 1851 and 1852 are largely the same lock with different faceplates. The dash numbers that follow record the backset, the bolt style, whether the lock is handed and the finish.

Retailer listings do not always label these consistently, and a worn lock may carry no number at all. So we go by the lock in front of us and what it has to fit, not by a number alone.

Models and variations

People often call any storefront lock an Adams Rite, though that is one maker’s family. These are the models that come up most often in the trade.

Deadlock, deadlatch, hookbolt or both

• Deadlock. A bolt and nothing else. The door is held shut only while the bolt is thrown, so unlocked it swings free and usually has a push and pull handle. The MS1850S is this type.
• Deadlatch. A spring latch that catches by itself each time the door closes and resists being pushed back. A key or handle retracts it. On many deadlatches, such as the 4510, turning the key the other way holds the latch retracted so the door swings freely both ways.
• Hookbolt. A curved bolt that hooks onto the strike instead of just sliding in, made to resist prying on sliding doors.
• Combination. The MS+1890 has a hookbolt for locking up and a latchbolt for daytime. A full turn of the key throws or retracts the hookbolt, and a further 120-degree turn retracts the latchbolt, while a handle or paddle retracts only the latchbolt. That gives three modes: free in and out during business hours, exit-only after closing, and hookbolt locked overnight. Its bolt is a hookbolt, not a straight bolt.

Cylinders and cams

Adams Rite lists a standard mortise cylinder 1 inch long and 1-5/32 inches in diameter, fitted with an MS cam, for these locks, with a key cylinder or thumbturn on either side. Figures such as 1-1/8 or 1-1/4 inch in cylinder catalogs are lengths, not diameters.

The cam is the small arm on the back of the cylinder that moves the lock. If it is worn, loose or broken, the key turns and nothing happens. Because the lock takes a standard mortise cylinder with an MS cam, the keyway is generally not fixed by the lock, and keying a storefront door to match the rest of your building is usually a cylinder job, not a lock replacement. See commercial rekey.

Backsets

Backset is the distance from the edge of the stile to the center of the cylinder hole. The MS1850S is offered in four backsets: 7/8, 31/32, 1-1/8 and 1-1/2 inches, and other models offer some of these. A replacement must match the hole already in the door, so photos of the cylinder and door edge come before any order.

Strikes

The strike is the plate the bolt enters. Adams Rite numbers strikes separately from locks, and the right one depends on the lock type, the edge shape and what the jamb is made of.

A new lock paired with a worn or misaligned strike will still fail, so the strike gets checked too.

Trim: thumbturn, lever and pull

Many storefront doors have a key cylinder and a pull handle outside, and inside either a thumbturn (a small knob that turns the bolt without a key) or a second key cylinder. A deadlatch or the MS+1890 can also take a lever, paddle or push-pull handle that retracts the latchbolt.

A lock keyed on both sides needs a key to get out as well as in. Many jurisdictions limit that on doors people use to leave an occupied building, and the fire marshal or building inspector has the final word. Tell us how the door is used and we will go over the options.

Pairs of doors

On a pair, one door carries the lock and the other is held by flush bolts, or by bolts that reach up into the header and down into the threshold. Adams Rite lists header and threshold bolts (the 4016 and 4015) for two-point locking, and flush bolt locks that keep tighter key control.

Electrified storefront doors

For a door that opens from a keypad, reader or buzzer, the options on a narrow-stile door include the electrified 4300 deadlatch, an electric strike used with a deadlatch, or an electrified narrow-stile exit device. Adams Rite makes electric strikes, and its 7100 series is listed for use with the 4500, 4700 and 4900 deadlatches.

The MS+1890 cannot be used with electric strikes and has no electrified trim. However the door is electrified, people must still be able to leave freely, which is why magnetic locks need extra release devices. Wiring and power supplies may involve an electrician or low-voltage contractor, and we will say so up front. See electric strikes and electrified locks.

Common problems and what usually causes them

These are typical field causes, not manufacturer data.

• The key turns but the bolt does not move. Usually a worn, loose or broken cam, or a cylinder that has worked loose.
• The key will not come out. The lock traps the key unless the bolt is fully out or fully in, so the bolt has probably stopped part way, often against a strike that is out of line.
• The bolt will not reach the strike. A door that has sagged or racked, a strike that has moved, or a jamb that has been bent or peeled.
• The door does not close fully or latch. The closer may be worn or set wrong, or weatherstrip is dragging. See door closers.
• The key is stiff, sticks or breaks. A worn key, a worn or dirty cylinder, or grit and corrosion in the case.
• It works in the morning and sticks in the afternoon. Phoenix heat may change how an aluminum door sits in its frame, so tell us when the problem shows up.

Repair or replace

We work in order. Does the door close square and the bolt line up with the strike? Is the fault in the cylinder or the lock case? The answer is usually one of these.

• Adjust. Move the strike, adjust the closer, or correct a door that has dropped on its hinges or pivots.
• Cylinder or cam. A new cylinder, a new cam, or a rekey.
• Replace the lock. A worn lock case is often replaced rather than rebuilt. A 4900 deadlatch can often replace an MS1850-type deadlock of the same backset and faceplate shape without changing the door. It uses a different strike and works differently, a spring latch instead of a thrown bolt, so we confirm that suits how the door is used.
• Fix the door first. A new lock will not cure a sagging door. If the glass or frame is the problem we will say so, and may send you to a glass shop.

Storefront work often takes longer than a rekey, because the door may need to come off to reach the lock case. We price a simple lock swap on the phone. For several doors we look at them first and agree on the price before work starts; you can begin on the commercial quote page.

How to identify yours

1. Photograph the lock edge. With the door open, take a close photo of the faceplate with any markings readable.
2. Photograph the cylinders. The face of the cylinder outside and inside, and the thumbturn if there is one.
3. Photograph the whole door. Both sides, including the handle, the closer and the bottom rail.
4. Photograph the strike. The plate on the frame, or on the second door, where the bolt goes.
5. Measure if you can. The stile width, and the distance from the door edge to the center of the cylinder.

Send the photos to info@desertlocksmithaz.com or have them ready when you call (602) 301-5243.

Storefront security

A lock is only as strong as what it bolts into. The features worth knowing are the laminated bolt, which resists sawing, the hookbolt, which resists prying, the armored strike, which resists jamb peeling, and two-point locking. A lock on a racked door that never fully throws its bolt protects very little.

If a key was lost, or a former employee still has one, rekey the cylinder so old keys stop working. A good lock does not stop a broken pane, and we will say so rather than oversell a lock.

For back exits and after-hours access, see restaurants and retail. If you are locked out now, see commercial lockout service, or start at our commercial locksmith page.

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