removing oem bed cover locks
if you buy a used oem bed cover for your sport trac, like i did, and dont get keys, like i didnt, you can take the locks out, without destroying your cable mechanism. some posts say to pry the cable housing down off the lock cylinder. this probably will break the tabs off the inside, and youll be looking for new ones. if you turn the housing about 1/8 turn clockwise, and pull down, the housing will come off without damaging the internals. now you can pull the clip off and slide the lock cylinder out. you can order new ones, very expensive, or try a locksmith to get them rekeyed. i put the lock cylinder in a vise. i put a small grinding wheel on my dremel tool, inserted the key into the lock, and ground the tumblers smooth. (you can see them sticking up in the slot on one side of the cylinder) then take it out of the vise and turn it over the the opposite side. there is a part of the housing that looks just like the other side, where the tumblers are, except there is no slot cut into the housing. you can cut a slot with the dremel, just like the one on the other side. then grind off the tumblers on that side as well. start working the key back and forth. i had to push the tumblers up from the bottom with a punch and grind a little more off of them. my key works great in both locks now, although other keys will unlock it as well, my ranger key works on it. depends how secure you want it to be. at least you can get into it now.