79 CDV Glove box lock

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

Anyone got any suggestions  (short of my plasma cutter) for removing a glove box lock on my '79 that is in the locked position and I do not have the key.  The box door is open.
Greg Surfas

[mario]

Greg:
Take the door off and bring it to a Smith and get it picked.
Ciao,
Mario Caimotto

[Cadillac Fleetwood]

The lock cylinder for the TRUNK LOCK should have a four-digit code on it, for example, "5M31" which many locksmiths can use to cut a key.  That is assuming that you have the power trunk lid release and can open the trunk lid.  The code may be visible without removing the trunk lock cylinder. It is stamped into the lock cylinder case.

-Charles Fares

[Dan LeBlanc]

Greg's 79 in question is a Paris pickup conversion, so no trunk lock, I believe.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I believe there's a ring on the inside of the glove box door that surrounds the lock cylinder. It's been a while but I seem to remember having to tighten it when one became loose on an '80s model. '79 should be the same.

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

Dan,
You are correct.
Eric,
This one has not ring.

Greg Surfas

[Cadman-iac]

Greg,
I just went out to try removing my lock cylinder to show you what was necessary to do it.
I did it with a key after trying it without one. I'm not sure you can do it without special tools.
I took some pictures to show you.
The first is pointing out the retainer you need to depress.
The second is how I had to pry on the  cylinder to get it to come out.
Third is the door without the cylinder showing the latch retainer.
Fourth is the cylinder itself.
And fifth is what the service manual shows.

I don't think it's going to be easy to remove without a key. I had to pry even with one.
There are  4 tumblers in the glove box cylinder that actually "read" the key.  A fifth is used to retain the cylinder in the lock itself.  See first picture.
The ignition and door lock cylinders use 6 tumblers. (I used to have to cut keys and code cylinders almost every day at the dealership).
I might suggest you take the passenger side door lock cylinder out to get the key code from it. Someone said earlier that your car didn't have a trunk cylinder in it so that's about the only option other than removing the glove box door and taking it to a locksmith.
Hope this helps. 
Rick

[Cadman-iac]

Well, my pictures aren't going through for some reason. The main one though is the  location of that retainer tumbler.
If you want,  I can try to post the pics
again later.

[bcroe]

Well, my pictures aren't going through for some reason. The main one
though is the  location of that retainer tumbler.
If you want,  I can try to post the pics again later. 

My recollection is the retaining tumbler can be operated from the
keyway, to remove the cylinder from the outside.  However its been
some decades since I actually did it.  Bruce Roe

[Cadman-iac]

My recollection is the retaining tumbler can be operated from the
keyway, to remove the cylinder from the outside.  However its been
some decades since I actually did it.  Bruce Roe

It can be to some extent, but it doesn't retract quite far enough to allow the cylinder to come out,  even with a key,  unless you depress the retainer from the inside first.
Without taking the cylinder apart to examine it,  I'm not sure why.  It's been too long since the last time I had to do one.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I believe you need the key to be able to remove the lock as the guts has to be out of the way so that the inner ring can be unscrewed.

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

I believe you need the key to be able to remove the lock as the guts has to be out of the way so that the inner ring can be unscrewed.

Bruce.

Yes, the key is necessary, at least if you're attempting it yourself. It retracts the other 4 tumblers. I don't know if there is a tool that a locksmith has available to him to "fake" the key in place of having the key itself. That's what I was referring to earlier.
Rick

[joecaristo]

Pop the round chrome piece off the front with a flat head screw driver, Get a needle nose pliers and hold the retainer, spin the latch from the back until it comes off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw1Z0zfsOGI&feature=youtu.be