The Lever Castle Nut Wrench is a small tool that is used to install and remove both the Schlage AL and the Schlage D Series lever locks. This can be done without this tool using a wrench but the tool makes it much easier to accomplish

Schlage AL-Series and discontinued D Lever-Series locks use castle nuts to hold the chassis to the spring cages and to keep the chassis positioned in the door. This causes confusion at times when the lock is being removed from the door because the castle nut is on the spindle hub, hidden by the spring cages, and the person trying to remove the lock does not know it is there. The typical complaint is that the mounting screws have been removed but the lock still cannot be removed from the door. The castle nut must first be removed before the lock can be removed.

How do you remove a lock from a door with a Castle Nut Wrench?

A castle nut wrench usually shipped with the lock for ease of installment and removal and can be purchased from Schlage (part number 40-017).

Step 1: Remove the inside lever by using a pin wrench.
Step 2: Remove the driver, driver cap, and rose.
Step 3: With the mounting screws firmly in place use the castle nut wrench to remove the castle nut.
Step 4: Remove the mounting screws and spring cage.
Step 5: Pull on the outside lever to remove the chassis from the door.
Step 6: Remove the latch.

NOTE 1: It is important to have the mounting screws firmly tightened to try and relieve the pressure on the castle nut, otherwise it will be very difficult to remove the castle nut.

Schlage Castle Nut Wrench | Mr. Locksmith Training

In the video I am going to show you how we use it to take off this lock.  This is a passage set lever lock. So the first thing to do is you can do an ice pick or a little piece of wire and we’re gonna remove the handle. This one came off very easily. Sometimes they’re a little bit tougher to pull off and then, this sometimes just pulls off, other times you just got to use a little Flathead and just give it a little push out. And right in here is the castle nut, and, we remove it. And it just comes off. So it’s very, very simple. The little tabs go in the castle nut wrench and it’s just finger tight on. And if you don’t have it you got all sorts of problems trying to get this out. And then to remove the rest of the lock. It’s pretty basic here. Again, there are slightly different styles. This one has some screws. Take it off, and, remove it. So pretty simple to take it off and to replace it. The important thing is when you’re putting it back on if we look in here is they don’t get the tabs properly in the lock. Now, this is a Schlage-style commercial-grade lock. So you got to make sure you engage the tabs in the housing, and then the latch will retract. It has to be put together perfectly like that, otherwise, it’s going to come loose, and then you got some real problems. So in conclusion, you need the castle nut wrench. If you don’t have it, you’re going to have problems. Some of the locks come with it already, when you buy brand new. But if you’re just going on the job site, you got to have this. You may not use it for months. You may use it every single day, a couple of times a day. It just depends upon the building you’re looking after. Castle nut remover tool. See your local locksmith supplier, they have them in stock.

Castle Nut Wrench Locksmith Tool | Mr. Locksmith Training

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