Residential & Commercial Security - Locks, Keys & Dead Bolts - Schlage Door Handle Problem

I recently replaced door handles throughout my house using the Schlage Accent handles inside the house and for my front entry door, I used the Schlage F-Series Plymount handleset. For the first 2-3 weeks of installation, F-Series handleset on the front entry door worked beautifully; however, it has become extremely difficult to squeeze the lever from the outside of the house. After I initially installed it, it was extremely easy to just press your thumb and open the door. It has gotten to the point where my wife and I need to use both hands to squeeze the thumb lever on the outside of the door as hard as we can to get back into the house. :wall:

Being that I am not very knowledgeable about the inner-workings of the handleset, I really have no idea what to do to fix this. I sprayed some WD40 inside the handle to see if something was just a bit (or a lot) stiff, but that did not accomplish anything.

Any help in fixing this would be greatly appreciated!

It is likely an alignment problem.

It is often necessary when installing these to make the drilled holes slightly larger than what is written in the instructions, so that if any movement occurs jamming will be less likely.

Do yourself a huge favor and toss the WD40 in your round file cabinet marked "TRASH".

I am admittedly no expert, but I am not so sure that it is an alignment problem, unless it is an alignment problem of some sort with the handle's thumb lever. There is no problem whatsoever opening the door using the handle on the inside of the house. The problem is resistance with the thumb lever only.

Additionally, the handleset replaced one of the exact same model, so no additional drilling was required. All measurements were the same as what we had previously. We just swapped out the brass finish handles for a nickel finish.

GlobalLocky, I will not discount your opinion, but I am curious if there is any other issue that could possibly be at fault here. As for the WD-40, I'll peruse your previous posts to find out the problems you have with that product.

WD40 just shouldn't be used on locks is all. It has its uses..but not in locks or latches...powdered graphite or a dry lube or something like Lock-Ease is preferred.

If everything works fine except for the thumb press, then either it is faulty or the alignment is out.

I dont think there could be anything else. You did say it is brand new.

9/10 times it will be a installation issue.

Yes, the handle is brand new and the problem is just with the thumb press. If the thumb press is faulty, I will just take care of it through the warranty. If it is an alignment problem, what would you recommend exactly, just re-installing the handle or is there something else I should do?

It's hard to know without seeing it in person, but I would first try to loosen the screws and lift up as far as I could on the handle, hold it and tighten the screws up.

Arguably this could allow the thumb press to make better contact with the mechanism.

Been quite a while since I've seen the workings of an F handleset, but unless they've changed, pushing on the thumbpiece raises a horizontal bar just inside the housing, which contacts a semi-circular spindle-like piece, causing it to rotate. A lot of friction takes place where these two pieces meet and it's suppossed to come well greased from the factory. If you've had to push increasingly hard on the thumbpiece, you may be gouging a groove in these parts to the point that you may not be able to restore the smooth action....try wiping off residue, look at these surfaces closely for gouge marks. If not badly deformed, use some emory cloth to polish the wear surfaces, and dab a little new grease on the contact points to see if smooth action can be restored.
(Do not use oil, esp. penetrating oil, it won't last).

As for alignment, I usually assemble locks to the door as GlobalLocky describes, ie., support the lock in the center of the hole before finally tightening the screws.

When I moved into my house the front door had the same issue. I took it apart and noticed the square bar with spoon end was inserted wrong compared to picture on a sticker inside the lock. The spoon end should be on the thumb latch side and rotated so it is closest to the bolt. It works (with 2 thumb effort) rotated away from the bolt, but seemed much easier once it was corrected.
Quick test. When you press the thumb latch, does the indoor handle move up or down? Down is correct, up means it is backwards.
I also removed some rust from the spring inside the indoor handle assembly which made further improvement.
Hope this helps.:thinker: