Removing Gate House brand deadbolt

[notquitefrugal]

I bought a new house and am replacing all the locks. One of the doors has a Gate House brand deadbolt. It looks like the diagram on the attached PDF, except that the "torque blade" has a spiral shape to it, and the exterior cylinder will not back out of the latch for that reason. Any ideas on how to remove it, other than trying to squeeze a Dremel in there? The door is newer and clad in metal, so manhandling the thing with heavy implements will probably damage the door. Photo attached, although it's still kind of hard to see what I'm talking about.

Installation guide:
http://pdf.lowes.com/installationguides/050134110175_install.pdf

[zolotiyeruki]

My first thought was "it shouldn't be twisted in the first place."  try twisting it back with a pair of pliers, so it'll slip back out.

[math-ya]

yea, what zolot said. its in the locked position. change it to the unlocked position.

[notquitefrugal]

Thanks! I've tried changing locked/unlocked as well as loosening the latch, neither helped. It looked like the spiral twist on the torque blade was intentional, i.e., something to prevent a burglar from yanking the exterior cylinder off, but I will try twisting it back the next time I am over there.

[paddedhat]

Thanks! I've tried changing locked/unlocked as well as loosening the latch, neither helped. It looked like the spiral twist on the torque blade was intentional, i.e., something to prevent a burglar from yanking the exterior cylinder off, but I will try twisting it back the next time I am over there.

If it is intentional, it is a modification that was done in the field, the torque blade would not of passed through the slot in the latch assembly if it was twisted before assembly. Kind of looks to me like somebody used a big set of pliers, or something,  and twisted the hell out of the level on the inside of the door?  Before you try to grind it, try using a big pair of lineman's (electricians) pliers, to grab the blade and twist it straight, or even twist until the metal fatigues and breaks.

[notquitefrugal]

Got it done... Twisted the thing back almost straight, but it was bent enough that the exterior lock wouldn't slide out. Twisted the torque blade until it broke off and removed it. I still don't know how the thing got twisted like that.

Thanks everyone!