On Tue, 21 Aug 2012 19:12:04 -0700, a2rjh wrote:

http://www.wikihow.com/Crack-a-%22Ma...mbination-Lock

Nice. I'll try that.

Here's what a locksmith mailed me when I asked him:

"It's not worth the cost of a new lock.

You can try to shim it open (old models not too hard, newer models
hard) then look inside with a light while holding back the latch, line
up the gates on the wheels and apply a correction factor to get the
combo.

Or, drill a small hole in the back in the right spot, feel for the
gates with a pin and apply correction factor to each number if needed.

I've done it but it's not worth the few dollars for a new one. Then
etch the combo on the back of each one in some kind of code.

For example, say you were born 3/15/1990 and say your combination lock is
10:20:30, you write 7:5:60 on the back. Only you know the math to get
back to the combination by adding or subtracting your birth date."