Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:14:52 -0500, Ralph Mowery posted for all of us to
digest...


Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

Yup, when I had a lawn tractor in for repair I asked if he needed the key.
Nope, he stated they're all the same. This is lawn grade stuff and I recall
farm tractors had actual keys.

--
Tekkie

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:14:52 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:



Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

My lawnmower is too small to hae a key, but I wouldn't be surprised

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.

In article , NONONOmisc07
@fmguy.com says...

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.



I can understand the consumer lawn tractors of a brand having the same
key, but it struck me as odd that 2 different brands would have the same
key. The keys are not very high security anyway. Just enough to keep
young children from maybe starting the mower without the key. Probably
more of some safety regulation by the government.

When I was in high school around 1966 three students had mustangs their
parents bought. They were all good friends. Any time any 2 of them
could get together they could start and open the door of all 3. One
would open the door and the other would start the car. That was when
Ford had a key for the ignition and a key for the doors.

My parents Chevy key would work in a friends Tempest, but they were both
GM cars. Never heard of one company car key starting another brand of
the Big 3.

I guess the with the newer electronic keys and fobs it is easy to have
millions of combinations so it is doubtful they will work on other
cars. My Camry does not even have a key as such to start the car. It
does have something in the FOB to open the door if the battery dies in
the FOB. Then you can hold it next to the start button and it gets
energised enough to start the car.

On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:20:36 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:14:52 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:



Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

My lawnmower is too small to hae a key, but I wouldn't be surprised

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.

Yup that was a bar bet. You could bet that if 5 or 6 guys tried their
key in a car from the same maker, it would work and usually win.
It wasn't until the 60s when they started putting in the steering
wheel locks that they also started mixing up the keys a little better.
Some of the problem was some older cars had a master key setup and
that meant there were two tumblers in each key notch position doubling
the number of winning combinations in each notch.
Old Mopars were even worse. If you stuck a paper clip in that little
hole, the cylinder pulled right out and you could start it with a
screwdriver. I did that with my buddy's 67-8 Dodge van when he lost
his keys in the surf in Ocean City. I took the cylinder apart, dumped
out all the slugs and it was just a switch when I put it back.

OTOH old Chevys (all GMs?) in the 50s had a position where you could
remove the key and the ignition was unlocked. Start it and stop it
without a key.

On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:20:36 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:14:52 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:



Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

My lawnmower is too small to hae a key, but I wouldn't be surprised

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.
Every Peugeot in Zambia in the seventies could be started with one of
15 keys - except my 204 - it had a FIAT ignition cyl.

On 02/19/2021 03:38 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
I guess the with the newer electronic keys and fobs it is easy to have
millions of combinations so it is doubtful they will work on other
cars. My Camry does not even have a key as such to start the car. It
does have something in the FOB to open the door if the battery dies in
the FOB. Then you can hold it next to the start button and it gets
energised enough to start the car.



One of the selling points of the Toyota I bought last spring was that it
had a real live key. I can get a copy made at Ace for $2.50 instead of
$250.

It does have a switch to lock/unlock the doors and hatch which I assume
is installed to support the remote entry option. I also noticed the
other day that in addition to the beep if you pen the door with the key
in the ignition you can't lock the door.

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:38:10 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article , NONONOmisc07
says...

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.



I can understand the consumer lawn tractors of a brand having the same
key, but it struck me as odd that 2 different brands would have the same

Good point. Maybe they all buy from the same guy, who makes all of
them for everyone. I heard there is a town in china that makes 80% of
the world's neckties.

key. The keys are not very high security anyway. Just enough to keep
young children from maybe starting the mower without the key. Probably
more of some safety regulation by the government.

When I was in high school around 1966 three students had mustangs their
parents bought. They were all good friends. Any time any 2 of them
could get together they could start and open the door of all 3. One
would open the door and the other would start the car. That was when
Ford had a key for the ignition and a key for the doors.

My parents Chevy key would work in a friends Tempest, but they were both
GM cars. Never heard of one company car key starting another brand of
the Big 3.

I guess the with the newer electronic keys and fobs it is easy to have
millions of combinations so it is doubtful they will work on other
cars. My Camry does not even have a key as such to start the car. It
does have something in the FOB to open the door if the battery dies in

Good to know.

the FOB. Then you can hold it next to the start button and it gets
energised enough to start the car.

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 18:07:44 -0500,
wrote:

On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:20:36 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:14:52 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:



Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

My lawnmower is too small to hae a key, but I wouldn't be surprised

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.

Yup that was a bar bet. You could bet that if 5 or 6 guys tried their
key in a car from the same maker, it would work and usually win.
It wasn't until the 60s when they started putting in the steering
wheel locks that they also started mixing up the keys a little better.
Some of the problem was some older cars had a master key setup and
that meant there were two tumblers in each key notch position doubling
the number of winning combinations in each notch.
Old Mopars were even worse. If you stuck a paper clip in that little
hole, the cylinder pulled right out and you could start it with a
screwdriver. I did that with my buddy's 67-8 Dodge van when he lost
his keys in the surf in Ocean City. I took the cylinder apart, dumped
out all the slugs and it was just a switch when I put it back.

OTOH old Chevys (all GMs?) in the 50s had a position where you could
remove the key and the ignition was unlocked. Start it and stop it
without a key.

I notice that in my 65 pontiac when I reached for the key and
accidentally fell back with my fingers on the key. It was very nice,
because I could use the key to open the trunk without turning off the
engine.

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 21:32:44 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:20:36 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:14:52 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:



Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

My lawnmower is too small to hae a key, but I wouldn't be surprised

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.
Every Peugeot in Zambia in the seventies could be started with one of
15 keys - except my 204 - it had a FIAT ignition cyl.

I never got to drive a Peugeot in Zambia. Darn. So many things to do,
so little time.

On Sat, 20 Feb 2021 00:32:11 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 21:32:44 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:20:36 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:14:52 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:



Are sone, most, all of the riding lawmower keys the same ?

My lawnmower is too small to hae a key, but I wouldn't be surprised

I just bought a John Deere x590 and noticed the key looked like the
same notches (teeth) as the one for my old Husqvarna mower. Tried them
and either key would work in the other brand of mower.

When I was a Yellow cab driver in 1969, all the Checker cabs had the
same key. (I even made myself a copy, so I didn't have to wait for the
dispatcher.)

And cars themselves used to have only a few different keys.
Every Peugeot in Zambia in the seventies could be started with one of
15 keys - except my 204 - it had a FIAT ignition cyl.

I never got to drive a Peugeot in Zambia. Darn. So many things to do,
so little time.
Drove a lot of other interesting stuff there too - like mny 1949 VW
split-window and a LandRover "swamper" series 3 1 ton 109 pickup. With
the big six and HUGE tires there was basically nothing (short of
mechanical failure) that would stop it. Bull low half throttle was a
fast walk - - -