Product Spotlight: The One-Key Wonder

By G.R. Whale

My pickup truck’s keychain has a key for the door/ignition, toolbox, bike rack cable lock, shell, fuel cap and hitch pin … plus wheel locks. Breakthrough One-Key Lock Technology (that's actually the name of the product), from BOLT LOCK, can cut your keychain weight considerably, with locking hitch pins, six-foot cable, padlocks and trailer spare tire locks that key to your truck.

The only potential downside we found was needing to switch off the truck to pull the pin or cable if we, like most people, were carrying just one truck key. But for all the keys we’ve lost -- usually small ones that all look alike -- the added convenience is worth the cost. 

The hitch pin, padlock and locking cable (photo above) are about $110 and available separately for most pickups. This lock assortment can secure a trailer hitch, toolbox and trailered side-by-side all with the same key. 

For more info: www.boltlock.com, or 877.251.8798

To “set” the lock, pull the protective cover, insert the key and rotate clockwise. The lock then matches your truck key.

Skeptics that we are, we had to test the other original key after setting, and it worked equally well. We spent more time opening the packages than setting and installing them.