SentrySafe door lever has become very stiff and hard to turn

Anyone here ever troubleshoot a safe before?

Recently, in the past 1-2 weeks, the door lever/handle has become very stiff and hard to turn. It is only stiff when rotating it counter-clockwise (e.g. when extending the bolts and locking the door). Rotating the lever clockwise (to retract the bolts and open the door) is still as smooth and effortless as the day I bought it. The safe has been stationary for 2+ years and nothing has changed, including the relative humidity, the contents of the safe (by volume or weight), etc. This issue appears to be spontaneous and recent.

Anyone have any troubleshooting ideas? I'm going to take off the inner door panel and investigate the locking mechanism as soon as I have some free time, but I am admittedly a complete tenderfoot when it comes to locks.

IP section is your friend

https://www.ar-15.co/forums/219-Secure-Lock-amp-Safe

Problem solved!

So it turns out that the lowest bolt on the safe door had some grease that had dripped on to it from the locking mechanism above. Over time, that grease had smeared out across the bolt, attracted some dirt/dust, and was now all gummy across the surface. I only noticed the issue when I was running my fingers through the shadowy recesses of the door frame and felt it - it appeared perfectly clean to the eye.

A quick wipedown of the bolt with a degreaser solved the problem instantly. That gumminess was causing all the drag when operating the handle. Since I had the whole mechanism exposed, I also cleaned the rest of the sliding surfaces in the safe and regreased them. The door action feels slicker than snot - like it is brand new. Feels good to solve a problem [Beer]

Hope this helps someone in the future.