B757-200 CREW RETURNED TO THEIR DEP ARPT AFTER GETTING A LEADING EDGE FLAP DISAGREEMENT EICAS MESSAGE; AND FINDING THE LEADING EDGE FLAPS LOCKED OUT.

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ON CLBOUT FROM RWY 27L PASSING THROUGH 2000 FT; FLAPS WERE RETRACTED FROM POS #1 TO UP. LEADING EDGE FLAP DISAGREEMENT EICAS MESSAGE ILLUMINATED WITH BOTH FLAP NEEDLES STOPPED AT JUST ABOVE THE 'UP' POS ON THE FLAP GAUGE. ATC WAS NOTIFIED AND A LOW AIRSPD (220 KIAS) AND ALT (8000 FT MSL) WERE MAINTAINED. LEADING EDGE FLAP DISAGREEMENT IRREGULAR PROC WAS PERFORMED WITH NO CHANGE IN SIT. WHILE MAINTAINING RADAR VECTORS NW OF ORD; A 3-WAY RADIO PATCH WAS INITIATED WITH DISPATCH AND MAINT CTLR AND THE SIT WAS EXPLAINED. WITH NO CHANGE IN LEADING EDGE FLAP STATUS; I ADVISED THEM THAT WE WOULD BE RETURNING TO ORD. FLT ATTENDANTS (ALL OF THEM) WERE BRIEFED ON INTERPHONE AND ADVISED THAT WE WOULD BE RETURNING TO ORD. A CABIN ADVISORY WAS INITIATED DUE TO HIGHER THAN NORMAL LNDG SPDS; BUT THEY WERE ADVISED THAT WE EXPECTED A NORMAL LNDG. THE PAX WERE THEN ADVISED OF THE SIT AND THAT WE WOULD BE RETURNING TO ORD. WE THEN FOLLOWED THE FINAL STEP OF THE LEADING EDGE FLAP DISAGREE CHKLIST WHICH TAKES YOU TO THE LEADING EDGE FLAP ASYMMETRY (B757) CHKLIST. THAT CHKLIST WAS COMPLETED AND VECTORS ACCEPTED FOR AN APCH TO ORD. A FLAPS 20 DEGS; 30 DEGS MANEUVERING/REF +30 KTS ILS APCH AND LNDG WAS CONDUCTED TO RWY 14R AT ORD. A NORMAL TOUCHDOWN WAS COMPLETED IN THE TOUCHDOWN ZONE ON TARGET AT 166 KIAS. ACFT WAS LEFT IN PRESENT CONFIGN AND TAXIED TO THE GATE; WHERE DISPATCH WAS NOTIFIED BY RADIO THAT WE WERE AT THE GATE AND OUR ARR TIME. AT TOUCHDOWN THE ACFT WT WAS 206800 LBS. AIRBORNE; AFTER DISCUSSION WITH DISPATCH AND MAINT CTLR AND AMONG OURSELVES; THE DECISION WAS MADE TO LAND OVERWT. THE DECISION WAS BASED ON WX (CLR); RWY LENGTH; STRONG WINDS DOWN THE RWY (13 KT HEADWIND COMPONENT); AND THE FACT THAT OUR 198000 LBS VREF WOULD ONLY HAVE BEEN 5 KTS SLOWER AND WOULD HAVE TAKEN WELL IN EXCESS OF 1 HR TO ACHIEVE. THROUGHOUT THE EVOLUTION; THE FO AND I WORKED VERY WELL TOGETHER; VERIFYING CHKLISTS; SWITCH POS; AND DISCUSSING APCH AND LNDG PLANS AND POTENTIAL TROUBLE AREAS. ALL IN ALL; IT WAS PRETTY MUCH A TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE OF CRM IN ACTION.