a couple of questions.... if you sleep in the trailer will the thiefs just shot you when you come out ? if you sleep in the truck will the thiefs just pull their guns on you ? I am not going to die for a truck and trailer ! OK.....a few ideas.... rig up brakes on the trailer that are not part of the truck, something like a master cylinder and e brakle handle, activate it when you park it , make a "boot" like the cops use make the tongue slide in and removable paint it pink , no macho thief would steal a pink trailer thats as bad as stealing a girls bicycle Beaulieu
wire trailer brakes to lock up with the headlight switch or any keyed hot wire. Put a switch some where hidden on trailer for normal use. This works good. You can also pull the breakaway pin on trailer brakes. If the batery is good mine usually aren't. I think any thing you can do to make it a pain the ass to steal helps. Theifs don't like screwing around to long if it's in a motel parking lot or somthing. If it's somthing they can case out and watch for a wile, take a couple of tires off or park it in a way they can't just back up to it and run.
make the front part of the tongue removeable then make an insert with the lock on the inside.kinda like a job box has in the front.the lock attaches to the pin that holds it into the tongue.you would have to carry torches to steal it,and have a replacement tongue as well.if i could i would put pics up but i dont have a camera now.use this in conjuction with a solid stainless 1" bar that goes all the way through your front axle over the leaf springs.at best it would take someone half an hour to steal it and by that time they will probably be caught in the act.bottom line though there is no such thing as theft proof trust me i know from experience.if they want it they are gonna get it.
rig your alarm to lock the doors (with bad guy inside), put some locomotive horns up under the dash or seat and make them suffer till they figure out how to get out. Or my favorite late night idea after too many drinks, add some expansive foam to encapsulate them until the Man arrives to keep them down...
a baby moniter in the truck and trailer with the reciver next to the bed would alert you of any attempt to break in.but then again ,you would have to sleep with your shoes on ,to get there in time.they are cheap at yard sales,too.just another idea.
Thinking like a thief... If the trailer brakes come on, I snip whatever's holdin em on, off. Truck won't start? Chain the tlr. tail, unpin yer Reese, pull back, chain n pull tongue to side of yer dead tk. and put my rig on yer tlr. Keep yer damn truck, I gotchyer toys. Tow rig should be easy to theft proof as it's a pretty complicated machine. But a good thief will getcha. Only ways that work on a tlr. are mechanically disabling, but I'd bet the same backpack acetylene unit that took out yer locking Reese pin would get a wheel boot in about 15sec. too. You need to get creative and keep it to yerself. Once it's seen or known, it's over for anybody else too.
Trailer tongue locks and removeable tongues won't do SHIT if the theif has a tow truck or some kind of towing/lift/repo-style setup. Basically, they back up, wrap a couple of chains, lift and go.. MY $3500 open trailer got snagged...I had 1) a lock on the tongue latch, 2) a tongue lock(one that slides over and covers the receiver ball hole), and 3) an electric tongue jack. MOST likely it was picked up by a wrecker boom, chained and dragged away out of sight where the locks could be compromised There used to be some kind of valve stems that would flatten the tires somehow---I forget---if your trailer was taken by "unauthorized people" I found out AFTER mine was liberated just how cheap insurance is. Insurance isn't the ANSWER, but it sure will take the sting out of a loss.
1. insurance 2. lowjack? or other good alarm with gps tracking and a kill switch? 3. graphics on trailer that say "Asbestos Removal Specialists" or something like that - not 'Come Steal My Cool Ass Hot Rod That You Wished You Had But Don't Suck'a' My guess is before long, you will be able to just put little micro gps tracking devices on stuff so small they would be very hard to find without a detailed search and you could just go online and track whatever you want - for better or worse. Trust me, it'll happen if it hasn't already. The downside is people will be tracking all kind of stuff including a lot of stuff you won't want tracked either. It might cut down on a lot of old school horse stealing, but will open up the doors to a lot of other problems we can only start to imagine at the moment. If you had access to the info. already being collected, you could do it with your cell phone now.
Paint the trailer a loud color. Some years ago, there was a string of heavy equipment thefts in Texas (dozers, etc.) that were being taken into Mexico. One of the grading company's painted all their heavy equipment pink! End of their problem; the thieves moved on to standard yellow colored Cats. I like the idea of a name or number on the trailer roof-maybe in reflective type paint that would really show up at night. Travel in a group of buddy's and take watch call through the night. I've done it; you're usually hanging in the motel parking lot til after dark anyway. Then 3 hr. shifts of 9-12, 12-3, 3-6, etc. Not fun, but peace of mind. Good parking choices of the rig and trailer. Maybe pull it straight into a narrow area where it will have to be backed out (reverse alarm installed will beep and it will take some time for the thieves to get it backed out). Jack knife the rig/trailer into a spot, then ask a couple of other folks (hopefully others traveling in your group) to park behind/next to your trailer. Make it a real bitch to move. Ideea of course is to make your rig a tough target, hoping they'll move to an easier hit. Lojack or the new Dewalt GPS motion alarm that calls up to 3 cell #'s if triggered.
Well, We ARE talking about trailers, right? We DRIVE the other cars, right? I would Imagine this is in reference to the gasser Willys that got nabbed, RIGHT? I'm sorry, I thought we were having an intelligent conversation...Didn't know You got invited to bring us Your own flavor of sarcastic bullshit.
Went on the web looking for child gps devices. Found several companies that have tracking devices that can be placed in your rig or rod. Locate your stolen with a laptop.
I have thought about drilling a hole through the brake pad area of a front rotor and doing it so that you could place a long bolt or padlock through the hole. I think you could do it in a spot where you could access the hole from behind the wheel or through a wheel opening on some wheels. When the wheel turned, the bolt or lock would stop the rotor when it came to the caliper. Have you ever tried to drive a vehicle with one front wheel locked ? John
With the winding down of contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan and Africa not yet hot enough for big dollars I know a few mercenary's looking for a job. Sit one in trailer and watch for the fun part.........
Put a dog in the trailer. A nasty one. Years ago I had a key operated line locker. Don't know where you get one but it was a great idea. Push the brake, turn the key and presto! A nerd I know wired an immobiliser to be triggered by a cheap prepaid cell phone. And it worked when his ex stole the car . Has anyone else seen "Saw"? The tripwire-shotgun array thing would certainly do the job.
Years ago I routinely secured my motorcycle that way and it worked pretty well. Ignoring that I don't want to crawl under my truck to put a lock on the disk, I'm concerned about the damage it might do if I forget to remove it...
I know, I thought about that too. I guess I could experiment on a customers car to see if it will cause any damage. Seriously, I think I will try it out on the next old clunker I scrap out. John
put one of those remove before flight streamers on your key chain to remind you..you know what im talking about? can get them at airports or pilot shops..
get a ravelco for the truck. the left half gets wired into the wiring harness, stuff like the fuel pump, starter switch, etc etc. the right half stays on your keychain until you plug it in and complete the circuits. you want to steal it, you try cutting through the 16 black, unlabeled wires in the steel wrap, and figuring which goes to which. doesn't secure the trailer, but the truck ain't drivin away without you.
Mishap on a family vacation led to us crossing 3 states with a trailer held on solely by the safety chains. Anybody who thinks disabling the hitch ball on a trailer will stop theft is on crack, hang it by the unsecured safety chains and it'll go wherever the tow rig does. Even the most amateur thieves know this. The brake lock is a good idea til you forget. I use one on a cycle and have forgotten it dozens of times. Fortunately on a bike you find out when maneuvering by foot instead of under power. There's better ways to protect a car. They make a thing like the club for your brake pedal. I think it's more effective since clubs are so easy to defeat by cutting a steering wheel. Real easy to transfer to whatever vehicle is headed into a high risk situation. Theft proof, hardly. But the vehicle next to yours won't have one, and that's 98% of the protection it provides.
As seen in a parking lot, I too would not be very concerned. But I would be on the cell if I spoted a car sitting on the side of the road with this sunshade displayed Capital Punishment is not a determent to Theft, but it does stop second offenses. With that said we should all be able to do our part in reducing second offenses.
What about lojack, or something similar. Snag an on-star setup and wire it under the dash for emergency.
One work "LoJack". If it's valuable to you, it's worth the expense. I've been reading lojack reports out of Cali and most of the cars are returned within a few hours of the first report.
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