vehicle security

[Great War truck]

I am mindful of the M8 greyhound that was recently "stolen to order" and was wondering what owners might do to protect their vehicles.

 

You can take out the rotor arm, padlock it into reverse, steering lock and then chain the pedals to the steering wheel (which is what i do), but if someone comes along with a hiab that is not going to do a lot of good. I know of one chap who bought an old tractor took it home on a trailer, went in for a coffee and when he came outside the tractor had gone courtesy of a hiab. I know of another chap who took his newly restored Jeep to Normandy, took out the rotor arm and minutes later saw it being driven away. It was not recovered.

 

There are some dishonest people in this game (very sad to say), so what do we do to protect ourselves against them. I always thought that having a Jeep that no one else was capable of starting (even after they got through the security) would be enough, but now i dont think that is enough.

 

With Normandy coming up this year you can bet the vultures will be looking for stuff to steal. What can we do to protect ourselves?

 

Tim (too)

[Marmite!!]

I could tell you how I protect mine but if I did someone could read it here & it could be gone next week:sweat::stop:

[Swill1952xs]

One suggestion I would make would be to fit a solenoid type fuel cut off switch, well hidden on the vehicle and activated by a hidden switch. This would prevent "Hot wiring" and driving away as they wouldn't get very far or anywhere before it gave up the ghost.

Obviously this wouldn't stop the thieves who use trailers or covered wagons to remove vehicles. Another suggestion would be something you could quite easily make yourself, would be a pendulum movement detector. This could be switched on when the vehicle is left. It would be connected to the horn so that any attempt to move it or drive it up ramps would sound the horn. It could also have its own power supply in the form of a motor cycle battery if required.

I am trying to suggest diy type deterrents as modern alarms are of little use on a vehicle with such basic electrics. All of these deterrents need to be well hidden and usually there is a box section somewhere on the vehicle you could hide them.

If your vehicle is worth a large sum, then I would suggest fitting a tracker to it. The biggest problem with that on a military vehicle, is that the antennae has to be somewhere it wont be obstructed by a metal panel. This one you'd need to think carefully about. The type of tracker I'm thinking about (A company called "Simply Trak") is permanently connected and transmitting and can be tracked on a computer via satellite.

Even if the power is disconnected, (It could have a back up battery) it will still show the last location of the vehicle. The most important thing about any deterrent is that it must delay thieves and certainly not be made obvious.

If like me you aren't swimming in money, you could always put a notice on the vehicle that a satellite tracking system is fitted to your vehicle. The thieves wouldn't know whether this was in fact true and would probably steal the vehicle next to yours instead. :-D

[Great War truck]

Thats a good idea. But remind me never to park next to you.

 

I know of one chap with a Jeep, when he goes on holiday he takes off two wheels and puts them in the attic of his house. A lot of work to go to i suppose but at least no one is going to drive off with it.

 

Tim (too)

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

Most of the afective devices are illegal,shocking isnt it,so we wont discuss them here.:nono::shocked:

[abn deuce]

On the CCKW I brought back from the Netherlands it had been fitted with a battery cut off switch that required a plunger type of key to operate .

 

The fact is given enough time and determination anything can be taken by someone , the smaller the vehicle the easier it is to be taken especially at a show or parked away from home .

At home I d say keep it garaged or covered and well anchored < the bigger the chain or cable the better >. In all cases I d also mark the vehicle permanently with welding marks or etching / engraving pens in several places so if it goes missing you have more than one method to identify it . The alarms and trackers are a good idea .

[No Signals]

I use a substantial padlock and chain between the pedal and the steering wheel. No opportunist thief will drive it away, relatively cheap and VERY effective. Agree it doesnt stop the 'lifters' - but what will? tracking once gone does seem to be the only follow up on that. I once had a motorbike fitted with an anti theft device which shot a four inch barbed spike up through the seat and effectively 'restrained' the thief. (It had to be four inches to get through the foam) But that was in the days of a more enlightened approach by the authorities to such things, couldnt get away with it these days. It did work though! .

[Tony B]

A damm great Disclock steering lock. In addition to being very secure it is a large visual security presence. I did get told of a by somone who lived in forign lands that when he went off leaving a vehicle for a number of days he fitted an alam mine under the drivers seat, with a live 12 bore cartridge, but that's probably going a bit far , and very messy.

[Stormin]

Chains, Disc locks etc. May slow down the opportunists, but when my mate had his Land Rover stolen the thieves brought burning gear to remove the disc lock.

 

It's already been said, you'll not stop the determined `professional' thief taking anything.

 

I'm not sure how effective the tracking devices are either. Shouldn't be too much trouble for a knowledgeable thief to find a radio emmitting device and remove it.

 

Best thing to do is make sure you've got more than adequate insurance.

[Mark]

A tracking device can be blocked by purchasing a small gizmo from the USA, expensive but if you are in that line of work can be invaluable. :cool2:

[Topdog]

I once had a motorbike fitted with an anti theft device which shot a four inch barbed spike up through the seat and effectively 'restrained' the thief. (It had to be four inches to get through the foam) .

 

Oooh noooo, how many times have I forgotten to turn the house alarm off before going downstairs! I dread to think of the consequences........

[Lauren Child]

I once had a physics teacher who electrified the doors in his house. High voltage, low current, so it cramped the fingers so they couldnt let go, but wasnt enough to do anything nasty. He was prosecuted for detaining a burglar in this way, but if I remember correctly, the main argument was that he hadn't put warning signs up, and so had effectively left a trap to detain someone.

 

I've always wondered what you could do with the appropriate signage. If someone breaks into a well secured area with good signage saying "high voltage, danger of death" and "authorised personnel only. Disconnect power supply before entering" then surely its their own look out (as some local idiots found out at another job, when they broke into the local substation and tried to hacksaw through the expensive copper buzz-bars).

 

Of course I suspect a lot also depends on your intent when setting things up - was it an experiment, or was it intended to trap someone. I don't think I'd ever try it, but it makes you think.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Lauren Child

[fv1609]

I have 4 mercury tilt switches if anyone wants to build an alarm system based on movement.

[Snapper]

A chap who did some plumbing work for me had his van, complete with tracker, nicked with all his tools in it while he was knocking at someones door. The thieves from Sarf Londen got clean away. Our man phoned plod immediately, who told him...."sorry we don't have a car in the area". He got the van back, sans tools and stuff, but with the tracker.

 

TootTallMike, some of you may remember him on HMVF from sometime back when the pound was worth $2.49, has fitted an ingenious crook lock device on my MUTT. Remembering where I put the key makes it doubly safe.

 

M

[Redcap]

That's the reason that a lot of car owners use Tracker... while not a solution to preventing a determined tea leaf, Tracker has an astonishing recovery rate... especially when the old bill can't be there the instant it's been nicked

 

http://www.tracker.co.uk/SVR.html

Edited March 18, 2009 by Redcap

[Tony B]

When they are about, I've know it take ten minutes. The idiot nicked a car equipped with tracker from a petrol station turned about three corners and came head on into the area car.:-D

[Enigma]

I've worked a while for a company that installed trackingdevices.

They were also used by husbands to see what the wife was up to with her car....

 

They also have 1 to install in containers, worked for months with its own powersupply.