[NOT] Stolen Rigs

[RockyCodeHead]

I have been hearing about a lot of Jeeps being stolen as of the last year or two and have been growing more concerned for my own...

For those who haven't had your rig stolen (or those who have made changes to keep theirs from being stolen again), what have you done to make it more difficult for the thieves to succeed? Or are you simply relying on luck?

Personally, I have been toying with two ideas. First, buying a 5/16" or 3/8" aircraft cable long enough to wrap around both the brake pedal and the steering wheel and lock it all together with a huge padlock with the cable being taught enough that it cannot be unwrapped, that would make it a lot more work to steal, not impossible, but harder. The second idea is the old trick of hiding a kill switch for the ignition or fuel pump, perhaps even remote controlled so the switch is a soft switch not a physical switch in the rig.

Too bad we can't engineer car thief 'reset' devices into our vehicles... Stolen vehicles are a virtually victimless crime and LEOs can't afford the time to investigate it which sucks for us.

 

[in4aride]

if someone who isnt familiar with my jeep could start it they deserve it. its always in the garage. Im very anal about not being overly repetitive with my schedule so im not easy to plan on. When i see someone i dont know or who looks shady ill walk right up and ask em politely wtf they are doing. if they take off the next time they are there im a lil less nice and usually take info down. or grab pics of their cars and say hi. most people never come back

 

[zluster]

Some words of prevention from a guy who knows exactly how to steal your jeep in less than 3 minutes.........

The 84-94 XJs are particularly vulnerable to theft because of the GM steering column, especially if you have a tilt column. Without explaining how to actually steal them let me try to explain prevention. You need to reinforce the area around the left side of the steering column at the pivoting joint.

Something along the lines of this can be a real lifesaver:

However I don't think any of those are still produced, and(at least the one I had) required it to be removed from the vehicle everytime it needed to be started, not fun. I ended up returning it to JC whitney.

What I ended up doing was taking a large piece of PVC pipe or PVC pip fitting, cutting it in half, then gluing it back together over the vulnerable area, I did this partially as I had already fixed the column and it could be started normally again, but also because since this jeep had been stolen previously(this particular jeep was my homicide jeep) the column was exposed already making it a little more vulnerable. With the PVC collar glued in place it was quite a bit tougher than the stock setup to theft.

The 95-96 XJs use a different column and seem to be a bit harder to break into than the 97+ column.

The 97+ column does not seem particularly well designed to resist theft. It's unfortunately a little too easy to break into that column and get away with the vehicle. The sentry key system is actually pretty good at preventing this type of theft, though I would like to note that the sentry key system can be defeated with about an additional 5 minutes of work for someone knowledgeable and with the correct part(s). The sentry key is also only available in the 99+ MY.

The best bit of prevention I can recommend for the 97-01 XJ is a starter interlock, If you remove the plastic and metal kickplates above the drivers legs you will find a wiring bunled running down from the steering column, in this bundle there is one particular yellow wire that is the starter soleniod feed, cut this wire and it will no longer crank when you turn the ignition tumbler to crank.

If you were to wire this up to a push button located somewhere discretely you would probably never have your vehicle stolen through a busted column. The downside is you get the PITA of always having to use a push start when you want to start the Jeep, a PITA for a DD.

 

[.40CalPatriot]

They really dont even have to get inside to steal it. Or even make it run...........

 

[riverfever]

I left mine up in Denver for a week while I was out of town. I even left a key under Troy's door mat. Damn thing was still there when I got back to town. Musta been the stinky gear and waders in the back. :smsoap:

 

[YELLAHEEP]

...... Musta been the stinky gear and waders in the back. :smsoap:

Dood.........:nono:

 

[riverfever]

Hours on the river, sometimes nasty mud, sweaty feet, and the occasional fart that get's ripped inside waders which are sealed off by a wading belt. Yep...that's the worst part when it's time to take them off. Ask Idiot Wind.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Idiot Wind removes your waders from you often huh? :laugh:

 

[riverfever]

Idiot Wind removes your waders from you often huh? :laugh:

Hehe. Jealous?? What happened in the van....stayed in the van.

 

[DutchVDub]

I've never had any of my vehicles stolen, although once somebody stole the hubcap spinners off of my Samurai.

 

[KRONIK]

I've never had any of my vehicles stolen, although once somebody stole the hubcap spinners off of my Samurai.

was it Flores?:gag:

 

[DutchVDub]

My theft prevention was moving the XXXX out of Denver. So far so good. The S4 hasnt been ducked with and actually those are pretty easy to steal unless you remove a piece from inside the door.

 

[Kiefer316]

There was a really Cool theft deterent device in a mustang that had came in at work and was very hidden. It was in a mustang and I really really want to know how it was done. There was a screw screwed in by the trunk release which was connected to something, when you went to go turn the key there would be absolutely no power except for the stereo. You touch the screw head and touch the metal in the cigarette lighter and that would complete the circuit. I really want to know how it was done.