Another theft-My trailer this time

In some foreign countries they cut off one hand of a thief. In the USA the cops are to busy getting donuts He He. But I think I would make a thief think he had lost his hand, I would attach a flat strip under the tongue area where it is most likely to be a lifting point.And I would put several razor blades or treble hooks on it .You should remove the tongue jack,Then check on a daily routine for the blood trail.Sounds like deer hunting Why not make it like hunting stalk the bastards ,bait the trap ect.

 

We've had articles in the local newspaper about trailer thieves in the area. A week after I read the story my neighbor in the industrial park came over and asked if I was at my shop over the weekend and if I saw anyone messing around with his trailer. Someone stole his single axle enclosed trailer. Nice trailer but the real bitch was he had a $30K piece of equipment inside that he took to shows. I'm sure the thieves were after his trailer and probably didn't know what was inside, it probably ended up at a scrap yard.

Last week I had my car trailer sitting outside my shop loaded with scrap from a truck I tore apart. I got a knock on my door, it was a scrap hauler, the kind who drive beat up trucks through the industrial parks looking for scrap. He wanted to buy my scrap. He gave me a pretty good deal on the scrap but then they started making comments about how nice my trailer was. I made sure I took the trailer home that night.

 

I have a cheap 18 foot open car trailer. It has a wood floor, really heavy retractable steel ramps and few amenities other than a cargo box mounted on the front. It ain't much as far as car trailers go yet it cost me about $1600-1800 new. It's all I've got and I would miss it dearly if it is stolen. Unfortunately, I do not know how to keep it from being stolen. All of the theft deterrent methods I have just read about in this thread can be defeated if the "bad guys" really want the trailer. I keep it outside behind my home shop under the watch full eye of my "barks a lot dog". I pray nightly I won't have to send some stupid MF to hell who is trying to steal it. Shot guns can be extremely messy. I really don't need the mess or the attention. What more can I do?

 

In some foreign countries they cut off one hand of a thief. In the USA the cops are to busy getting donuts He He. But I think I would make a thief think he had lost his hand, I would attach a flat strip under the tongue area where it is most likely to be a lifting point.And I would put several razor blades or treble hooks on it .You should remove the tongue jack,Then check on a daily routine for the blood trail.Sounds like deer hunting Why not make it like hunting stalk the bastards ,bait the trap ect.
Sounds like a great idea but remember were you live yes in good old USA the theif will get to sue you for getting hurt & win!!
Very $hitty court systems we have here!!I'd say cut his hand off too!!!

 

I recentl had some batteries stolen 4 out of 3 vehicles & bought some solar powered alarms the make a loud siren noise & a voice comes on saying this area is armed I have one by the gate & one on the side were the ba$tards cut the chainlink to get in,I also put long pallets all the way around on the inside of the fence.
There's an Oddlot store down the street from me & guess what they sell,fence cutter.
THIS is in the city!!!! Why do they need to sell them?!?!?!?

 

I lost a trailer a few months back. Wood deck dove tail. I have lost two other trailers before. They were nice steel bed trailers with pretty paint. One of them only lasted 4 days. If yhey want it. They will get it. Or fuck it up trying. The last "pretty" trailer was behind a locked gate hooked to the back of a one ton van and backed up to a wall. To get the trailer, They cut down 20 feet of rod iron fence, Jacked up the van to move it forward about 5 inches (thats all the room they had) And had to drag the trailer sideways 15 feet into the roadway. Sorry about your trailer. It sucks.

 

Tongue locks don't work, a lot of times they just wrap the safety chains around a ball and go.
Surprised no one has mentioned a tire boot (like the ones they use for parking violators) yet. The dealer that sold me my trailer had them for sale, told me they found them more effective then tongue lock. Wasn't that expensive and looking at it I don't think anyone could take off with my trailer unless they had a cutting torch in their back pocket. As a bonus you can really mess with your friends when you don't have the boot on the trailer! Even with the boot I still wrap a big a-- chain thru the tongue and around a 6" concrete filled sign pole with a big padlock as a backup, like they say if they want it they will take it. Just want to make sure they really have to work to take mine.

 

like everyone says, if they want it they will get it. what i have been doing, my trailer has steel mag style wheels, i run a heavy link chain threw 2 rims with heavy lock, if they drag it at nite 2 wheels not turning makes quite a bit of noise. could do all 4. i like the removeable tongue idea.

 

Not like Little House on the Prarie. This was in Kansas City, not exactly down home. Lots of crack,meth and crime.

 

A few years ago I had a 18 ft car hauler trailer stolen out of my driveway at 2 pm by a group of 4 Mexicans in a gold 4x4 Chevy extended cab pickup. They drilled out the tongue lock with a cordless drill and cut the logging chain that was ran between the wheels with a cordless sawzall. They left the scene heading East.

How do I know this ? My neighbor lady watched them from her front door. She mentioned it to me when I got home at 6 pm. She never called the cops.

I hate thieves and stupid neighbors.....

 

DonMan's trailer is proof they will do what ever it takes to get it, and It also screams it pays to know/ get along and have good neighbors.

But try as you may sometimes neighbors want nothing to do with you and just dont care after all its not her stuff being taken, .....this time, People seem to think it happens to others not to them.

 

DonMan, your story is pretty ridiculous, the way the thieves took your trailer while your neighbor lady watched. It had to be pretty obvious to anyone with an ounce of brains that some one was stealing your trailer.

In the case of my neighbor in the industrial park even if I saw some one taking the trailer I probably wouldn't have thought much of it unless I saw the thief hammering on the hitch or had a pair of bolt cutters. Many times the thieves get away with their crimes because they don't look out of the ordinary. I wouldn't have known if they were thieves or employees or friends of my neighbor.

I've gotten to the point I call the cops every time I see or hear something suspicious. I work late in my shop and on weekends and I try to keep my eyes and ears open. In the last two weeks I heard loud banging around the building across the street at night when it was dark, called the cops. Last weekend some guy jiggled my office door, like he was testing it, stuck his head inside and asked with we repaired cars. We don't, nothing to indicate we did, we're in the middle of an industrial park. Got a funny gut feeling, wrote down the guys license number and called the cops. Cops followed up and found the guy was from the big city and he gave them a story about trying to find cheaper car repair out in the country. I doubt that very much.

Bottom line, best security is knowing what's going on around you. Get to know your neighbors. Keeping an eye on your neighbors and reporting anything suspicious. If you see something fishy make sure the people you see know you're watching and taking notes.

This talk about meeting someone with a 12 ga. is stupid, how do you know they don't have something bigger and nastier? If you're decent person you're going to think a few seconds before pulling the trigger. The scum bags that rip people off don't care and they'll pull their trigger in a quarter of the time they you will, they have nothing to lose, you do. Flashing lights and making a lot of noise, while calling the cops, is the safest thing to do. Your damn trailer isn't worth getting killed.

 

Set up a video surveillance system, http://www.harborfreight.com/general-merch/security/4-channel-surveillance-dvr-with-4-cameras-and-mobile-monitoring-capabilities-68332.html.
My friend bought this one and its a pretty nice setup, infra-red, ability to watch live feeds over internet or smart phone, plus HF puts it on sale for $299 all the time. I wont prevent a theft but you can have proof of who did it for the cops and maybe license # and vehicle.

 

Answer every ad you find for a flatbed trailer. You'll probably find it. I was told by a KS local 2 weeks ago, almost all of the trailers stolen within a few hundred miles of him (Wichita) end up in Texas or Mexico. Just sayin...

 

Like what was said before if they want it they will get it.
Secure it as best as possible and use this less expensive device to get it back.
http://www.rmtracking.com/gpsproducts/vehicle_recovery/smart_tracker.php

Low cost no monthly fees, I am going to get a couple, one for the race car one for the car hauler.

 

Set a trap and catch them. Take them for a long ride and call the police.

 

In other words, you made a hitch setup that's very easy to copy. Thieves scope it out one night, make a hitch and come back and steal it the next.

Taking the wheels off is probably the best. Leave it sitting on the ground so it has to be jacked up to get them back on. The more work they have to do to get it, the more likely they are to find a different one to steal. One benefit is that your tires won't rot from the sun.

Cameras won't help much because cops can't make money catching thieves. Traffic stops make them money.

 

Yes it is a pain in the butt but I just pull the wheels off of one side of the trailer. It sits beside the garage and my air compresser hose will reach it so it only takes a few minutes to put them back on.

 

I just had a thought, how about a device that makes a horrible loud noise? It could be housed in a weather proof box with some kind of switch that senses movement and mounted on the bottom of the trailer in the middle with a remote, non-descript shut off device with an indicator light to show that it has been tripped. Just like a common auto alarm. This device would be convenient enough for the owner to deactivate to use the trailer but a PIA for a thief to quiet. Maybe even hook it up to the trailer lights so they flash. A thief wants to get in and out fast. No one will wants to hang around if there is a lot of noise and lights flashing and it would be pretty obvious if a cop sees a trailer being pulled down the street with the lights flashing and alarm blaring. Also, unless you have a super high end trailer who's going to waste time trying to dismantle it?

Just a thought.

 

I think today waiting on Karma to exist is a waste of time, someone needs to feel the sting of a FMJHP

On the theft prevention methods
1. I would sink a steel or concrete pole with a chain under the trailer to an axle or both of the axles if you have more than one
2. Dogs
3. lighting
4. cameras
maybe not necessarily in that order, but having them all, sure dont hurt.

(all of the above gives you an advantage..what you do with that advantage is up to you)

if you are criminal friendly than just take pictures with a camera, if not, than use a night powered scope..in my state we get to use them as target practice(kinda but i wont go into my way of thinking)..lobby for your right to protect whats yours

as you should have seen by the cops reaction..they dont give a fuck about your shit

maybe its time we repay the favor, and stop giving a shit about the life of a criminal
(these were my thoughts, not yours)

 

I like the concealed razor blade idea suggested by "SEWMAN". Kind of conveys good old "Western" justice as it protects your trailer. The blood trail would be really cool too. Tracking the bastards could get interesting. LOL

Later
Specs

PS. I am totally against cutting of the "bad guys" hands simply because I can think of other parts that would be equally effective in deterring crime while also eliminating these ignorant bastards from the gene pool.

 

Having been in the military, I'm kinda partial to "Claymore Mines and Trip Wires". It takes care of the problem, and the evidence, although quite dead and a little bloody, is lying on the ground the next day. When I suggested this to my last employer, in reference to vandalism on our property, he wanted to send me for psyciatric treatment, but I told him I already Have VA paperwork that says I'm a "Crazy 'Nam Vet". Seriously though, I know how pi**ed you are. And I can't say I blame you. We were also told in the military, "Locks Only Keep An Honest Man, Honest". If the thieves really want it, they will find a way.

 

bobj49f2 and others-

The cop did tell me he thought Radio Shack sold a motion sensor device that when tripped made alot of noise. I will probably check that out and also the gps tracking device mentioned. Thanks again for the comments/suggestions.

 

Lost a car trailer several years ago, it was being worked on in my then employer's yard, no wheels as the brakes were being fixed, chained to the fence post, lock busted and hidden behind a couple of in operative vehicles which were pushed out of the way, this was a very low, trailer and had been built to cary a hillcliming Lotus 7 type car ( less ground clearance than a cigarette pack). Obviously sombody knew what it was as the cars had been dragged aside and the trailer appeared to have been, lifted and carried away, as there were no tracks on the ground. Never to be seen again!

 

If you depend on the police to protect your property, wife, kids then you're gonna lose alot of shit. There is not a whole lot out there that is nastier than 00 buck from a 12ga. If someone is kicking your door in are you calling the cops and grabbing your empty sack until they show up?

 

spoke wheels chain them to gether and lock it with a good lock if its a pain they will lok for a diff one

 

sink a ground rod, hook one side of 110 to the ground rod and the other to the trailer. I did that with my old metal garbage cans (insulated them from the soil) and after one night, the dogs never tipped over another one of mine again. Just remember to unhook it before you (or in my case, the garbage man) touches it ....

 

Best one yet!


I own a trailer service and supply shop. I sell a brand called Trimax, they make a umax50 and a umax100 coupler lock. I have sold them for years and luckily with no customers coming back with stolen trailers.

That being said, they are not 100%. If you can deter them, they most likely will go elswhere.

 

California is the sue-me-state, so you can't mentally or physically hurt the F**kers.
So here GPS tracking would be the best for all your high dollar property/equipment.
very affordable.175.00 for the unit, then 4.95 for 24 hours or traking or other options.

 

i work at a VA hospital. we used to have an open single axle trailer, about 6x12, "secured" the same way. we came to work one monday morning and the trailer, post, & concrete were all gone. this in well lit, patroled, hospital grounds in the middle of a low crime neighborhood.

like many have said on here: "if they want it they'll get it".