Trailer P.S.A.

[Chad R]

    This past week we had our car trailer stolen out of the back yard of my family’s shop. Yes the tongue was locked. Yes it was insured and will probably take a big one up the you know what by the insurance company. 
     So I have been looking into trailer locks hard core for the last few days. It is amazing how easy it is to defeat many tongue locks, with just a crow bar or bolt cutters. 
      So for the rest of our trailers I’m buying tongue locks by proven lock industry and also going to buy some type of wheel lock weather it is a tire boot or a hook that goes threw the wheel to the leaf spring. 
      I just thought I would say something hear you get people thinking about there own trailers.

[krustyballer16]

I made this one for my trip to Cali. Seems like a good idea.

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[Pete M]

trailers are the hardest thing to secure.  super easy to just chain to the truck and go.  

 

there is no perfect anti-theft device to stop a pro.  But I figure I can irritate the hell out of them.   My particular method is to have a simple lock on the hitch (so it's not stupid easy and they see a lock), and then wrap a strong cable lock under the frame and through the rims in such a way that they can travel 10 feet and then the tire locks up (similar in principle to what Brandon posted).  but I don't advertise this with a flashy cable.  it's just a black pinky-thick 6ft cable with a padlock on the end.  but my theory is that the absolute mess they will experience will dissuade them from trying to keep going and they might abandon the theft.  In the end, if I see long black streaks coming out of the driveway but no trailer, I can at least laugh at what they went through to take it. 

[Chad R]

22 minutes ago, krustyballer16 said:

I made this one for my trip to Cali. Seems like a good idea.

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That is what I was thinking about plus this

[Chad R]

Got my first line of trailer defense today for our in closed car trailer from proven industry’s next is puck locks on the doors

[Pete M]

I love the lock!  very beefy!     I assume it locks up the chains too?

[Pete M]

this is an ad for an alarm company, but if anyone hasn't seen how easy it is to steal a trailer that only has a hitch lock, it's a must-watch. 

 

 

[Chad R]

9 minutes ago, Pete M said:

I love the lock!  very beefy!     I assume it locks up the chains too?

Yes you hook them to the ball

[Alexia]

I got the for maximum annoyance level.  Hitch ball lock, lock through the ball release level safety pin hole, and a chain wrapped through a wheel.  If connected to the Jeep the chains get locked on to the receiver(not load bearing, just additional) and there is a locking receiver pin.  The wheel chain has to be dealt with if they do not wish to drag the wheel.  The hook up requires them getting through the weakest link.

[MontanaManche]

Another good idea is to weld where the ball and its bracket attaches to the frame of the trailer (I'm not sure the correct term) some of them are bolted in and are easily removed and replaced with one from the store.

[Chad R]

    Step two on trailer security I’m changing all the locks on our in-closed trailers to puck locks. They will have to be good at picking locks or have sharp drill bits. 
    

[Alexia]

20 hours ago, Chad R said:

    Step two on trailer security I’m changing all the locks on our in-closed trailers to puck locks. They will have to be good at picking locks or have sharp drill bits. 
    

 

That lock is really easy to pick.  It is made of a die cast zinc body which means a blow torch can melt through it fairly quickly.  https://masterlocks.com/products/6271

 

 

[Chad R]

49 minutes ago, Alexia said:

 

That lock is really easy to pick.  It is made of a die cast zinc body which means a blow torch can melt through it fairly quickly.  https://masterlocks.com/products/6271

 

 

Yes I know I saw that on YouTube. I imagine any good professional thief could pick in seconds, But your average joe crook probably can’t. I’m only trying to make it so if they do try they will have to earn it. Puck locks on the doors of a in-closed trailer are way better than pad locks have heard to many stores from local contractors and others that had pad locks cut with bolt cutters.

[Pete M]

all things are defeat-able.  the key is having enough different things that they say "screw it" and go rob someone else.   

 

Thieves suck and you should annoy them as much as possible. 

[derf]

Yep.  All you need to do is make it not worth the effort.  A determined thief can get through a lot.  But the more annoying you make it the more likely the thief will move on.