Truck Storage and Security

[Subzero]

So lately I've been thinking about what I'm going to do to protect my investment in my truck, and once it's done it'll be a pretty substantial amount. I've had my truck broken into and my Jeep stolen from me one night right in front of my house and if it weren't for me going out and searching( and really good luck) it would probably have ended up in the bay or scrapped. I live in a nice neighborhood but its location still causes the thieves to come looking for a nice car to ride off in because no one here expects it. I do not have a garage to put my cars in currently. My truck will be going into a drive up storage unit close by once it's done until I get a garage in a few months, so atleast it'll be indoors. I've questioned getting an aftermarket system installed on other vehicles I've had but has anyone been able to install one on these trucks? No power locks or windows of course but there are some systems that keep track of vibration and doors opening. What are some of your opinions on keeping these trucks out of the wrong hands?

[ok68crewcab]

A battery disconnect switch and or a hidden kill switch will stop the dumber ones but these will only slow down the smarter criminals.

[crazyhorse]

Put the disconnect switch in a hidden location.
Put a electric fuel pump with the off on switch in a hidden location & turn off the fuel pump when you are going to leave it parked & let the engine run all the gas from the carb.
Put a boot to the wheels would help.

It is a shame you have to do all this to keep some one from stealing your truck.

Good luck

[Subzero]

When my jeep got stolen I got a chance to talk to many police officers around me and learned quite a bit about auto theft. Usually they go for the older, no security system cars that are easy to steal and easy to flip ( aka my Jeep Cherokee and my base model F250 I had). The battery kill switch is a good idea, how does one go about adding one? Maybe even a hidden ignition-off switch under the dash on the passenger side. These folks won't bother trying to figure out how to get the car to start if it won't most of the time- they'll just move on to the next one. Storing the truck in a unit is the best security for it I think but it'll still be at my house on some occasion outside.

[1970FordTK]

We use to take the rotor button out of the distributor and hide it under a rag in the tool box on the Farmall tractors if we left them in the fields overnight. Nice thing about the Fords is the dizzy is where you can reach it from the front.

[sargentrs]

You can just pull the coil wire off of the distributor cap. Probably, not many thieves would carry a spare Ford coil wire with them unless they were specifically looking for a pre-1975 Ford without electronic ignition. My truck was stolen in March 2006. I'd had it a couple of years when I pulled it into the garage and stripped the engine down to reseal, replace timing set and give a good tuneup. Took it for a test drive to Walmart about 15 miles away. Went it to pick up some stuff and when I came back out, it was gone. My stepson had told that if I ever went out to my truck and it was gone not to panic. He was trying to get me on Overhaulin' and it might be a setup. He's the first person I called. Unfortunately, he had not succeeded. I called the cops and we went in and checked security cameras at Walmart. You could just see the LH taillight of my truck in the video. Some guy in jeans and a T shirt walked into view, rounded the corner of my tailgate and went to the drivers side. Less than 2 minutes later he was backing out and you could my truck leaving the parking lot. Didn't having any problems with the 3 on the tree either. Filled out the police report and waited patiently. 14 months later, I got a call from the Chief of Police of Ellijay saying they had found my truck. At first I accused him of being a jerk and a prankster but he assured me he really was CoP of Ellijay and my truck was in Hiawassee, GA at a towing service/wrecking yard. Apparently the guy that stole my truck was headed for Tennessee and got pulled over for running a stop sign, an hour and a half after stealing my truck. They found that he had an out of state warrant from N. Dakota, arrested him and had my truck towed. The cops had not even had time to get my stolen vehicle report filed in the system so when they ran the plates it came up clean. Oddly, they never tried to contact me as a victim or accomplice to the guy. 14 months after being stolen somebody came to the wrecking yard and wanted to buy the 9" rear end out of my truck. The wrecker ran my plates again and it came up stolen so they called Ellijay police who contacted me. I went up there with a gas can and jump box. Poured a little gas in the carb and she fired right up and I drove her home. Cost me $185 in storage fees from the wrecking yard. I've had her for 13 years now. The guy had snatched out the ignition switch and used a screwdriver to start the truck. Not sure how he did it but it looked forced. My truck was pretty much a beater. Base model with no options, didn't even have a radio, rusty in spots, worn out tires. I had thought "no idiot would want to steal this beater" so I never locked it. With our vent windows, locking up is not really much of a deterrent anyway. I guess my truck was exactly what he was looking for though. If I had pulled the coil wire or had a hidden disconnect, it might have made it more difficult for him.

[Subzero]

Sargentrs that's some story glad she's back in your hands now though. With mine I called police as soon as I noticed it was gone and they basically said okay well it's in the system have a nice day. I had $4K in the Cherokee and wasn't about to loose my investment so I went out in the diesel F250( they stole some suff from inside it) and 30 min later searching saw the jeep in Portsmouth VA driving on the opposite side of the road. Jumped the median in the F250 and ran through a parking lot and started following the jeep. Got caught at a red light behind some cars and they got away. I thought it was gone for good then and called police again to get them to search for it with me- not much help. Went back to the area I saw it and found it driving around in a nearby neighborhood. Pulled up right behind them and honked while on the phone with police- gotcha dudes . Then they took off and a little chase happened. Bet they didn't expect to see the truck they broke into chasing them in my stolen car. Eventually they ditched the car after about 2 miles of low speed chase(5 people around 22 in a Cherokee) ,personal belongings, my stolen stuff from the truck, a breaker bar, and ran off in some backyards in the neighborhood. About 8 police cars show up and catch a number of suspects. No one gets arrested and the case was dropped 5 months later. Had lots of evidence but apparently not enough to lock them up. Guess they learned not to mess with me, or atleast steal both of my cars. I didn't have a bump at the time, I had sold my first only two weeks earlier

[Wafe01]

Here's a link to detailed installation of an old Reed magnetic kill switch.

Including parts to buy with pictures, and wiring schematics.

http://www.thirdgen.org/forums/electron ... liser.html

[Subzero]

That's pretty high tech for me but that would stop them for sure. I'm thinking maybe later on add something like that, for now I'll probably just pull the coil wires off when I leave it stored. No one that commonly steals cars around my parts would even know what they're looking at or what's wrong on these old ignition systems

[Wafe01]

This is also another option. along with distributor etc.

http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/219/

[yamasaki]

This is what I put in mine:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171716349665?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

[basketcase0302]

Cut into the wiring harness with a utility knife right where it enters the cab. Splice into the ignition wire right there and wrap it back up with electrical tape, (in a few months it will look like you never disturbed it) and it will take them some time to find the hidden "kill switch" if you mount it right under the dash by the steering column.
Like a few guys above stated it will not stop a professional thief-but it will really make a thugs head spin as he's trying to hot wire the ignition switch like most will try to do.
Grant steering wheel is also another good investment-just take the steering wheel off when you park:
http://www.grantproducts.com/

edit: Never heard that story before Randy-glad you got it back!

[crazyhorse]

Cut a new rubber pencil eraser off of a new big lead pencil.
The one I use came from a round full size lead pencil.
Pull the coil wire from the distributor cap & put the rubber eraser in the distributer cap where the coil wire goes.
Put the coil wire back in the distributer cap.

Keep a straight pin, safety pin or needle handy & when you want to use the vehicle, remove the coil wire, stick the straight pin , safety pin or needle in the rubber eraser to lift it out.
I stick my straight pin in the back side of my sun visor so it will be handy.

[yamasaki]

I pulled the dash out and wired my RFID ignition immobilizer in behind the dash. Only took about an hour to install and there's no way a thief is going to easily find it since its really high up in the dash. You couldn't see it (or probably know what it was) if you were looking right at it!

Those hidden kill switches lost all purpose here in south florida about 10-15 years ago. The first thing any thief does down here is feel around anywhere he can reach when seated in the driver's seat. the majority of guys that put in kill switches will put them within hands reach of the driving position. not hard to find.

I live my RFID solution because what I do is keep the transmitter in my pocket (not on my key chain). So, whenever I'm within 10 feet of the car, it will start. As soon as I move away, it won't (or dies if it's running). Makes for some fun party tricks when you get those friends that want to take your truck for a drive. I tell them "sure, if you can start it in 3 tries you can drive it." When they get mad and think I booby trapped it somehow, I just lean in from the outside of the truck and turn the key and she fires right up. Just the looks on their faces makes it worth while. Sometimes I'll do something silly like tell them you have to jiggle the door handle once or twice before starting.

[Subzero]

That's pretty good, no doubt a thief would ever find or know what the immobilizer is. I was thinking maybe a kill switch on the passenger side, I should probably add a battery disconnect anyway since the truck won't be at my house for a couple months.