Yes, a very large pair of bolt cutters will cut through the club.
A hack saw is probably just as fast, and a lot easier to conceal.

The best anti theft device you can use of that sort is one that covers the entire steering column.
If it covers the lock cylinder, and the turn signal side of the housing, then the normal thieves can't steal the vehicle.

What they used to do with military jeeps was weld a chain to the steering column just below the steering wheel, and chain it to the brake pedal.
If you can't push the brakes, you can't drive the jeep off...
They also welded a chain to floor board, and used a padlock to secure the steering wheel.
That too was effective, but the older military jeeps had the hardened steering wheels, not the soft commercial steering wheel consumer jeeps have.

I find the best anti theft device is a .44 Rem. magnum with very good aim...

"I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha"

 

If you really want to target your steering wheel as an anti-theft device, Grant makes a removeable steering wheel setup, take your wheel with you in a special bag and put a locking cap over the column.

Brad
ORC Land Use Section Editor
http://www.off-road.com/land

 

I recently saw one of these Grant Wheels on a nicely restored 50's Chevy pick-up. The idea is quiet ingenous and effective. Even if they pry the plastic cover off they can't put another steering wheel on...

My Jeep is just a leaky submarine in disquise

 

or just take the wire running from your coil to distributor cap, its a lot smaller and makes any vehicle unstealable

MudFlap 87 YJ POS!!

 

I'm a professional repo man. I steal 2-5 cars a night. The "Club" can easily be picked with the cap and inner ink fill tube from your ball point pen. A loud alarm is the best thing to stop a thief. (course right after the mean ass dog sitting in the passenger seat) I'm not bragging, not telling how, or wanting to get off the subject of Jeeps. A 16 year old kid first showed me how to disable a club. You guys with lot nicer Jeeps than my 67 commando.. don't trust it. And to the rest of you... My keys are generally throwed in the floorboard, please leave enough gas to get to the station in it !/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif No, I won't elaborate on how to steal a Jeep, I will answer on how to protect it if you are interested. Getting in your Jeep is easy, we all realize that. Moving it can be made into a major PITA though. BTW A jeep can be driven off in under 5 minutes with ordinary hand tools. This takes into account, locked steering wheel, Alarm, No keys to thief (and/or key codes) nothing exotic, No tow truck, and a club on the vehicle. And a thief that has zero lock picking skills. This is all true and accounts for up through 2000 models.
Len

Lenny in Colorado Springs
67 Jeepster 225 V6 & 3 speed
96 Dodge Ram 2500 V10 AT CC LB 4x4

 

SO what, pray-tell, do we do to stop/prevent this?



Jeep'n Greg
1985 CJ7, 258, t-5, d-300, fried clutch, leaky carb.

 

Len

Ok so what is the best way to disable it then ? After all a professional will get it if he wants it what I am interested in keeping at bay is the joyrider .
I was thinking of getting a short legnth of thick chain and a good padlock and locking the brake and clutch pedal together if I need to leave it unattended in unfamiliar surroundings.
although when I day dream about it a couple ounces of explosives near the gas tank and a remote detenator would be my choice of deterrent.
"locks are meant to keep honest people honest "
thanks
ray

Learn to let go of what does not serve you ,but forces you to serve it

 

When I park my 1998 TJ somewhere other than home I just pull the fuel pump and starter relays from under the hood. When parked at home we use the 130 LB German Shepherd with a gun totin' owner technique.

Axlesupagain/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif
http://home1.gte.net/lrgreen2/index.htm

 

They make a large, heavy gauge steel collar that goes around the steering column and covers the lock switch and turn signal housing.
Some of them also have heavy steel 'Pins' that stick up and keep the steering wheel from turning.
These are quite effective.

The collar uses a pad lock to secure it, so adding a chain to the mix would be easy...
I have also thought of chaining my brake pedal to the collar.
just use a hook around the brake pedal, and pull the slack up and chain it to the collar.
It would just about fall off it would be so easy to remove with the key when you get back in the vehicle.

I'm not saying someone can't steal it, I'm saying you would become a 'Hard Target', and the guy is likely to move on to something easier...
---------------------------------

I have a friend that uses a two minute delay timer on his door switch.
If you open the door, and don't deactivate the system within two minutes, the vehicle stops running.
This works for car jackings also.
The guy takes you car at gunpoint, but he only gets two minutes down the road before the car stops running in the middle of the street...
It cost him about ten bucks for the parts at radio shack, and he found the circuit in one of those beginner electronics magazines...
I thought that was a really good idea.

Later folks, Aaron.

"I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha"

 

Anything that disables the ignition circuit is good when tied into a loud alarm. The Starting system disabled is not real good because the thief will pull the steering wheel, and remove the ignition. This allows steering, The second car (the one they drove up in) can be used to pull start it.That trick is known that most lower end alarms just cut the starting and not the ignition. Here's a couple of tips that make me cringe.
First the little blinking light that signifies an alarm. Also the type that beeps a lttle when the car is bumped. A thief will 'bump' the jeep to see if it's really alarmed. The collar around the column is a great deterrent(one of the best IMO). That is where the driveaway thief will attack first because of the steering and ignition lock. I seen one with the Grant removable wheel removed, high security locks on the hood, and the steel collar around column. When the guy left it.. he pulled the steering wheel and layed it in the engine compartment and locked the hood. To prevent a towaway. Park with the front wheels cocked all the way and where the jeep will hit something if towed from the rear, (ie go sideways cocked) the front in to close to something to get it front of it. Brake locks are good when wired in some evil way to keep from being found to disable. Disabling the fuel / ignition relays are good, Most idiots (thiefs) can't figure it out. Two screaming sirens wired in because that's the first thing to go and disable. With two blaring sirens wailing, its hard to pinpoint location of the siren to cut the wire and/or fill it full of foam expander.I seen a car that you had to turn the headlight on to allow the starter to work. If you did not, turning the key to 'Start' blew the horn. This was set up with a couple of 20 amp relays. Also not practical but that big dog is one of the best deterrents. I like dogs so I use porkchops and make friends over a few nights. I have that time to work while a thief doesn't have that luxury. I have heard of a crew in Florida (thieves not repo) that would kill the dog. Remember, I have to pick up a specific car while a thief is shopping around to get one that's easy. If your's is a PITA then he'll go on and get somebody else's. (/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gifLike CJDave's SnoJeep/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif) Like everyone says.. make it harder than the next one to get. joyriders will steal it if he can drive it away or tow it arond the corner to get time to start it. Pros and repos will probaly tow it. The Ram I have has a wheel lift that comes out from under the bed and anatches the wheels It's all hydraulic. The Ford has a sling type rig that folds up and out of the bed to snag the car. That's what the pro money maker thieves use. And there's another good reason to lift it and have good droop articulation.. It's hard to steal if your truck can't raise it high enough to get the tires off the ground. Me..I jest park the ol Commando. With it's infamous GM hot start problem it won't start for awhile for anyone unless they jump the solenoid. (Call my wife. She'll tell you where the keys and screwdriver is/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif) Sorry about the long post.
Len

Lenny in Colorado Springs
67 Jeepster 225 V6 & 3 speed
96 Dodge Ram 2500 V10 AT CC LB 4x4

 

You can get around the grant removable steering wheel too. I have seen guys drive a a car where they either had to break the steering wheel or they were using a grant removeable. They steer the car with a pair of pliers or a screwdriver. It's a funny sight that the cops will pick up easy if they see that. Professionals are hard to stop.

Kill switches are good too , as long as you don't get lazy and put them where anyone can find them. They stop those joyriders. Column protection is really good , as long as they aren't carrying nitro-glycerian or something advanced.

I never understood blinking lights to let the theif know there is an alarm. For-warned is fore-armed.

Try one of those alarms that sends a signal to a special pager that you carry so you know whenever your veichle receives a hit , a break in , or a proximity violation inside the cab area (those are good for open air jeeps)

Jeep Bastard
http://www.iretro.com

 

I have several groups of teenage kids around my house that walk around all night on the weekends. I loosen up the coil wire, not actully remove. Do you think this will do any good?

 

I have heard that if you just remove the coil wire, a "good" thief will just pull another spark plug wire and drive off on 5 or 7 cylinders (which ever), runs like hell but the cars is still gone.
-Will

.

 

i myself.. used to use a kill switch that i had mounted inside my security console.. that went to the starter power.. and for insurance.. i also made a dumby coil wire.. and would put that on instead of the real one.. that way it would look like there is one there.. just make sure its the same brand of wire.... . an ideal i had later was a cutoff valve inline with your fuel.. like the harley's have.. you get reach up under the frame.. (most jeeps are high enough) turn the lever.. no more go-go juice.. they would have enough to start it.. and go.. what a hundred yards maybe... then it would just die.. and like said above.. if i worry about towing.. i put it in 4 low.. lock up the breaks.. and if you think you can drag my 4500 pound vehicle.. then you deserve it.... cause it does have flex.. so you would have to lift it quite high..
just me rambling on here..

survival is instinct, but living takes guts

 

I imagine that a professional thief will take just about anything they want, but I don't think my CJ is on the "hot" list! I too worry
about the "joyrider", with that in mind most joyrider's are idiots! Do you have a twin stick shifter on your t-case? Shift both of those
things (or one if you have one shifter) into neutral! Most don't know what to do with one stick much less a whole slew of them!!

Alec

 

HHHMMMMM!!! lots of ideas here but this is a little different. Try a pager style alarm that contacts you on entry by other than yourself. Then call police and give them your LOJACK ID number get Jeep back and police get criminal. This is VERY effective in areas that have lojack capabilities, Here in Phoenix and Tucson they have a 100% recovery rate of these vehicles.
GP'n

 

I saw an infomercial that had the next great "club" type thing. its like of like a mini High lift jack. it goes on the floow behind the brake or cluch pedal. then an part of it lifts up the pedal frame from behind making it uusable. it looked really good. As fas the regular club goes, its better than the not having one. a thief will pic you car second because of it. about it being easily picable, I have a fake one wiht a cross shaped pick proof lock.

 

My friend is in South Africa right now and was telling me that they have a serious problem of car theft. They have mounds of different anti-theft devices. One that he told me about that I have never heard of was a lock similar to a u-lock for a bicycle that clamped down over the shifter so that it couldn't be shifted. Also check this out---a good site to cite http://cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9812/11/flame.thrower.car/.

 

That flame thrower is to cool. I gotta get one for the YJ.

Jeff
89 Wrangler
If at first you dont succeed, your replacement will try and try again.

 

Harder for the jerk to figure out than the removed coil wire, and easier to carry, is the distributor rotor. I do this when leaving it for several days (as on backpacking trips). Also consider the fact that many cars have two ignition circuits..... one for starting that only operates when the key is in the "start" position, and the normal running circuit. If you put a kill switch in the run circuit and try to start it, it will start right up, but stop running as soon as you let go of the key. The thief does this a few times, gets confused since it doesn't completely refuse to start, and then goes looking for an easier target.

I only try to discourage the casual punk joyrider, a pro will get anything he wants..... and I doubt a pro wants my old CJ.

-Dana

The speed of light is greater than the speed of sound. That's why some people seem very bright until you hear them speak.