Craziest antitheft idea yet.

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Matt69olds

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What you're describing is an aftermarket electric parking brake.


I have one on my truck because I wanted to eliminate the pedal and all the attached cable nonsense. Works great, I didn't install it for theft prevention but it certainly helps. I also have an electric fuel pump kill switch. With EFI, it ain't starting without the pump on.

But most importantly, I have a hidden commercial GPS tracker that are normally used on semi truck trailers. It is powered by 4 AA batteries that last 10 years and operates on 5G. If the worst happens and my truck gets dragged onto a flatbed, I want to know where to go find it!
I’d be interested in knowing more about the gps tracker
 

RetroC10Sport

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I think the best deterrent is that it looks like a big enough pos that they just walk past it. Thinking it's not worth the trouble. Lol
My truck looks like total **** with an alarm and someone still tried to steal it at Walmart one day.
 

RetroC10Sport

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Might be hard to imagine but in one of my old squarebodies, I rebuilt my steering column using parts from an old Pontiac LeMans with a floor shift. I noticed that when you put the LeMans floor shift in gear, the column twisted with it and it gave me an idea. I used the column part that would hold the shifter if it were a column shift on my squarebody column, you had to twist the column to put it in gear instead of using the lever.

If someone got in it, they would have to find out how to actually put it in gear. Best of all, the column still locked in place when the truck was turned off.

This is the piece I substituted the column shifter with.
 
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Bloodhound1981

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I’d be interested in knowing more about the gps tracker

It's $100 a year for the hourly location update subscription, plus a one time $150 to buy the tracker. That would put off some people. But for the amount of money and sentimental value I have into my truck that I've had since I was 14yo the peace of mind is well worth it to me not to worry about losing it to some scumbag. You can track it on a phone app, set up geofence perimeter alerts, etc. Some people say just use an Apple air tag but if you know enough about how those work, it's no where near as legit as a real GPS tracker.

 
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Grit dog

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The running out of fuel is just about the best idea. I've talked about this many times with my buddies. Let the thief get in the truck easily so there's minimal damage, get down the road a mile or so and when it dies, they'll spook and just leave it. Though since my truck is LS'd, I have a hidden kill switch that kills everything but the starter. It'll spin but there's no fuel/spark or interior power.
Zactly what I did. Helps that my truck, like yours, would t normally have an electric fuel pump. So any thief that is a squarebody afficianado wouldn’t ever expect to hear a fuel pump.
The truck will start and run for about a minute with the fuel pump trigger interrupted. And it will drive for about 30 seconds. Enough time to hopefully present the dead truck in the middle of the road scenario if it’s stolen.
 

Radiohead

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A properly deployed claymore is a work of art. :signs6:
 

Scott91370

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If they want it they will get it no matter what you use to stop them.
For most thieves if it isn't easy they will go on their way, they don't want to get caught so the simple starter kill is good enough.
 

Havasu

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When I was stationed on a ship at Pearl Harbor, I used the Navy hobby shop near military housing to do a full rebuild of the entire drivetrain for my '73 Dodge Dart; 340 small block, 727 transmission, and 8-3/4 rear end.
I also completely rewired the entire engine bay, going up a gage on all the wiring and sinking the harness under the fenders.

Anyhow, the fateful day came when everything was done and it was time to start it.

Turned the key, and instead of cranking noises, the horn beeped!

My heart sank and I hung my head over the steering wheel, wondering what I could have screwed up.

Then a sneaking thought hit me; oh, could it be this simple?

Turned the key to on, then hit the horn and VROOM, she cranked right over!

Just two wires were switched. I always thought I should have left it that way as a theft deterrent. ;P
 

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MikeB

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For most thieves if it isn't easy they will go on their way, they don't want to get caught so the simple starter kill is good enough.
Yeah, most times they won't hang around too long, depending on the location. I think a good old noisy alarm has to be one of the best ways to send a potential thief running.

I once brushed by a newer car in a parking lot, which triggered an extremely loud robotic voice saying, "Please move away from the car." It scared the heck out of me, and reminded me of the ED-209 robot from the first Robocop movie.

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tobiahr

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I had someone trying to buy a custom front bumper from me while I was working at a bar. I refused and they thought they would just disable my truck by removing a couple of plug wires so they could steal it later when I left it. These old trucks will still run on 5 or 6 cylinders.
As for anti-theft, I have used a remote battery disconnect switch on an older 4wd. It was one of the old battery selector wheels with only one battery connected but it worked. They are now only $25 on Amazon and have a remote fob to operate. No cab lights, no anything. You cannot even jump-start the vehicle.
Overall if someone wants your vehicle they will get it. no matter how many anti-theft devices you have. I had a GPS tracker on my motorcycle when it was stolen and it pinged once for about 2 hours about a day after it was stolen. Cops said that they have recovered enclosed trailers with makeshift Faraday cages built to disable any kind of wireless tracking.
 

Bennyt

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My opinion, the carguard steering column locks are one of the best devices to prevent theft. Turn the wheel all the way to one side, put the column guard on and they can't start the vehicle or turn the wheels straight which makes it awkward to tow. Unfortunately, its hard to find the originals and the ebay ones aren't nearly the quality.

Many years ago, I bought a kids bracelet/ watch on skymall that was a GPS tracker. I had it sitting in the glovebox. My thought was a thief wouldn't pay attention to it and Id be able to track the vehicle. I may or may not have TrackR and Airtags on my collector cars. Redundancy is key.

As we all know, if someone really wants it, they'll get it. Make sure you have a good insurance policy that truly covers the vehicle and practice your due diligence.

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c-real

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I had a 95 chevy suburban and something was broken or missing on the column maybe it was the rod tht connects the shifter to the thing under the column tht changes gears idk I can't remember but anyways the rod was gone. The shifter was still on the column and still moved as if it worked. But to take the truck out of gear you would have to reach underneath the column and pull the thing forward towards you to take it out of gear. It was actually pretty easy anyways my bf was gonna let his friend use the truck cause he was moving and needed to borrow it. Well when I tell you I haven't had so much entertainment out of someone absolutely just lost and confused as to why the shifter wasn't working lol. I watched this guy from the window just confused and having actual wtf is wrong with this truck moments. After about 10 or 15 min I finally went out and showed him how to take the truck in and out of gear and laughed at him a little bit. He was embarrassed and felt like a complete dummy. Also men don't usually like it when a female has to tell or show them how to operate a vehicle or fix something on a vehicle. Idk it makes them feel less like a man or somethin. They also don't usually like it if u kno more about a vehicle than they do either. Sorry not sorry. Move over boys cause I'm a work in progress and learning how to take over lol. Anyways moral of the story is tht was a damn good antitheft cause unless u kno what to look for then you'd never been able to get it in or out of gear to steal the truck and I'd say by the time u figured it out then it'd probably been too late and you'd got caught. Thanks for listening!
 

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