Tracking device for square bodies?

Apologies if this is already been covered but I couldn't find any material on it. Is there a real time tracking device that works with square body Chevys? If so can somebody post a link. Not really a fan of car alarms and cut off switches don't really work when vehicles are being towed.

There was a thread on ClassicOlds a couple years ago about this same subject. It was started because someone came home from work to find their garage door open and their 67 442 missing. It was recovered a couple weeks later with little more than a shell.

The best idea I heard was having a cheap prepaid phone with charger hidden somewhere in the vehicle. Make sure it’s on a charger, connected to a full time power source.

The idea is to use the GPS phone locator to find to phone if it’s lost. As long as the phone battery is fully charged, the battery will last a few days even if the truck battery is disconnected.

i'm sure there are consumer lo-jack type device that will work just fine.
they don't rely on the vehicle 'gizmos'. it's self contained.

i have aprs trackers in all my vehicles but that's a ham radio licensed device.
this is also a self contained device that doesn't use anything from the vehicle itself.
(the aprs tracker has it's own gps receiver, controller, rf transmitter)
i've got an aprs tracker that my beagle totes around as well.

there's an idea, you could buy a hunting dog collar/tracking kit.

comes with a collar and a handheld mapping receiver to track it.

I'm not that impressed with the Lo-Jack brand system. We had the receivers installed in our patrol vehicles. They were good for locating stationary vehicles, but it was hard to track moving vehicles due to the lag in the transponder sending the signal. It is greatly improved if a helicopter is helping with the sighting. They get a much better signal in the air.

I've been retired for 5 years and maybe they have improved their systems.

There are many decent gps trackers out there that companies use on fleet vehicles to track what their drivers are doing.

Problem is finding one without a monthly service fee.

WebMonkey said:

i'm sure there are consumer lo-jack type device that will work just fine.
they don't rely on the vehicle 'gizmos'. it's self contained.

i have aprs trackers in all my vehicles but that's a ham radio licensed device.
this is also a self contained device that doesn't use anything from the vehicle itself.
(the aprs tracker has it's own gps receiver, controller, rf transmitter)
i've got an aprs tracker that my beagle totes around as well.

there's an idea, you could buy a hunting dog collar/tracking kit.

comes with a collar and a handheld mapping receiver to track it.

Click to expand...

Got a product link? Working on getting my license and this seems like it would work very well.

hunters628 said:

Got a product link? Working on getting my license and this seems like it would work very well.

Click to expand...

just a google search of "APRS tracker" will do you well.

this is a couple items in the scope of what you're trying to do:

https://byonics.com/mt-aio

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AVRT5-APRS...507521?hash=item4220e1c141:g:LgsAAOSwzkld1XJV

i have both of these as well as 'modular' setups (the gps receiver/controller/radio are all separated) .

now, i've never looked into the legality of using this tech on an unlicensed service (say frs or murs) but packet radio is certainly not confined to ham radio use.

lastly, i'll agree/echo the above comments about stationary vs moving targets.

aprs trackers are setup/programmed by the owner so you could send updates more often.
the smaller of the above links, i have set to 30 second updates.

my vehicle trackers range from 1 to 2 minute updates.

this will obviously help but not eliminate the tracking error of a speeding vehicle.

Craig 85 said:

I'm not that impressed with the Lo-Jack brand system. We had the receivers installed in our patrol vehicles. They were good for locating stationary vehicles, but it was hard to track moving vehicles due to the lag in the transponder sending the signal. It is greatly improved if a helicopter is helping with the sighting. They get a much better signal in the air.

I've been retired for 5 years and maybe they have improved their systems.

Click to expand...

Nope. They're still lacking.

We recently used a Trak-4 unit to track the movement of my daughter’s Chevelle during shipping from Alaska to New Mexico and it worked well and the price was very reasonable.

What @Matt69olds said. Cheap cell phone. Tape it high under the dash, hidden by the heater box. Do not have to rely on any service. Don't need anyone else to know when you go to retrieve your truck, and how you may choose to get it back.

Turbo4whl said:

What @Matt69olds said. Cheap cell phone. Tape it high under the dash, hidden by the heater box. Do not have to rely on any service. Don't need anyone else to know when you go to retrieve your truck, and how you may choose to get it back.

Click to expand...

The last part of that statement being the best part!
Apple airtag would work too, as long as the stolen vehicle was within Bluetooth range of anyone with an Apple device. (Seems fairly plausible these days).
Or for @Burban1990 , just get the aliens to give you a chip like they implanted in your brain. It must work through tin foil, so should work on a squarebody!
PS thought you sold your Burb. Martians teleport it back to you?

Thought about air tagging the square once it gets released in to the wild.
I have a fairly ingenious plan for disabling it. But doesn’t keep someone from hooking and booking with it. And not able to lock into 4wd wheels turned etc to make it more difficult to load or tow, like newer 4wds.
My plan: Truck is carbed with an electric fuel pump. Due to the Vortec big block. I’ve already installed a long ground to the fuel pump that I will wire through an old school dimmer switch (under the carpet further up the floor pan than original).
Easy 1 click to disable fuel pump. Beauty is, it’ll start and run without the fuel pump….for about 15 seconds. Just enough time for a theif to fire it up and get out into a street. Bam out of gas, no start, truck would likely get left in the open blocking traffic.
Best case scenario to get the cops there since most don’t even respond to stolen vehicles in metropolitan areas…

And before anyone says it, if a car thief in Seattle is dedicated enough to read this and then find my truck, he gets a reward for hard work and that’s why I will have it insured for apprised stated value once it’s on the road.
Besides at the rate I’m going on completing it , this thread will be in the bowels of the forum by then, and if stolen now, would have to get past 2 German Shepherds and drive away with no windows, hood, bed, seat, dash, lights or door handles.