25,000 lbs flat nose trailer coupler help??

[countrybumpkin]

I just bought a new enclosed trailer (Bumper pull) and it has a Flat nose 2 5/16" coupler on it I'm not sure how or if you can add a lock to it, while it's either on the truck or setting unhooked, wondered if anyone else here has used this type and whats your thoughts on them.

The coupler looks like this one here.

Atwood Flat Nose Trailer Coupler, 25K Atwood Trailer Coupler 75074

 

[Diamondpilot]

We actually use steel buckets or weld up a 1/4" steel plate box with some pieces of chain welded to it. Place it over and run the chain through the frame of the trailer and with a pad lock secure it. Did this with my GN also.

Short of that the only other solution I know of is to remove the 4 bolts holding the coupler or simply run a heavy chain though the trailer tires with a lock and dont secure the coupler. This is what we do on pintle equipment or run a chain though the pintle coupler and secure with a lock.

All these can be cut off but someone would really have to want it to get it.


Chris

 

[mwb]

I assume the round rod is the handle for opening and closing the coupler; can't you just weld a tab or loop to the mount plate that allows you to lock the handle against it?

 

[sandman2234]

Locks are made for honest people.

If the trailer is to be left in an unattended location, and somebody wants it, it will be gone. The better option is to keep it in an area where it can be seen, with people around it, and then locked up.
Best suggestion I have heard is forget the hitch, run a couple of serious chains thru the rim holes and use huge locks. Given enough time, even then, all they have to do is bring their own tires and rims, jack it up, remove your wheels, put a couple of lugnuts on theirs, slide all your chains/wheels out from under the trailer, throw them on top of the trailer and head down the road with it. Once they get to where they are going, cut the chains, and put your good tires/wheels back on it and they are in the trailer business.
We had a moving/storage place across the way from us, passed there 25' or so b/p trailer every day. One night saw a Chevy Impala parked in front of it, didn't think anything about it. They left, came back. Got curious, and walked over there, as the car pulled out with the trailer. They had fashioned a piece of flatbar to raise the ball up high enough to get the trailer off the ground and not drag, as the car hitch was way to low for this big of a trailer. I ran back inside and tried to call the moving company, but got their voicemail. So I called the police, who took FOREVER to get there. Yep, stolen trailer, to the best of my knowledge, was never found (I never saw it there again). The two guys with the Impala wanted that trailer badly, and did what it took to get it. According to some of the employees, there was a lock on the tongue, and two chains thru the wheels, crossed under the trailer so both would have to have been cut to move the trailer. The reason I figure I didn't see the guys around the Impala when I first came to work, was they were probably under the trailer with a big pair of bolt cutters, or some other method of cutting, such as a hacksaw, (didn't see any torch hoses) but a Plumbers torch set could have been used. Even liguid Nitrogen could work if they have the resourses.
Bottom line, even in a reasonably traveled area, if they want it, somebody can and will get it. Add it to your insurance rider on your truck.
David from jax

 

[Diamondpilot]

I assume the round rod is the handle for opening and closing the coupler; can't you just weld a tab or loop to the mount plate that allows you to lock the handle against it?

View attachment 239789

Good idea. So simple yet smart.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

Heck, I cold get though a 1/2 inch chain or lock in well under 30 seconds with my 18volt angle grinder and a 1/16 inch thin cut off wheel. It cuts like butter. My 18 volt Sawz-All could do it in about 1 minute with a decent blade.

They steal dozens of Cat Converters this way each and every week here. Many times while you are in the grocery store or WalMart. They even hit car lots and get 50 in a night off brand new cars.

So like was said above. If they want it they will get it. I see many on construction sites with the bucket of a Back Hoe placed over the tongue. At least this way they have to get it started to move it so they can hook up. Of course that does not work either. We had a wrecker company steal a Back Hoe and a 30' trailer off a lot. Winched the BH up on the roll back and picked the trailer up with the underslung boom and and some chains. Only reason they got caught was after multiple equipment thefts the police set up a bait sting and caught them in the act using a borrowed BH, Bob Cat, and pintle trialer from a larger construction firm here in town.

Chris

 

[jeffsw6]

Locks are made for honest people.

Well, a determined thief can figure out how to steal nearly anything, but a smart, determined thief with tools and know-how to steal a trailer is going to take one with no lock before he steals one that has a lock on it. I know my tongue locks will not stop a motivated thief with a grinder, I have had to cut one off that the key broke in and it took ten seconds, but thieves are opportunists and if your trailer has a lock and another one they see doesn't, that other trailer will get stolen first.

The local sunbelt place just recently started putting tongue locks on their rental generators when they do drop-off/pick-up service. I don't think they would bother if they didn't believe it would cut down on theft.

I had one of their rentals at a job site in October, and they put it in a bad place. I was going to move it until I saw the lock, at which point I just got out more feeder cable, because moving it was going to be more trouble than it was worth at that point.

 

[wolfpack2]

I had thought about getting one of the tire boot type locks that the police use for parking ticket violators. I have no idea how much they cost, but they stop most people from moving their cars, so I figured it would seriously slow down someone trying to steal a trailer.

Wheel Immobilizer Boot Menu

 

[DanD78]

Instead of locking the coupler, lock the landing gear crank. If you can't let it down you can't hook it up. Short chain and a pad lock.

Dan

 

[countrybumpkin]

Thanks everyone for your input, I use to work in law enforcement and seen it time and time again, if they want it they are going to get it or tear it up so bad they might as well have. :laughing: I think I will try welding up a cover and make a lock system that way, may do the chain also. I just like to try and do something besides leaving it wide open for them.