Security & Theft Securing tractor from theft

AndyinIowa · Jun 23, 2008

If you have railroad ties, etc... you can build an L shaped bunker to park the tractor. This prevents a thief from towing it up on a flatbed. It makes it **** hard if you can't get it started yourself, since towing is virtually out of the question...

IowaAndy

Rara Avis · Jun 23, 2008

CurlyDave said:
Ideas to deter theft?

Insurance policy. Mine is ridiculously inexpensive.

I'd be curious to see what a policy is for a tractor on unoccupied land would be...My thoughts are it would NOT be cheap...Because it just seems to be asking to be taken...

Soundguy · Jun 23, 2008

AndyinIowa said:
If you have railroad ties, etc... you can build an L shaped bunker to park the tractor. This prevents a thief from towing it up on a flatbed. It makes it **** hard if you can't get it started yourself, since towing is virtually out of the question...

IowaAndy

That's a joke right? a 99$ chainsaw and about 5 minutes or less of work will yeild a pile of sawdust and a gone tractor!

soundguy

slewisma · Jun 23, 2008

Timely article in the Boston Globe: Thieves target heavy-duty landscaping equipment - The Boston Globe

hench861 · Jun 25, 2008

i bought several of those master python cable locks and i thread them through the wheels and around my steel fence posts

Cyberroc · Jun 26, 2008

I may have the answer... Anti-Theft-Device-Video

If not, there are a lot of good idea's to start with... I would say a couple of tires and the battery is a good start...

Good Luck, I am thinking about the same, however I may plan to just park it in the garage, however that does not help your situation...

Be sure to let us know what you wind up with, most of the time those with situations like yours will come up with the best plan.

Nuru · Jun 26, 2008

Cyberroc said:
I may have the answer... Anti-Theft-Device-Video

If not, there are a lot of good idea's to start with... I would say a couple of tires and the battery is a good start...

Good Luck, I am thinking about the same, however I may plan to just park it in the garage, however that does not help your situation...

Be sure to let us know what you wind up with, most of the time those with situations like yours will come up with the best plan.

when I was working with a firm in the early 2000, that had a ground station in SA, the guys out there told me about this anti-car jack deterent device. They shopwed us pics and told uis the problem was pretty bad and that htat is how some rental agencies and regular people reacted.

but on the more US realistic side, as the SA device is inefficient by US standards (it leaves traces behind),in addition to the other devices mentioned, why not just booby trap the with a device that will douse itch and sneezing powders all over them, and also have a the electronics send you a page or an email to let you know someone has broken in to your building and into your unit. The 2 powders will slow them down quite a bit and then the paging to you and/or the local authorities will bring help. Also a well hidden low-jack will lead the authorities to the "perps", axx-hxlxs for short.

Soundguy · Jun 26, 2008

hench861 said:
i bought several of those master python cable locks and i thread them through the wheels and around my steel fence posts

I bet an abrasive wheel would go thru one of those lickety split.

soundguy

patrick_g · Jun 26, 2008

One of my previous means of making a living was as an electronics design engineer. I love to tinker and have a good imagination. I can build lots of cute anti-theft devices.

You can remove your wheels, chain your steering wheel, remove fuses and on and on and on and it probably won't add much more than 15-30 seconds (if any added time at all) to the time it takes to winch the tractor onto a trailer and drive off. A battery operated angle grinder will unlock just about every chain, cable and similar restraint in a few seconds.

If you make your security routine complicated enough you won't religiously apply it.

Recorded low light video of ski masked perpetrators with covered lisc plates on their vehicle might be able to be sold to some TV video show but will not enable the cops to return your tractor any better/faster.

Theft deterrents have to meet certain criteria to be effective. Either physically make the theft hard to impossible (Locked in a secure bld - see note #1) attract unwanted attention to the thieves, reliably notify you of a theft in progress so cops can be dispatched (or you can investigate, preferably armed and mentally prepared to take care of business) or something similar to LOJAK needs to be used.

Note#1: so you buy or rent a 20 ft shipping container and lock the tractor inside. Now you loose a tractor and an expensive box at the same time. The battery operated angle grinder will open one of those containers like it was a tin of sardines. ( I have two of these containers and they only keep honest or unprepared people honest.)

I pay $5/month for the cell phone backup on my alarm system. If an alarm was installed on the tractor (with cell module) It can call the cops or you or both in case the tractor is tilted ( a virtual mandatory requirement to load it) Of course you need cell coverage in your area. A call to the cops or you is much better than a video of ski masked thieves driving away with your tractor.

Decades ago I designed a theft deterrent system for (mostly) heavy equipment which is often left at a job site. It routinely and frequently sent an "I'm OK" message. If the message was overdue it was assumed someone disabled the alarm so disabling the alarm actually was the alarm situation. Starting the equipment or tilting it or any of a number of things set off the alarm via radio (would use cell phone now.) No way to defeat this system as anything which turned the alarm off was in fact the alarm signal.

LOJACK type equipment is a very good approach.

Playing with the wheels, fuses, chains, cables and such are just whistling in the dark. Anyone with an abrasive cut off blade in a battery operated tool, a winch, and a trailer can load and go in less than 2 minutes without starting or steering the tractor. The only thieves deterred might be Halloween pranksters and the severely retarded. You will be inconvenienced more than a thief.

If you have or can get phone service to the place you park your tractor, do so. Install a monitored alarm system with cell phone backup. The phone line and the alarm system can go inside a very secure box (DIY steel and or steel reinforced concrete) The tractor is connected to the alarm system by hardwire. breaking or cutting the wire sets off the alarm and contacts the monitoring company. Disabling the phone line causes the cell module to send the signal to the monitoring company who in turn calls the cops and you or your designees.

It is unlikely that thieves will arrive with a trencher to encircle your location cutting the phone lines so you may decide to save $ and take the risk and not have a cell backup.

Alternatively you can just burn incense on Saturday night and think pure thoughts as that will be as effective as fuses, chains, cables, removing wheels, and such. It isn't like a thief really cares if the tractor will start or steer when the tractor is taken. All your clever tricks can be removed at his leisure AFTER he has your tractor where he wants it.

Here is a Myth Buster type challenge... Anyone can enter the competition. You don't have to be over 18 to win or buy anything.

Detail a method that will effectively prevent theft of a tractor parked in a field. The theft deterrent has to be something that is not so much hassle for the owner that he won't keep using it.

If neither SoundGuy, N-80, nor myself can't see a way to defeat the theft deterrent, then your method will be logged into the semi finals. Advancing from the semi finals to the finals will be based on the three judges voting on the candidate solutions. Wining the final round will get your name placed into a drawing where you may qualify for a swell prize. Good luck.

Pat