Dude... where's my truck?

[anderkart]

I woke up yesterday to find my Toyota truck had been stolen. :furious2:

It was locked up and parked out front just like its been for the last 10 years. I had full coverage insurance but this still really sucks balls. I had the cops out and now were dealing with the insurance company.

Were pretty close to Mexico and I've heard a lot of our stolen vehicles end up there. I was kinda wondering if anyone has a online web cam setup to watch their ride cross the border...

[jr dragster Tyler]

Wow, That sucks dude! A racing friend of mine (Jrdragsterkenny) had his father's 2500 ram 4x4 Cummins diesel stolen. It had a full load with a scrap steel truck on the back and they bothered and took the time to unhitch, Hotwire and take off.

[kibble]

No freaking way! That really sucks!!! :ack2: I hope they're able to recover it with no damage.

[freakboy]

that really sucks man

[frederic]

If you value your vehicle, lojack it.

I never bother because at least around here, stolen vehicles end up severely damaged and if the damage is not quite enough to have it declared a total loss, your insurance company fixes it cheapy with knock-off parts and it never runs right.

Anyway, sorry for your loss.

[anderkart]

Hey thanks guys. I guess I just needed to vent a bit.

My family had another pretty bizarre incident yesterday:

My nephew (Don) was driving down a fairly busy main street here and saw a guy trying to push his apparently broken down car by off the road by himself. Don stopped to help him push and 4 of this dude's accomplices suddenly hopped out of the bushes and tried to kick his butt and steal his wallet. (his car is an old piece of crap or they probably would of tried stealing that too)

My nephew is 6-5"/280lbs and happens to be a trully awesome boxer. He managed to fight them all off, get back to his car and get away with only a busted lip and his glasses bent out of shape. During the fight one of the dudes actualy managed to pull his wallet out but Don decked that dude, grabbed it back and started running.

As Don was running back to his car they seemed to give up and didnt follow but started throwing rocks at him. Before he hopped in, he stopped and threw a big rock back towards them and managed to totally bust their windshield... :thumbsup:

So now the cops are out looking for 5 black guys driving around in a 90's model, grey Mercury Sable with a busted windshield. (shouldn't be too hard to spot... ;)

Man, my town's totally going to crap lately!

[Kaptain Krunch]

Sounds like they picked the wrong guy to **** with haha. That sucks about your truck tho man, hope you can find it.

[kibble]

saw a guy trying to push his apparently broken down car by off the road by himself. Don stopped to help him push and 4 of this dude's accomplices suddenly hopped out of the bushes and tried to kick his butt and steal his wallet.

You try to be a good guy and someone's gotta try to take advantage..... I've just learned to trust no one. :2guns:

[freakboy]

ROFL thats almost as bad as this story lol well i got two first there was a burnt out car in virginia beach it looks like it was molitoved. another one someone was dumping trash on my freinds property in the back woods of pa here lol and we saw them jumped in his moms subaru and were goin 90 on thes back roads rofl and we chased him bout 2 miles lol.

[kibble]

ROFL thats almost as bad as this story lol well i got two first there was a burnt out car in virginia beach it looks like it was molitoved. another one someone was dumping trash on my freinds property in the back woods of pa here lol and we saw them jumped in his moms subaru and were goin 90 on thes back roads rofl and we chased him bout 2 miles lol.

I had to read this a few times to make sense out of it. Sounds like you were a bit too excited typing. :arf:

A few years ago, my friend was driving along and some kids going in the opposite direction threw some eggs at his car, he flipped a U floored it and followed them until they finally stopped and then he made one of the kids clean the car with his shirt.

[freakboy]

ROFL sorry i cant type when i remember stories brain to fast for hands.

[EagleTalons]

Hey thanks guys. I guess I just needed to vent a bit.

My family had another pretty bizarre incident yesterday:

My nephew (Don) was driving down a fairly busy main street here and saw a guy trying to push his apparently broken down car by off the road by himself. Don stopped to help him push and 4 of this dude's accomplices suddenly hopped out of the bushes and tried to kick his butt and steal his wallet. (his car is an old piece of crap or they probably would of tried stealing that too)

My nephew is 6-5"/280lbs and happens to be a trully awesome boxer. He managed to fight them all off, get back to his car and get away with only a busted lip and his glasses bent out of shape. During the fight one of the dudes actualy managed to pull his wallet out but Don decked that dude, grabbed it back and started running.

As Don was running back to his car they seemed to give up and didnt follow but started throwing rocks at him. Before he hopped in, he stopped and threw a big rock back towards them and managed to totally bust their windshield... :thumbsup:

So now the cops are out looking for 5 black guys driving around in a 90's model, grey Mercury Sable with a busted windshield. (shouldn't be too hard to spot... ;)

Man, my town's totally going to crap lately!

He shoulda got ran all those idiots over. I mean honestly, taking advantage of someone that wants to help?

[anderkart]

Hey my insurance company called and said the cops recovered my truck! All they knew was it was now sitting in an impound lot, but they didnt have any info at all on its condition. So... I drove on down to the impound lot expecting to find a pile of stripped down burnt carnage.

Turns out I cant find any damage at all !!! No broken window, no busted steering column, no stolen stereo, this thing seemed fine so I just paid the tow bill and drove that sucker back home!

Apparently the cops found my truck on the side of the road near the on-ramp of a freeway. (only a mile away from my house...)

I talked to the guy at the impound lot and he said many of these older Toyota's can be started with an old Toyota key thats simply had the teeth ground down a bit, but many times the steering wheel keeps repeatedly locking up until they jiggle the key around again. I figure meyby thats why the thief decided he didnt want to risk not being able to steer it at 65MPH and just ditched it.

I dont know... but for some reason, I got the urge to go out and install an anti-theft switch now... ;)

[TOO FAST]

Glad to hear the good news. It's a few that are just wrecking society for everybody.
I try to still trust people, otherwise they will have won.

[mike75925]

i didn't think on a theft recovery, you had to pay any kind of money. show your title/reg., insurance and maybe a license. that sucks that you had to pay, but at least no damage. thank God

[anderkart]

Hey thanks again for everyone's kind words and encouragement. You guys are the best.

I only had to pay a $27.50 towing charge + $13.00 storage fee. I'd called the insurance company from the impound lot and they could have arranged payment but It would have taken much longer that way and I wanted to get my truck back and split asap. I pay an extra couple bucks a year for towing on my trucks insurance policy and they said they'd reimburse me.

[mike75925]

in that case, mostly all good

[anderkart]

10-fur good buddy!

[kibble]

Awesome! Glad to hear everything turned out ok and that your truck wasn't damaged! :wai:

[jr dragster Tyler]

Good to hear you got your truck back. I HATE people that steal and cant stand it.

[anderkart]

Oh my freakin god. My same truck was stolen yet again last night.

[modelengineer]

Didn't you install that anti-theft switch?

[Carlman]

**** man thats not cool aye, im praying for your yota mate!

[anderkart]

Thanks Carlman, I appreciate it.

Didn't you install that anti-theft switch?

I screwed up and never got around to it. I'd been unplugging tho coil/igniter every single night, but after my wife's mini van blew a head gasket last week she started driving this truck. I'd showed her how to unplug it and she did for awhile but this morning she told me she'd stopped a few days ago...

:oops:

Now were down to our old gas sucking 454 powered Suburban and a rental car my insurance company will pick up the tab for the next month or so. If the cops dont find it by then, my insurance company said they'd pay us off for the truck after this waiting period.

Something kinda weird is the very same cop showed up to take my report this morning. (we live in a huge town and theres gotta be a 1000 cops here)

[kibble]

Dude, that's not cool! Hopefully you'll get it back again!

[anderkart]

Thanks Kibble.
Still no word from the cops, as each day passes I'm loosing more and more hope of it ever being found... :toetap05:

[skid20]

Hey my insurance company called and said the cops recovered my truck! All they knew was it was now sitting in an impound lot, but they didnt have any info at all on its condition. So... I drove on down to the impound lot expecting to find a pile of stripped down burnt carnage.

Turns out I cant find any damage at all !!! No broken window, no busted steering column, no stolen stereo, this thing seemed fine so I just paid the tow bill and drove that sucker back home!

Apparently the cops found my truck on the side of the road near the on-ramp of a freeway. (only a mile away from my house...)

I talked to the guy at the impound lot and he said many of these older Toyota's can be started with an old Toyota key thats simply had the teeth ground down a bit, but many times the steering wheel keeps repeatedly locking up until they jiggle the key around again. I figure meyby thats why the thief decided he didnt want to risk not being able to steer it at 65MPH and just ditched it.

I dont know... but for some reason, I got the urge to go out and install an anti-theft switch now... ;)

sounds like that impound lot dude shure knew alot about stealing toyotas!:roflol: There was a tow company I heard about one time that just pulled up their flat bed tow truck to driveways and took off with your vehicle. Then they'd charge a fee when the owner finds his/her car. Not shure how they got away with it..... probably made a deal with 'the bad cop' lol

[IHcubguy]

Well when they catch the person/ppl. (being optimistic) they might link the first attempt to him/them, two counts of grand theft auto!! I hate ppl. that steal, who does?! scums of the earth!! If it was the impound and they loaded it up on a flatbed you would see marks from the tires skiding from being in gear! plus it makes alot of noise someone would have heard it! Granted the doors were locked if it has a standard trans!

[anderkart]

Yeah I thought it was kinda weird 2 diferent people from that impound lot knew so much about stealing 90's era Toyota's, but this lot has the contract with our police department to store all our towns recovered/stolen cars so they might have gotten a lot of inside info from the cops.

I'd guess theres been quite a few wrecker drivers out stealing cars over the years. I hadn't thought about wreckers towing legally parked cars for the tow/impound bill but I'm sure thats probably happened a bunch too.

If the dude gets caught and prosecuted for steeling mine twice they'll keep him in jail longer and only prolong the rather evil revenge plan I've been thinking up for him. It involves a bench vice tightly clamping down on his junk (with the vice handle removed) Then liberally splashing gas all over him. At that point I'd light him up as I tossed him a dull jagged knife soaked in battery acid... ;)

I just got finished instaling anti theft switches in my other cars, I wish I'd done my pickup after the first time.

[IHcubguy]

his "junk" in a vise?! :wai::thumbsup: peel his finger nails back with pliers!

[frederic]

Yeah I thought it was kinda weird 2 diferent people from that impound lot knew so much about stealing 90's era Toyota's, but this lot has the contract with our police department to store all our towns recovered/stolen cars so they might have gotten a lot of inside info from the cops.

Knowledge as to how to steal certain vehicles is not a top secret piece of information and anyone who has been in law enforcement or towing & recovery has seen enough of the remains to know how it's done. It's not rocket science either.

I used to do repo work with a "quicklock" wheel lift type truck. The "boom" was underneath the flatbed and the rear bumper was the wheel locks. I'd back up to whatever vehicle I had paperwork for, pull a lever in the cab to extend the wheel lift, move another lever to move it downwards, then nudge backwards until I heard a really loud "click". That meant the wheel locks wrapped around the tires of the vehicle to be towed and locked in position. I'd raise the boom while driving off. Within a couple of blocks i'd pull over and attach the wheel straps for safety reasons. I'd never strap it down upon hearing the "click" because I didn't want to be present if the vehicle owner comes out and starts a problem. None of them ever wanted to hear it's their fault for not making the payments. Not one.

Anyway, one doesn't have to be part of the criminal element to know how to boost cars.

[jr dragster Tyler]

If the dude gets caught and prosecuted for steeling mine twice they'll keep him in jail longer and only prolong the rather evil revenge plan I've been thinking up for him. It involves a bench vice tightly clamping down on his junk (with the vice handle removed) Then liberally splashing gas all over him. At that point I'd light him up as I tossed him a dull jagged knife soaked in battery acid...


I wouldn't even look at your truck lmao. Also how does the Anti-Theft switch work? Just one more step for a stupid robber to find and it wont start without it or what?

[frederic]

Generally an anti-theft switch is a hidden SPST switch that disconnects the ignition, fuel pump, power to the computer, or something along those lines. With EFI vehicle's there's more wires to tap into for more interesting effects.

A friend and I built a circuit that requires you to tap the clutch, tap the brake, then hold both in order to start his truck. I've been meaning to do something like that for my truck, and after Anderkart's twice misfortune, maybe it's time to do it myself.

[anderkart]

On older cars I've usualy installed a concealed (single pull-single throw) toggle switch with just one black wire that grounds the negative side of the ignition coil. The toggles other input terminal simply gets grounded. The only draw backs I've ran into with this system so far is if someone engages the toggle and then fully turns the key on to listen to the radio or something. It'll melt that poor coil down to a pile of ash. I've been a little reluctant to use this system on most newer cars. It should work the same but you never know what kind of weirdness they've designed into-em...

[skid20]

It's too bad you had to start the thread in off-topic FUN...
If your neighborhood is like mine then we need a 'What got jacked from my property' catagory.... Theives need only get caught once.

[frederic]

I've been a little reluctant to use this system on most newer cars. It should work the same but you never know what kind of weirdness they've designed into-em...

With an EFI car you have many options as far as a disable switch.

Install it between the computer and the fuel pump relay. That will allow the thief to crank the car a few times but it won't catch.

Another place is the main power lead to the computer. No computer, nothing happens at all. No spark, fuel, nada.

Another thing you can do aside from an electric switch is to install a brake lock in one of the brake lines (front or rear) or in the clutch line if you have a hydraulic clutch. Press the pedal, pull the knob, and the pedal remains there, clutch open or brakes applied.

[jr dragster Tyler]

Sometimes my school binder gets stolen right from say small engines class if I just go to work and as soon as I come back its gone from the table. I always seem to find my binder hidden somewhere and once me and a few buddy's found this poor little:censored:running away with it and let me tell you, I introduced him to my steel toe boots pretty fast with my binder in my hands.

[anderkart]

Thanks for the tips and replies guys, I still havent heard anything from the cops.

[anderkart]

Well... the cops just called, my truck was found about 2 miles away and I just picked it up. (dejavu man...;) It still runs but they tore the dash/column/ignition-sw up and stole my stereo and speakers. They also copped about $1500 worth of dog training gear that was in the camper. Besides that everything seemed to look alright, in the dark anyway. I'll get a better look at everything tomorrow.


Tonight's security measures include:
I've got it parked within inches of my front door.
Igniter is unplugged.
Coil wire has been reversed with a plug wire at distributor cap.
And finally I've got a bigass logging chain/padlock firmly wrapped between the steering wheel and brake pedal.

[Carlman]

Man that sucks, is it all covered?

Any exterior damage?

[jr dragster Tyler]

igniter?

[anderkart]

Yeah we have full coverage/$100 deductible. No external damage i could find, i got it dropped off at the Toyota dealer today. (hopefully It wont get stolen from there... :surrender:

We used to call the combination coil/ignition module packs Igniters on Toyota's back in the 80's. (but now that you mention it I'm not sure if its the corect term for my early 90's model or not)

[skid20]

Wonder if the dealer can update the locks and ignition?

[anderkart]

That'd be cool. I'll ask if they've changed or improved their replacement lock cylinders for the ignition switch. I figured the thief just used a Slim-Jim on the door.

[frederic]

Yep, slimjim.

Easiest way to fix that is to remove the doors, and fully dismantle.

Drill small holes along the inside of the top of the door, below where the interior panel goes.

Fold a thin piece of steel on a metal brake, most of the length of the door.

Put that inside, so the folded part covers the holes from the inside, and tack weld it the length of the door through the holes (plug welds).

Reassemble door.

Now, any slim jims shoved in, will flex away from the door's internal mechanisms.