Anti theft steering column

[AK49BWL]

Just making me glad I live out in the country... Y'all couldn't pay me to live in Houston.

 

[MrPink]

and I though Michigan was bad, however nobody effs with old trucks.

 

[someotherguy]

Yeah, and the repo guys have to be stealthy, or in a lot of areas they'll get shot. My mom's Chrysler got repoed from our carport. I was sleeping not 10 feet away from it, the factory alarm didn't go off, and I never heard anything. And this car wouldn't do anything w/o the factory keys ($ 300 each, cause the key is the remote! Thanks Mercedes).

That FOBIK/pushbutton start setup is what is allowing so much theft of Mopars these days. The older key setup (prior to 2008) isn't foolproof either, but I'm glad my '06 300 is that style instead of the FOBIK. The thieves are targeting the hell out of those cars. BTW the factory alarm won't go off unless they open the door.

I've done a few of those repo's myself .... always a good time.

Dually is bagged and lays frame (wheels up in the flares), no tow hooks, roll pan. It'll stop dead when the bags are dumped. You're not getting a wheel lift or J hook under it, and there's nothing to chain to except the frame holes by the wheels. If you could get a hook in one of them (big if) you'd still have to drag it on the frame. You could get a strap around the front bumper, but you're likely to end up with just that. Motion cameras/lights, guns and dogs.
Not theft proof, but difficult.

Yeah that's the thing, it would depend on -why- they want it. If they're not worried about damage, they will indeed drag it. That's how my '92 was stolen. They cut the fence down and dragged it out, all the way down the road. It does sound pretty difficult to get your truck though and that's good.

Just boot all 4 lol

Zero issue for me. I can load that as easily as any AWD vehicle.

and I though Michigan was bad, however nobody effs with old trucks.

You have two general types of auto theft. High value stuff, and easy-to-take stuff. Different targets, different criminals. The GMT400's are easy, they just jack the door handle then bust your column. The parts are still worth money, but they also steal them just because it's an easy vehicle to grab for a drive-by, smash-and-grab, or whatever. I've loaded a few that were dumped with the engine still running.

Richard

 

[618 Syndicate]

Difficult is the goal.

 

[df2x4]

That FOBIK/pushbutton start setup is what is allowing so much theft of Mopars these days.

I swear I remember seeing a video a few years ago of some hackers demonstrating the ability to manipulate the ignition and door locks of a newer Jeep Cherokee or something similar while driving next to it down a highway.

No computers that advanced will be integrated that deeply into any of my vehicles, ever. My '97s are probably the newest vehicles I'll ever own in my life.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Yeah, and the repo guys have to be stealthy, or in a lot of areas they'll get shot. My mom's Chrysler got repoed from our carport. I was sleeping not 10 feet away from it, the factory alarm didn't go off, and I never heard anything. And this car wouldn't do anything w/o the factory keys ($ 300 each, cause the key is the remote! Thanks Mercedes).

This car is a 2004 Pacifica.

 

[someotherguy]

This car is a 2004 Pacifica.

Beats me.. I don't know anything about those except they're heavy as hell to push out of a spot on go-jaks. The fullsize cars (LX) had a regular key style ignition tumbler through 2007, though the key has an embedded RFID chip that is read by a circular antenna mounted inside the dash.

Richard

 

[Erik the Awful]

I worked with a guy who had done repo. He had a square body dually and a flat trailer with a 10k winch. He went to repossess a truck, and knowing it was up for repossession, the debtor parked the truck in the street with a car in front and behind, with just a couple inches between each vehicle. My repo friend drove to the corner 7-11 and bought some liquid laundry detergent, poured it under the truck's tires, then winched the truck sideways from between the cars.

The moral of the story, if they want it, they'll get it. I think laying frame would be pretty effective as a deterrent, but I'm not willing to go that far with it. That said, I do need to add a kill switch to my truck. I'm thinking of using the four unused switches on my upper console as a combination switch. If they're on/off in the correct order, it'll start.
View media item 32097

 

[someotherguy]

I worked with a guy who had done repo. He had a square body dually and a flat trailer with a 10k winch. He went to repossess a truck, and knowing it was up for repossession, the debtor parked the truck in the street with a car in front and behind, with just a couple inches between each vehicle. My repo friend drove to the corner 7-11 and bought some liquid laundry detergent, poured it under the truck's tires, then winched the truck sideways from between the cars.

Yep! Dish soap an old favorite for sliding a vehicle, that's old school; today we use tire skates (look sort of like big doorstop-shaped pieces of slippery plastic.)

Today's self-loader wreckers that can do 90 degree loads have no issue with cars parked tight parallel. There have been wreckers capable of this loading since the early 2000's, but here's a nice video of one in action.

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The 90 degree load is at the 3:40 mark near the end of the video; the forum won't let me link it properly to start playing at that point. The whole video is pretty informative but again the 90 degree load is near the end. This is the style truck we all use these days.

Richard

 

[RQ Jay]

Just wanted to note that your year truck, like my 1993 has the "Anti-Theft" column GM did for a few years after theft became a large problem in the early 90s.
It became commonplace knowledge by most that breaking up the column and exposing the starting gear (called a Sector gear) and popping it off with a screwdriver allowed you the pull the starting rod and break the steering wheel lock at the same time.
In around 1993 to 1999 GM placed steel metal housing around that area inside the column sleeve, as well as making the sector gear non-removeable.
This helped to deter the actual theft of the vehicles, but because they looked identical to the older columns thieves still spend the waisted time trying and damaging the column housing (like the one showed in the OP).