Equipment Theft Recovery Suggestions- LoJack

DFZ · Dec 11, 2015

Looking into buying Lo-Jack or something else for some of our equipment. Mostly the high value/high demand equipment like our RTV's/small tractors/lawnmower. I don't worry about the larger (50HP+) tractors as much because there is so little Agriculture left in SW Washington that I don't think there is as much value to thieves as a nice RTV or compact tractors. Besides, we would hear one of the larger tractors leaving.
There has been quite a bit of equipment theft here rescently and one of our local tractor dealerships just had 2 lawnmowers stolen off the lot. The thieves actually stole the mowers that were still crated from the factory, and stole a van truck from the dealership to haul them in. No surprise they found the truck the next day, no lawnmowers. A friend very near us had a trailer and lawnmower stolen from his lot this spring. Found the trailer next day, again- no mower.

So my question is, how many of you use Theft recovery systems? Anything to watch out for?
I priced Lo-Jack, it looks like $695 each unit, but at least there is no monthly or subscription fee. Another unit I priced was something like $100, with $15.99 a month. That adds up to a lot if you never use it.
Lo Jack claims to have a great recovery rate.

BTW:, BEFORE YOU ASK OR COMMENT, Yes, we do pull the keys in all of our Equipment. No, pulling the batteries is not an option- We are a working farm and use our equipment daily. Yes, we have a gate, but thieves have bolt cutters. And No, a gun is not an option, thieves would be gone before we hear anything, too many buildings, we can't see anybody around the barns.

Janicholson · Dec 11, 2015

Keyed battery disconnects are great. The key is a big knob, and the vehicle is effectively dead. Many sources and AMP ratings (both starting current, and continuous) Jim

LAA · Dec 11, 2015

It's meth heads right? These days it's always meth heads, what about a deer camera or two mounted in strategic places. Where I live the local sherrifs office knows what each thief specializes in, they can usually go straight to the source according to what was stolen, tractor or 4- wheeler or hand tools etc.

Bill in IL · Dec 11, 2015

I would invest in a driveway alarm. I would get one of the bury in the ground type, Dakota alert is one i think. The 700 dollar device is expensive in my opinion for no real guarantee for a low value item. I would check my insurance, record serial numbers and take pictures. A personal mark on all your equipment could be beneficial as well but may as well figure you will never see it again.

K Effective · Dec 11, 2015

Neighbor was just telling me about one of the local BTOs, the wife came home and did not make her usual loop through the farmyard, went straight into the house. She heard the semi fire up from the fueling station behind the shop, and went out to see which of their drivers was filling up. The truck that rounded the corner in near road gear was certainly NOT one of theirs, nor were the two that followed. Some careful calculations show they are out over 1000 gallons of diesel since the last delivery. Pretty gutsy thieves.

4play · Dec 12, 2015

Paint everything bright pink

FBH44 · Dec 12, 2015

Just in case you're thinking of using the biggest honkiest log chain across your doors, don't bother, they'll go right thru it, BTDT.

Geo-TH,In · Dec 12, 2015

If I have to leave a tractor outside at a location, I will pull the ingition fuse and park tractor near a house. Nothing will work, even if they hot wire the starter. Fuse also controls gas solenoid. I'm a lucky 66 year old. I keep everythings under roof and lock and key. So far no one has broke in and stole anything. Just lucky.

If anyone does come up with a cheap Lojack, please post it.

Case Nutty 1660 · Dec 12, 2015

wow always one sided thinking,, sure we have our share of low life's who steal here, we have a Much bigger problem with higher ups having it done,,, millions of $$ stolen by dishonest company owners here, one has stolen oil and fuel here for the last 40 years long before meth was here,,,, in the 70's a certain highway here if you broke down on it even in daylight you better get it moved within a few hours or it was stripped,, those were alcohol drinks morons doing it, equipment goes missing, not small stuff either 500,000 excavators, crawlers scrapers you name it it has been stolen here, copper was a big one when the methane fields were hot and heavy, come to find out much of it was a couple of the well know very high up in society here names were the ones doing it, I agree some druggies here do steal gas and small things not tied down, they tried it here I went Rambo on them myself, never called the law other than to tell them what I was doing, spent time out at night, ran them off without the use of guns,, now the grapevine tells me I have a name,, don't go there the guy is Nuts I like that very much,, I know many would not do what I do,, that's fine but whats mine I work for and I protect, and Yes I took down a few of the money boys who tried to screw me in the methane,, again by myself,,
cnt

just another old geezer · Dec 12, 2015

Driveway alarms and motion sensing lights/alarms are worth looking into. Some video recording security systems are reasonably priced. Make things harder to steal. Park them in with large equipment, tractors, things like that. Meth heads look for the easiest target. Make them look for an easier one than yours. Also a friend going through a divorce used a gps tracking unit on the wife's car. Knew where she was at all times. I think it was less than 300.00 total cost. ( he said something like," gps unit $300. Video camera $400. Time away from the job, $1000. Seeing her face as she was busted in divorce court, PRICELESS!!!")

ericlb · Dec 12, 2015

if we re going to be gone, the tractors get either chained together or chained to a large tree, most bolt cutters wont cut the big tempered transport chains and most thieves dont have the grinders ect that will, they ll look for an easier target

ericlb · Dec 12, 2015

these chains are not the kind found at the local hardware store, these are the kind truckers use to haul heavy equipment, there not cheap, but neither is having to replace equipment

LAA · Dec 12, 2015

I don't follow why you think it is one sided thinking, the poster mentioned small equipment and anything else that was not nailed down, that's normally drug addicts in my area, I have zero tolerance or sympathy for any theif, if I caught someone stealing red handed I would kill them,whether it was worth a nickel or a million dollars, it is still mine that I worked for. You are welcome to think anyway you like but that's how I look at it. I have sacrificed a lot in my life to meet the responsibilities that I accepted, I don't regret any of those sacrifices because that is what I was supposed to do. I don't have any time whatsoever for weak minded trash who cannot control themselves with their vices. I like beer but there is a time and a place. Sure their are plenty of big time crooks, high up as you mentioned, several politicians come to mind as well as Wall Street fat cats and business tycoons, guess what? They are all trash too.

Determined · Dec 12, 2015

Likely most of the people ripping stuff off at one point in time worked at installing security systems and know how to work around them or they have a buddy that knows how to.
My approach has always been add a simple switch to interrupt power to the starter, the fuel pump, the ignition, whatever is easy.
A little imagination and a relay or two and you could leave the keys in and not be worried.
Examples;
-When you apply park brake a dash light comes on, use a feed from this circuit to close a relay that allows ignition power to the starter.
-Same can be done with power from brake light switch, park lights, work lights etc, a simple toggle switch hidden or not does the same thing,
Set up a customers Camaro so you had to flip a toggle switch and push the cigarette lighter in to close a relay that supplied power to fuel pump.
Be creative but you don't need to get too fancy, stupid and intelligent people alike will never when in the heat of the moment of trying to steal something stop and think; Do I have to hold the power window or seat switch to get this thing to start?
Factory and aftermarket security systems are predictable and can be worked around.
It is the unknown that will thwart the best of them.

JOCCO · Dec 12, 2015

DFZ: Keeping some stuff out of sight out of mind, like chainsaw not in back of pickup. 2. Some disable switch, fuse, etc. Make it hard to steal like park it behind bulldozer. Can't comment on value of tracking device but know they are getting more popular.

john in la · Dec 12, 2015

Never had a reason to try it but wonder how it would work so basically just thinking aloud.

Most phones have a gps tracker built in. Even the cheap ones.
You just need to turn the gps feature on manually.
I also think it would work without a sim card or phone service.

So would it be possible to buy a cheap phone from wal mart; hard wire the phone charger into the car battery; and just hide the phone in the car.
Then you could track the phone via gps threw a free web download like instamapper.

Thinking the cost would be less than $50 to set this up.
May have to rig up some hidden weather tight plastic box to hold the phone on a lawn mower but this may be a option.

Tubacase47 · Dec 12, 2015

So that's where the name "Nutty" comes from. LOL

J.Wondergem · Dec 12, 2015

I haven't read anything yet that will protect the crated items, other than the LoJack.

DFZ · Dec 12, 2015

I guess most people don't read the full post. The question was not about theft prevention, it was about theft recovery.

A driveway alarm will not prevent your equipment from being stolen if you are not home. Even if we were home, the barns are 200 yards away from the house and a thief could be gone with the first hint of movement from the house. Like I heard somebody say, Thieves work 24-7.

Chaining all the equipment every night is not a feasable option. Like I said, we are a working farm. Adding up the cost to feed the chain through every piece of equipment (In the state with highest minimum wage) every day that it is not stolen would quickly pass the cost of a loJack system.

Even a battery disconnect will not prevent your equipment from being stolen. Like I said, the equipment dealership had new, still crated from the factory, lawnmowers stolen. I am sure they did not drive those onto a trailer. It would be very easy to pull a non-running RTV onto a trailer. Especially if they have all night to do it. Parked behind a building we would never know somebody was there.

We are looking into a Camera system, but that also will not recover a stolen item. Most likely thieves would use a stolen truck/trailer that could not be traced back to them. A camera system WOULD help prosecute the offenders when they are caught.

The question was about Theft Recovery and if anybody had any real-world experience with a product.

I also appologise, maybe my message was a little hard to read, for some reason it crammed my post into 1 close spaced paragraph that I know are hard to read.

wisbaker · Dec 12, 2015

Lojack or other GPS devices might work many different GPS spotters available for fleet use IIRC some you buy the transponder and pay when you ping them. Ford has a system that is RFID, you tag the tools for the truck and the truck lets you know when all of it's tools are not in it, something like that might work. If it's something the thieves will start to steal I'd get creative with interlocks and maybe set it up so sirens and lights go off, maybe even alarms in the buildings, if they try to start it normally without activating your switches. The idea being if you make a lot of noise and such that they're not expecting they might get spooked then go and find something else to steal somewhere else.

showcrop · Dec 12, 2015

(quoted from post at 12:17:23 12/12/15) I guess most people don't read the full post. The question was not about theft prevention, it was about theft recovery.

A driveway alarm will not prevent your equipment from being stolen if you are not home. Even if we were home, the barns are 200 yards away from the house and a thief could be gone with the first hint of movement from the house. Like I heard somebody say, Thieves work 24-7.

Chaining all the equipment every night is not a feasable option. Like I said, we are a working farm. Adding up the cost to feed the chain through every piece of equipment (In the state with highest minimum wage) every day that it is not stolen would quickly pass the cost of a loJack system.

Even a battery disconnect will not prevent your equipment from being stolen. Like I said, the equipment dealership had new, still crated from the factory, lawnmowers stolen. I am sure they did not drive those onto a trailer. It would be very easy to pull a non-running RTV onto a trailer. Especially if they have all night to do it. Parked behind a building we would never know somebody was there.

We are looking into a Camera system, but that also will not recover a stolen item. Most likely thieves would use a stolen truck/trailer that could not be traced back to them. A camera system WOULD help prosecute the offenders when they are caught.

The question was about Theft Recovery and if anybody had any real-world experience with a product.

I also appologise, maybe my message was a little hard to read, for some reason it crammed my post into 1 close spaced paragraph that I know are hard to read.

DFZ don't worry about how you presented your question. You have to remember that this is a COFFEE SHOP. The conversation is going to wander as what one person submits makes another one think of an experience of his own.

Equipment Theft Recovery Suggestions- LoJack

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads