People who steal suck!!!

[buz1nonly]

Hey All,

Just went for a 6 day trip out to Flagstaff --> Sedona --> North Rim Grand Canyon ---> Kaibab for some overlanding during memorial weekend and at some point between Flags/Sedona while we had the car parked in civilization (probably when we were getting some food) someone stole one of my D-links off my bumper. I know it's a small thing, but it just sucks that someone would just come up and take something off of the rig. I don't think it would've just fell off and I checked some of the videos and photos I took and realized it happened between Flags and Sedona.

I just wanted to say people who steal suck.

 

[Craig M]

Exactly why I don't leave mine on the bumpers. Opportunistic thieves tend to grab anything not locked these days. Dirt bags.. Sorry about your bad luck. :(

 

[The Nothing]

I hear you
I just did an improptu 1100 mile trek for my grandfather's services (found out friday night, was on the road 5am sunday morning & home monday morning). When I got back I was a lil exhausted to do a full unload of my truck. Someone last night discovered that one of my doors decided not to lock with the rest of them. Woke up with an open door, damp interior (rain), and all compartments open.
Only snagged an old iPod, and left ALL the other gear. But still not a good feeling

 

[boehml]

I've had one d-ring fall off before, no idea how when or why. I drive my Jeep without a roof and sometimes without doors, so I'm always concerned that someone will peak around inside. It's happened once or twice, but never anything stolen except for a loonie and some toonies from the cup holder.

 

[Levidale]

I always park in view of my rig. ive had people take beer out of my ice chest. lol

 

[Jeepney]

Sucks!

My shovel is easy to steal. It's a cheapo but we got history so i'd feel bad.

I did have to switch from soft to hardtop on the jeep for the next trip since i will be leaving the jeep in a lot overnight. That wont stop them but at least they'll make a scene doing it.


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[Boort]

Bummer, sucks to hear that they hit your rig, no matter it for only a D-ring.

Funny that this comes up now. Over the weekend the group I was overlanding with had a discussion on this topic. The group was saying that only maybe 5% of folks would steal from a rig. My percentage was up around 25% on the basis that if they thought they would not get caught they'd take what ever was not bolted down. Some for "fun", some cause they wanted the item, and others just cause they could. I guess that's why everything needs to have a locking mount that costs 50% more than the regular mount.

One of the folks in the group was overlanding for 2 months a few years ago. He stopped at a hotel in Albuquerque NM to take a shower and touch base with the rest of the world after about month of being on the road. That night someone broke into his Sportsmobile and stole all of his camera/computer gear that was not in the hotel room with him, found the key to the rear bumper box, stole all of his recovery gear, and even took his beer and food from the fridge. Lost a lot of gear plus damage to the rig when they got in.

While I was in NM earlier this spring, a guy I work with took his wife to the DR's. While gone for a couple of hours some junkie kicked in his front door, stole both his and his wife's work laptops some jewelry, valuables and their son's old checkbooks. Luckily this bastard got caught bouncing checks the next day one town over, but none of the personal gear or laptops were recovered.

Boort

 

[Justin Reid]

It always baffles me the extent people will go to steal items off of your rig last week someone tried to steal the high lift jack off my jeep hood and ended up causing more money in damages than the jack is worth.

 

[Boort]

It's not just us overlanders who need to watch out. This was in my inbox this morning
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4512066/Moment-thief-tries-steal-bike-car.html

Boort

 

[JWOOD]

It always baffles me the extent people will go to steal items off of your rig last week someone tried to steal the high lift jack off my jeep hood and ended up causing more money in damages than the jack is worth.

Yes, too often this is the case. How many soft tops have been destroyed by idiots stealing a $50 stereo? I once had a brand new top cut open... the real bummer is that I was nice enough to leave the doors unlocked!


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[Stormshadow]

What do you think gets stolen the most and should not be left on? I'm just starting to outfit my rig and I'd like to avoid bad surprises as much as possible.

 

[Itacal]

I believe Vincent Vega had pretty strong words about "messing" with another man's vehicle ...

 

[odingrey]

Where at did this happen? I'm about to take basically that exact same trip (but backwards) in two weeks, I'd like to avoid that general area if we can.

 

[FrankRoams]

I zip-tie my d-rings. Doesn't do much for thieves, any knife will cut it but it does stop some kid with sticky fingers or from working loose and becoming a deadly projectile on the highway. I run the zip-tie through the eyelet of the screw/pin and then through the shackle, keeps the pin from turning and backing out.

thieves suck, and well for something like this there is not much you can do to stop them. At least this way I know it was stolen and I didn't leave a chunk of steel on the highway.

Edit, added a picture:

 

[JWOOD]

That's a good idea.

 

[Craig M]

Agreed on the zip ties.. As I mentioned above, I don't leave my shackles on my bumpers around town, but even off-road i would prefer not to lose any due to vibrations. I will definitely be using that idea when I do choose to leave them on. Thanks @FrankRoams !

That said, even simple deterrents like this one can stop thieves. I mean, there are plenty of thieves that won't be stopped, regardless, but any little extra effort they have to give will lesson the chance of them hitting you vs the next guy who is an easier target. I actually just saw a video yesterday of some local thieves caught on home security cameras. One was driving the getaway car slowly down the street while three others wre running car to car, driveway to driveway, simply checking door handles. If they were locked the guys just moved on..

I would be willing to guess 90% - 95% of theft is opportunistic. The easier for them to grab something and run, the more likely it will be stolen. And that is the most preventable.

 

[Kelly]

I had someone Sawzall my catalytic converter off in Vegas. He's very lucky I didn't catch him in the act.

 

[FrankRoams]

I had someone Sawzall my catalytic converter off in Vegas. He's very lucky I didn't catch him in the act.

Wow, that's bold. And loud.


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[Boort]

There was a string of catalytic converter thefts around here about 10 years ago. Cops said they were stealing them for the platinum inside. They'd hit about 6 SUVs in a night. A couple of them got caught and that ended the BS. Not long after this I caught some jackass trying to rob my spare. I hit the panic on my GF's car that was parked right next to it and the lil thief smashed his head good trying to get out from under my truck. LOL I did not catch him but went out and got a cable lock for the spare the next day. ( 15 years later found the lock had taken a rock hit to the key way and could not be opened. Had to cut the spare loose. It took ~3 hours VERY glad I did not have to do it on the trail or side of road. )

Over the years I've heard a lot about thefts of Tacoma tail gates. Any one here get hit?

Boort

 

[1Louder]

Where at did this happen? I'm about to take basically that exact same trip (but backwards) in two weeks, I'd like to avoid that general area if we can.

It happens everywhere. "Good places" , "safe places", "bad places" don't leave easy to steal stuff on the outside of your vehicles. Most of my important stuff is locked. People suck and it is your job to not give them easy access.