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How do you stop thieves from stealing your Catalytic Converter?

C-2

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Since I'm teleworking out of my home office, yesterday I saw a little Vato bitch jack my outgoing mail. I gave chase but they got away.

A few weeks back a neighbors truck was stolen and after it was recovered, coppers found tons of opened Amazon envelopes and packages. Cops said the truck was stolen and used to steal amazon packages and after it ran out of gas, the truck was dumped.

Now I'm worried about the brazen bastards cutting out the catalytic converter on my Excursion V10.

Can the catalytic converters be secured in any fashion?
 

braindead

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I welded a chain to my buddies, then to the frame, he didn't care about looks

Someone posted a while back about a cage that u can buy for them, not sure how well it works tho
 

lbhsbz

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Since I'm teleworking out of my home office, yesterday I saw a little Vato bitch jack my outgoing mail. I gave chase but they got away.

A few weeks back a neighbors truck was stolen and after it was recovered, coppers found tons of opened Amazon envelopes and packages. Cops said the truck was stolen and used to steal amazon packages and after it ran out of gas, the truck was dumped.

Now I'm worried about the brazen bastards cutting out the catalytic converter on my Excursion V10.

Can the catalytic converters be secured in any fashion?

Big ass skid plate. That's the only way. You don't want that cat to get stolen...they're obsolete and impossible to find (if the "torpedo" style).
 

SBMech

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Other than a big ass skid plate like Ibhsbz said, anything else is fairly useless, since they will just cut off the pipe father away just as fast.

Weld a 1/4" plate skid plate 3' long under that fucker, don't weld anything to the cat itself, since it will transfer heat off and cause it not to work properly.
 

OLDRAAT

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Move out here, testing requirements were removed several years ago. 😁
Seriously, the inmates are right, gotta encase them some how.

It's like the vette t-tops in the 70's. They would take them and try to sell them back. The ones being offered just happen to be the same color as those stolen. Probably just a coincidence..👍
 

SOCALCRICKETT

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Slam it to the ground so they can’t crawl under it.
Lol, that's what I did. 4wd with skid pate then slammed the truck.
20200622_151039.jpg


Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
 

thetub

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Theft is out of control.. :(


caught to bozos hack sawing my neighbors catalytic at 3 in the afternoon broad daylight makong a shit ton of noise doing it...

they just ran off and cops showed up an hour later...

even if caught nothing will be done...

crazy times

also they like to grab F250 catalytics for some reason access I guess...

they went after my neighbors twice...

stole my repair guys after the third time cops busted them and didnt do shit
 

Baja 252

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Back in the 70’s we had a rash of people messing with our cars in the high school parking lot. Several of us bought Model A coils from JCWhitney’s catalog. Wire it up with a rubber covered switch under the bumper and a long braided negative battery strap to hang down to the ground. You get with in an inch of that car and it would zap the hell out of you.
 

rush1

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On our route trucks the vatos would steal them while the bread man is delivering bread in the store, we had 12 stolen this way in one day!
 

monkeyswrench

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I did some "cages" for some while ago. They had 1" round stock inside of 1" pipe. Logic being, a sawzall would bite the pipe, but rock the round stock. Problem is, these were for mdt decomp/dpf things. The cage work attached to the frame with "security torx". I figured most tweakers don't have those with them.
 

ElAzul

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The obvious problem like I have stated before if the circle of $$$$. Some scrap yards are obviously buying them with little to zero questions asked. Then you gotta get a CARB approved converter$$$$$ and so on. Nobody looses except the vehicle owner
 

lbhsbz

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The obvious problem like I have stated before if the circle of $$$$. Some scrap yards are obviously buying them with little to zero questions asked. Then you gotta get a CARB approved converter$$$$$ and so on. Nobody looses except the vehicle owner

I just had a phone call with a LBPD auto theft detective concerning my truck theft from a few weeks ago.

Basically, there is nothing they can do about cat thefts. Without a VIN on the cat or something tying it to the owner/vehicle, they can't identify the victim. With no victim, there is effectively no crime. No DA will take a case like this without a victim. The only way to make it stick is if the thieves are caught in the act, and even then...they're released from jail before the arresting officer finishes writing his report.

...but shooting them will land my ass in prison.

What a fucked up world we live in.
 

WhatExit?

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Engrave the VIN on the CATS. But that likely won't stop them but it may keep them from selling them.

Put some metal mesh over the CATS and electrify them when parked. It would be fun to see them light up
 

lbhsbz

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Engrave the VIN on the CATS. But that likely won't stop them but it may keep them from selling them.

Put some metal mesh over the CATS and electrify them when parked. It would be fun to see them light up

I haven't decided what theft deterrent measures to take yet. I really hate aftermarket alarms, but I may have to go down that road. I also hate skidplates and other armor that I'll have to take off to work on (undoubtedly) the next thing that breaks, but hey...if it'll save me $4000 the next time, I might have to deal with it. Really sucks that it's come to this, but after 1 failed attempt and 1 successful attempt in a 3 week period of time...I need to do whatever I can I guess.
 

Spudsbud

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Short section of cattle wire that can be electrified. Be creative. If you wire a Trump.sign in your yard, you can wire zap a Cat !
 

traquer

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Park it behind a fence and have the doggos out and about. That's what my buddy in Europe said is the only way. Or beat the shit out of them (not as many people have cameras there yet in the suburbs)
 

Mcob25rg

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Live in a red state, have a garage , a dog, and good gun control ( read hit what you’re aiming at )
 

DrunkenSailor

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Get two extension cords. Cut one right after the female plug leaving about 6 inches of exposed wire. Weld that to the exhaust. Up away from the cat. Plug it in each night like a hybrid. I would use the big plug for the dryer. You'll know if you catch anything when the breaker flips. Probably would create more problems but it solves one...
 

colenighthawk

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Mother Fuckers they got my work box truck, 2 cats gone. Fuck!!!!
 

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Dansblown73Nordic

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This is happening here in New York State. Im in up-state NY. I have lots of lights on motion detectors with cameras. Atleast the lights should maybe get them thinking.
 

monkeyswrench

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Funny, I just recently learned of the catalytic economy. Out here, there is a guy that frequents the shops, and buys used cats. Some of them are quite valuable...as in he offered me 800$ and a replacement for the cat in my Excursion! This guy cuts up the guts, and ships them to New York. This led me to looking at generic cats on eBay...well, turns out a lot of replacement cats are sold through different vendors based in New York.

The recycling of the guts must be huge business. With big money, comes the hoodlums trying to get a piece.
 

jetboatperformance

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Even here in "semi rural" Atascadero this has been happening (Cat thefts) Leo will write a report .....
 

HBCraig

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Wait in the dark with a handful of blow darts. These fucks know they won't be held for any significant time.
 

C-2

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They caught some of the bastards!

I read that article this morning, thanks for sharing it here.

On a regular car I saw a guy who had some industrial mesh/screen welded to his car, looked pretty good.

To stop thieves from stealing the truck I added a Cyclops kill switch ($165/super simple and nice package), and an old fashioned, but new, Club.
 

RitcheyRch

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I was just going to post the same thing. Rat bastards should have to pay everyone back for this.


They caught some of the bastards!
 
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