This morning I lucked out and was able to rent a storage spot for my new trailer. It's not as close to home as I'd like, but all the places were full and I just happened to call this one right as somebody was upgrading to a larger spot that had vacated.

Anyways...it's a secure (gated) yard with video camera monitoring, keycard access and so forth. I think the manager lives on premises too, near the driveway. What can I do to lock the hitch or wheels somehow just for an added measure of theft prevention? Are simple padlocks or hitch locks of any value, or can a cheapie bolt cutter just defeat them in seconds?

TIA,

gud question

if you can feed a cable through the wheels , have a length of 3/8ths or 1/2 cable with swedged ends made up
buy a schlage brand padlock with the milled bronze lock body
the lock will cost as much as the cable or more but its worth it
i have used this setup on a couple of trailer , both for storage and for overnite stops on road trips and although people have tried no one has been sucessful yet , knock on wood
you can not cut the cable without a cutoff wheel or a torch
the lock will speak for itself when you see it
jt

Or.. you can buy some good tongue locks.

B

and no , most padlocks are useless ,just to keep the honest people honest
my grandpa was the production head for schlage lock in san francisco and tought me way more than any kid should know about locks
if you cant find one of the milled body locks go to a locksmith and they can source one for you
sesame makes a tough lock also if you desire a combanation
good luck
jt

Is the shlage the "round" looking padlock?

We had to cut one of those off of our storage unit last year, and it was a beotch...I think we burned through at least one cutoff disc on a single padlock. I know that your typical small master lock can be snipped by large bolt cutters or possibly just smashed with a sledgehammer.

I bought this today. Tired of taking the back seat & car seats out of the Sub every time I need to haul someting. Perfect for trips to Home Depot or the dump.

Brad, What is your definition of a good tongue lock?

Oops:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread....en&pagenumber=1

This is from the Pelican 911 thread. Even trailers in 'secure' storage facilities can get ripped of.

This is a sad story. What a beautiful car too!

Karl

the schlage is about an inch thick ,4"long 3"wide thats just the body . they are available in different shank lengths and although you could pick it , would be a bitch to cut it off
the shanks are fabbed of a steel alloy that is a patent formula by schlage lock
jt

The Schlage tongue lock and the Denver Boot would be my choice.....

I put a new tounge lock on the new trailer. It is a style different then most I have seen before. It has a ball that goes up into the ball-place-thingie (ok, I know I'm getting technical here...) and a loop that goes around the hole top of the tounge. Pretty tough unless they pick the actual key. No picture... it' -might- be a version of a gorilla, I don't remember.

sm

It's on this page about half way down. Yellow
http://www.rjays.com/Rjays_tlr_locks/Locks_Main1.htm

Here is the pict
http://www.rjays.com/Rjays_tlr_locks/tlr_l.../utl-100-sm.jpg

Damn, I think I paid more then that tho..........

sm

What Mike said. A wheel boot is good. Not cheap, but you just need one and you'll never know how many times it will save your trailer/race car. I have a battery powered grinder that will cut most locks in less thaan a minute. Cables even faster. Chain is useless.

Chris, that round lock is not what he is talking about. That thing is no better than most.

Thanks guys...I've got some good ideas now.

I suppose another option is to put the trailer up on jackstands take the wheels home Not what I would call convenient though.

This yard is full of other trailers, motor homes, cars, motorcycles, boats etc. So I am just trying to make my modest trailer look slightly less attractive than anything else around...

On another note, should this thing be insured? I haven't asked my agent about that. Are you supposed to have extra liability insurance in case the trailer crashes into somebody, or does your tow vehicle insurance cover that kind of thing?

Liability is covered by the policy on your tow vehicle (at least in CA). Full coverage on my enclosed ($6k value) was ridiculously low, something like $50 every 6 months if I remember correctly.

sm

this product has comes with high praise from local users ... it's rising on my never shrinking list of ways to spend car money:
http://www.trailerlock.com/index.htm#facts
Gavin
VARAC #58

My current boat trailer has an interesting feature.
The previous owner couldn't fit the trailer in his garage so he cut the tongue and set it up to slide into a sleve with two large quick release pins.

If you want real security you just take the hitch assembly with you. Kind of extreme, but it works.

BL

i have three boats in a locked barn out in the middle of nowhere land. i put the trailers on wood blocks durring the winter and remove the rims and tires. you could just remove all but one lug. they could still steal it , but they won't get far.

Buddy of mine had his trailer stolen and it had the cable through the wheels bit...turns out they just hitched up and drug it off far enough to get out some tools to cut the cable later...

I like the tongue locks that cover the open end myself...

Good thread. Thanks to Chris for asking and the rest of you guys for replying. I keep parking my Jeep a foot and a half over the tounge of the trailer. But it will be sold soon (expensive trailer lock), so I need something else before that happens.

I have an open trailer which I like for the main reason that you know what is on it !!!!

Most of time the thieves don't know what the heck is inside the trailer, with an open trialer, I think it it less likely to be stolen.

yeah, the only person stealing your trailer is probably me. haha

Or me.

Hey, at least I'm willing to donate a set of tail lights for the opportunity to borrow it from time to time.

I'll agree with most of you that locks just slow the bad guys down a little.

Blynes is right, the best way is to remove the hitch reciever from the trailer and fab a quick connect using pins to reattach it when needed. And don't just make the reciever removal, make the frame rails themselves removable.
If you ever go to a the country fair or a carnival, look at the trailers used by the carnies. Those elephent ears, foot long dogs and stake-on-a stick, vendors are charged a fee based on the size of the foot print that thier trailer makes. So they reduce the size by making thier entire tongue removeable back to the body of the trailer. (I know this because alot of these freaks "winter" in this area. "Winter" can be a verb in Florida.)

This may be alittle more work than you will want to do, but if you can't hook it up, you can't drive it away.

Paul

Sorry Jon, I have already donated the tail lights. hahaha Even pumped some air in the tires too.

Terrance = 1
Jon = 0