Stops Catalytic Converter thefts! (inexpensive method)

[SJ-Chris]

Cost: $40 or less per RV
Time: About an hour.
Level of difficulty: Low

RVs, being somewhat high up to begin with, are easy targets for catalytic converter thieves. I have 3 RVs. One of the cats was stolen one night when I parked the RV in front of my home. It was covered by insurance (~$4000 to replace), but it put that RV out of commission for about 6 weeks to get the insurance claim taken care of, the parts to come in, and to get it fixed. My RVs usually are parked in storage in a yard that doesn't seem like it would be hard for thieves to visit. In fact, I'm actually surprised they haven't all been stolen. So, I decided to do something to reduce my chances of having another one stolen...

An easy way to protect your catalytic converter...
Simple project any of you can likely do...

Supplies:

This was enough to do 2 and a half of my RVs (I have 3 RVs).
Each RV took about 20' of 3/16" steel cable and 14 of the wire rope clamp clips.

For me doing 3 RVs, here is what I needed:
1 can of VHT Orange Hi-temp engine paint: ($15)
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/flameproof/vht-flameproof-11-ounce-flat-orange-spray-paint/vht1/sp114?q=vht+orange

32 pack of wire rope clamp clips: ($16) (...actually need 5-6 more to finish the 3rd RV) These were much cheaper than buying at Home Depot.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083P78JP6

50' of 3/16" UNCOATED steel wire cable: ($27) (...actually need about 10 more feet to finish the 3rd RV)
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-16-in-x-50-ft-Galvanized-Uncoated-Steel-Wire-Rope-803172/203958869

Cable cutter: ($23 with typical Harbor Freight 20% off coupon)
https://www.harborfreight.com/28-inch-cable-cutters-6649.html
Or, you might have another way to cut this type of cable. Or, you might be able to borrow a cable cutter from a friend... Note: The one in the picture above was NOT enough to cut or even put a dent in this cable, which I guess is a good thing. The 28" one from Harbor Freight worked great. For my install, I started with a 12' piece of cable and wrapped it from the rear to the front and then secured it in one or two places. Then I took smaller pieces of cable (1-3') and attached it at other various places. An alternative, and possible way around not being able to cut the cable (if you don't have a way) would be to purchase a 25' cable and weave/connect it all as one piece through the various attachment points. If you do this, be sure to put lots of the clamps in the appropriate places so that each connection point needs to be cut by a thief in order to remove the catalytic converter.

Heat wraps: ($5) at Harbor freight for a huge assortment. This is to reduce frayed ends when you cut the cable.


Before:



During:



After:



The visual deterrent is hopefully enough to get the thieves to move on to an easier target. On my RVs the cable is independently attached to 6 or 7 different places (including 2-3 from the top which would be harder for a thief to get to in a short time). EACH would have to be cut in order to get the catalytic converter out.

In the absence of all this, a thief with a cordless sawsall would only need to cut through 2 places with easy access (right before the catalytic converter, and right after) and would likely be done in less than 2 minutes. With this system, they would need to cut all of the additional cable locations where it is attached to the frame. This would, I believe, be a bit challenging with a sawsall as the cable will not necessarily remain still while they attempt to cut it. Also, the attachment points up high will be difficult to reach with a sawsall. If they happen to have cable cutters with them (...I'm guessing most of the time they do not), it still creates a situation where they will have to spend significantly more time trying to remove an orange catalytic converter (...which effectively flags the catalytic converter as stolen to authorities and some who are receiving/recycling these).

The clamps are just held on with 2 nuts. I don't think a thief would ever spend the time unbolting all of them as it would take them probably 20-30 minutes to do so.

So, for ~$30-40 you can probably reduce your chances of having your catalytic converter stolen by 80-90%.

Want to reduce your chances even further?? Here's what else I have done to provide more security at my RV for very little $$$. I added this simple security system to my RV: ($54)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OHD15E6
I attached the horn/alarm to my chassis battery. It has some electrical draw, but my chassis battery gets charged by my solar via a Trik-L-Start (http://www.lslproducts.net/TLSPage.html) so it doesn't matter. If you have solar on your coach batteries only, you could attach this horn/alarm to your coach batteries. The horn is quite loud!

I attach one of the motion sensors underneath my RV pointing right at the catalytic converter aiming towards the top cable connections. Doing this, makes it so it avoids any false alarms from animals, or leaves, etc moving underneath the RV. (Note: Sometimes a hot catalytic converter sets this motion alarm off, so you might need to let the system cool a bit before setting your alarm). Now, if a thief DOES decide they want to spend the time trying to cut out my catalytic converter along with all the multiple cable connections, they will certainly trip the very loud alarm system and they will have to leave unsuccessfully. 🙂

I will mount one of the other motion sensors inside the RV (in case anyone breaks in while the RV is in storage or if I'm away from it on a long hike while camping). I also put one of the window/door alarms on my external generator compartment door. I haven't done it yet, but with the extra window/door alarms (or some extra motion alarms I bought), I will likely put one in the large external trunk storage area. We all know it wouldn't take much for someone to pry open a compartment (or use a common key).

Well, I think that about covers it! For ~$100 you can easily add some serious theft protection to your RV and catalytic converter. Inexpensive peace of mind...

Stay safe everyone!
Chris

[SJ-Chris]

Gdetrailer wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:
The cables add about another 30-60 seconds to removing the cat. It is surprising what one can do in a second who is trained in their profession. LSU football team made a touchdown in 1 second.

Tools needed: Battery powered high speed cut-off tool.

I'd be surprised if it takes that long.

As far as "deterrent"...by the time they see the orange paint and bondage cables, they are already underneath the rig and committed.

Also, if you do manage to annoy them, do they cut something else while they are under to get back at you? Wouldn't take but a few seconds, to nick some electrical or hydraulic lines.

X2!

Might stop a casual thief, but those cables don't stand a chance with a determined thief. You added only a couple of seconds for each wire to cut and they will still be done with the job in under 2 minutes.

The extra work you went through most likely will irritate them enough to cause even more damage while under there.. Lots of things they can do like drilling your fuel tank, cutting wires..

If I was going to make it difficult, I would have had a 1/4" steel plate cut to cover the cat and a bunch of 1/2" bolts.. But once again, making it more difficult risks backlash from desperate thieves..

However long it would have taken them to cut just the 2 easily accessible firmly held spots before and after the CC with a sawsall, it will take them at least 5x longer to cut away all the cable locations (especially considering 2-3 of them are attached from the TOP of the CC and are very hard to reach...not even sure you could get a skillsaw up there). Maybe it turns a 1 minute job into a 5 minute job. ALL THIS WHILE A 115DB ALARM IS BLASTING AWAY drawing lots of unwanted attention to the activity. Are you suggesting thieves won't care if in the middle of the night in a suburban neighborhood while they are underneath an RV trying to steal a CC they will not care that an alarm is going off?

Thieves want to work in the shadows and as quiet as possible. As soon as an alarm starts blaring, they will want/need to leave. Laying underneath a vehicle on your back with your legs sticking out from underneath is a pretty vulnerable position to be in. Alarm goes off, they have to leave.

I'll worry about backlash as much as I'll worry about hurting their feelings or being worried about how they will pay their bill having not been allowed to steal from me. And if there is any backlash from the thief, I've got insurance to cover it. So where is the downside??? Some of you act as if it is a BAD IDEA to try to protect the CC like I have done. Don't you lock your doors at your home at night? Don't you have motion lights around your home to deter thieves? Do you have a home alarm? Don't you have a safe in your home where you put valuables in so they aren't easy to steal? Couldn't all of those things "anger" a thief and cause "backlash"? No, thieves will just move on to easier targets.

To each their own.
-Chris

[SJ-Chris]

Flan wrote:
Funny as I’m reading this and listening to the police scanner, they just put out a bolo for car that stole a cat converter from a BJs wholesale club parking lot. It is currently 20 of 4 on a wed, they are doing this in broad daylight!

Yep!

And what do you think would have happened if that thief crawled underneath my RV with the CC cabled and connected at 6-7 additional spots on the frame AND 115db alarm starts blaring as soon as he starts trying to cut everything? Answer: They will be forced to leave.

[RLS7201]

My RV sits on it's own full service pad right next to the house.
My CCW qualifying target is posted in plain site, for those that want to own some of my property. It also stopped the neighbor kids from taking a short cut across my yard. MO. law allows me to protect my property as I would protect my life.
Afew years ago my neighbor got robbed at a ATM. As the crook with drew, my neighbor emptied his CCW clip in the bad guy. The county court said good job and closed the case. Now we don't have to spend thousands of dollars a year to house and feed the crook.

Richard

[jjj]

My brother moved just recently to Fallon Nevada. Small little town 6 hours north of Las Vegas. While his truck and trailer were in a RV storage lot loaded and ready to go away for the week, when they arrived to leave he started up the truck and the cat was missing. they were unable to go. These thieves are everywhere.

[JimBollman]

Never had a CC stolen and don't know anyone that has. I guess I have always picked safe places to live and park. I think it is higher in certain areas because of a few thieves.

[Grit_dog]

^ OMG, you're as insufferable as the rest of the detractors....
What part of the OPs post did you glean the notion that he believes this is a cure for cat theft?

But since you and others are trying to poke holes in his plan, what if the cat thieves only stole my cordless Sawzall and not my cordless grinder? And the other tweaker has bolt cutters, since the AVERAGE vehicle has no need for those tools.
Then those cables become a much greater deterrent as the sawzall won't be efficient at cutting them.
OR and here's a concept, seems the tweakers don't generally raze a whole block of vehicles at the same visit...>time spent = > chance of getting caught. So they decide since the grinder and bolt cutter tweakers are off cutting chains and padlocks off of other stuff, they leave his house and go next door to yours because your car/RV doesn't have cables?

Upon further analysis, SJ, maybe just best to leave $100 in an envelope taped to your cat. They only want a bump and that's worth like 3 cats!

[Gdetrailer]

valhalla360 wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:
The cables add about another 30-60 seconds to removing the cat. It is surprising what one can do in a second who is trained in their profession. LSU football team made a touchdown in 1 second.

Tools needed: Battery powered high speed cut-off tool.

I'd be surprised if it takes that long.

As far as "deterrent"...by the time they see the orange paint and bondage cables, they are already underneath the rig and committed.

Also, if you do manage to annoy them, do they cut something else while they are under to get back at you? Wouldn't take but a few seconds, to nick some electrical or hydraulic lines.

X2!

Might stop a casual thief, but those cables don't stand a chance with a determined thief. You added only a couple of seconds for each wire to cut and they will still be done with the job in under 2 minutes.

The extra work you went through most likely will irritate them enough to cause even more damage while under there.. Lots of things they can do like drilling your fuel tank, cutting wires..

If I was going to make it difficult, I would have had a 1/4" steel plate cut to cover the cat and a bunch of 1/2" bolts.. But once again, making it more difficult risks backlash from desperate thieves..

[Grit_dog]

Flan wrote:
Funny as I’m reading this and listening to the police scanner, they just put out a bolo for car that stole a cat converter from a BJs wholesale club parking lot. It is currently 20 of 4 on a wed, they are doing this in broad daylight!

It's ok, you have nothing to worry about. Probably code for lets go get donuts.
Cats don't get stolen. Just ask valhalla...

[Flan]

Funny as I’m reading this and listening to the police scanner, they just put out a bolo for car that stole a cat converter from a BJs wholesale club parking lot. It is currently 20 of 4 on a wed, they are doing this in broad daylight!

[Grit_dog]

From SJ Chris - "I've heard this philosophy before (don't anger the criminals). I understand why someone would suggest this as yes there is a chance that someone *could* do something out of anger if you've protected your property. I 100% understand that logic.

But then I consider the flip side of that argument....Should I remove the catalytic converter ahead of time for the criminal and just leave it on the ground with a thank you note? This way they almost certainly will be happy with me and the chances of them slashing my tires or damaging anything else under my RV goes way down almost to 0%... With that logic, I should also leave me RV external compartments not only unlocked, but open slightly so thieves know they don't need to break my compartment locks or compartment doors....and I should leave my RV unlocked so they don't break a window or door to get in if they want. Should this thinking extend to my other cars and my home residence also? Should I leave my doors unlocked and windows open at my house so that I don't anger a thief who wants to steal from me or harm me? Should I remove the password to login to my laptop in case someone wants to steal it and then they get angry and damage it and decide they want to damage other things because they are upset? Is putting a password on my online banking accounts a bad idea? If someone tries to access my online banking accounts and cannot steal all my money, maybe they get really angry and decide to come and do me bodily harm??"

Well said! And to an extent, yes sometimes you need to do those things, unfortunately, to prevent theft, damage or worse damage.
Even though the detractors in this thread don't believe it, theft is rampant. Moreso than in the past. Over 25 years in road construction and have been dealing with theft since day 1...at a much higher rate than say residential or commercial property burglaries and auto theft.

But now, it's easily 2-3x worse.
All trucks and equipment left onsite overnight are left open/unlocked. Saves broken windows.
All batteries in equipment are removed Fri afternoon and stored under lock and key. Otherwise 90 chance they are gone or the equipment damaged by Mon morning.
Even porta potties cant be locked or they get sht smeared on them and tipped over. Easier to deal with the dirty needles left behind....

Generally about the same risk whether in good parts of town or sketchy parts.
One job, 2 daytime week day burglaries when someone was not present at the job office/yard for a short period of time.

And security guards don't seem to make much difference in the losses expereinced.

[SJ-Chris]

valhalla360 wrote:


The main flaw in your analogy: The CC securely bolted into your exhaust system is not "making it easy" for the thieves to steal.

Did you mean to say, "The CC securely bolted into your exhaust system is not "making it HARD" for the thieves to steal." ? If so, I disagree. A visual deterrent (orange paint) might help a tiny bit. But it being bolted to the frame in 6-7 different spots AND a motion alarm that will certainly get triggered 100% makes it harder for thieves to steal it. Unquestionably it makes it harder to steal. Can it still get stolen? Of course. But it will be harder to steal.

valhalla360 wrote:

99.99% of CC never get stolen even without orange paint and weird bondage nets.

Sadly, it's not 99.99%. That would be 1 out of 10,000. Probably everyone on this forum knows one or more people who have had them stolen. Yes, the number is still small, but nowhere near 1 in 10,000. I've had TWO stolen. at 99.99% that would make me 1 in 100,000,000.

valhalla360 wrote:

Unless you are parking in a known area of CC thefts, it's largely paranoia. If you are one of the very rare victims, insurance is a simple solution.

I live in a multi-million dollar neighborhood. There is a Sheriff office about 2 blocks from my house. I've had 2 catalytic converters stolen from directly outside my house on a lighted street (a Prius about 3 years ago, and one of my RVs about 9 months ago). If it is happening here, it is happening a lot all over.

Yes, insurance covers it. But for $100 I reduce the chance significantly that I will end up with another 6-8 week inconvenience. Insurance doesn't cover a scenario where I'm heading out of town for 2 weeks on a family vacation and now that gets screwed up.

I will pay $100 to increase the chances of me NOT being inconvenienced with another CC theft. (the alarm also covers my external storage compartment and someone breaking into my RV).

To each their own.
-Chris

[Grit_dog]

time2roll wrote:

NamMedevac 70 wrote:
Defund the police has led to police shortage many places folks.

Is this another joke with a political agenda?
Really?

Seattle proper down over 325 cops in 2020 thanks to the summer of love (riots for those with heads buried as deep in the sand as t2r). 200 last year. And another 67 this year (reported in June) as well. That's well over 30% in 2.5 years.
Probably so they could move to Cali? lol

Or another report from Nov 2021 "Seattle police return to force after leaving dept last year" 325 quit, 9 returned....

Don't even have to get political to make this point clear.

[Grit_dog]

valhalla360 wrote:


The main flaw in your analogy: The CC securely bolted into your exhaust system is not "making it easy" for the thieves to steal. 99.99% of CC never get stolen even without orange paint and weird bondage nets.

Unless you are parking in a known area of CC thefts, it's largely paranoia. If you are one of the very rare victims, insurance is a simple solution.

So is not living in Cali, cities and methy areas in general.
But your statement (whether 1% is correct or if it's even less...or more) is one of someone who hasn't experienced this loss.
Heck, the whole world imploded due to covid and I know more people who have lost cat converters in the last 2 years than got hospitalized with covid...

Insurance? Sure, great, doesn't help with inconvenience. And the fact of the matter is insurance rates are indicative of the liability ins co's are experiencing. Insuring our son and his car in Tampa as of this month. It's a solid $100/month more than here around Seattle.
Reasons, vehicle thefts, cat thefts and wheel theft. I mean, I can't verify that, but that's what the ins co's are saying.

Guy posts his rather inventive DIY deterrent to cat thefts and y'all want to pretend he's running around chasing ghosts? Strange sense of reality some of you have.

[Grit_dog]

Cptnvideo wrote:
I'm curious - is the CC on a diesel pickup higher or lower priority for a thief? I heard the CCs on a diesel are less likely to be stolen. But it was never confirmed.

As there are very few (comparatively) diesel pickups with traditional catalytic converters actually produced (mid 2000s only) and even less that still have them in tact, and the fact that the last diesel with a traditional cat was produced on or before Dec 31, 2006, it's not a high target item. That said, I believe you're correct in that there are other cats with more precious metals in them.

Haven't heard of much of a market for Tier IV diesel emissions components which are FAR more expensive than a traditional cat, so wouldn't be surprised if that theft was a thing. Fortunately, mine are all stored in a locked shop up in the loft, so not as accessible as those hanging under the vehicle!;)

[valhalla360]

SJ-Chris wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

Reducto ad absurdum....look it up if you aren't familiar.

I'd pick option a) and carry insurance.

Yes, my example is intentionally a bit ridiculous to make a point. Agreed.

I'm not sure you followed. It's a logical fallacy to take things to a ridiculous level and then attack the results.

The main flaw in your analogy: The CC securely bolted into your exhaust system is not "making it easy" for the thieves to steal. 99.99% of CC never get stolen even without orange paint and weird bondage nets.

Unless you are parking in a known area of CC thefts, it's largely paranoia. If you are one of the very rare victims, insurance is a simple solution.