Stolen tow bars

[Tom_Barb]

Second time this year friends have had their towing equipment stolen off the rear of their coaches.
If your tow bar is attached to your coach by a quick release pin, change it to a grade 8 bolt and a steel stop nut. Lock good and tight.

Tow bars are not cheap and they sell good on E-Bay.

Those who know how, can have your bar and be gone in 30 seconds.

Think about this too,, there are only 5 master keys that will unlock every compartment door in the entire industry.

But I see now the industry is starting to use keyless locking systems, I wonder how long it will be until those are compromised ?

[DiskDoctr]

SCVJeff wrote:

irishtom29 wrote:

DiskDoctr wrote:
Claymores are the answer to so many theft problems, LOL 😛

You have to catch the thief in the act to chase him off with a sword.

Unnecessary with a Claymore

Awesomeness, LOL.

FYI: History of the Scottish Claymore Sword

Learn something new every day :C

[SCVJeff]

irishtom29 wrote:

DiskDoctr wrote:
Claymores are the answer to so many theft problems, LOL 😛

You have to catch the thief in the act to chase him off with a sword.

Unnecessary with a Claymore

[irishtom29]

DiskDoctr wrote:
Claymores are the answer to so many theft problems, LOL 😛

You have to catch the thief in the act to chase him off with a sword.

[JC2]

Tom N wrote:
I use one of these locking hitch pins. Available everywhere.

[DiskDoctr]

Claymores are the answer to so many theft problems, LOL 😛

[Pogoil]

Thieves are everywhere looking for nothing specific to take, crime of opportunity. Mostly druggies and tweakers. One must do all they can to not make themselves a victim. There is a risk associated with leaving stuff unlocked. A risk for sure in parking lots especially camping in one. Less of a risk if parking while shopping.

We must all pay attention to our surroundings for personal safety too. Be prepared as these same people can attack us too.

Be safe out there. They are everywhere.

Pogoil.

[SCVJeff]

Jim@HiTek wrote:
After reading this thread, happy that I have both the locking pin AND the anti-rattle U-bolt in place. Now, those will never stop a determined thief, but it will slow down a lazy one.

Ditto

[Jim]

After reading this thread, happy that I have both the locking pin AND the anti-rattle U-bolt in place. Now, those will never stop a determined thief, but it will slow down a lazy one.

[Lancslad]

My towbar stays on front of the towed, attached by 2 Masterlocks. If I'm in a sketchy area I can take it off and put it inside the truck....out of sight, out of mind. The hitch is held with a locking pin as shown earlier, I haven't had it wallow out the holes in 30K miles.

[Tom_Barb]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
In addition to the locking pin, I also use one of the anti-rattle devices which means that a thief would have to spend the time to defeat two items before the hitch can be removed. The upside is that my tow bar does not rattle which means less wear and tear on both the tow bar and the hitch.

My tow bar / hitch doesn't rattle with 1 good tight bolt.

[Dale_Traveling]

Why not just remove the tow bar when you're not towing? Easy enough to keep it the trunk of the toad when camped or in the house or coach when back at home. If you're going to leave it installed on an unattended coach might as well put a sign on it "Take Me".

[et2]

Tom/Barb wrote:

Tom N wrote:
I use one of these locking hitch pins. Available everywhere.

These do not fit the hole well enough and promote wear in the hitch, and bar.

I had to ream to the next larger bolt size and use a tight fitting bolt. now there is no movement to allow wear

Not if you use a hitch immobilizer. It works just fine, ours has been used for 4 years without and wear or wearing any holes in the receiver. Just took it out last week and lubed the lock.

The immobilizer takes the load off that pin and most movement out of the tow bar in the receiver.

http://blueox.com/products/tow-bar/bx88224-2-hitch-immobilizer-ii-dual-u-bolt-design/

[wa8yxm]

Well I have a drop hitch, custom made far as I know one of a kind making it easy to identify, it's secured to the RV with a locking pin for a 2.5" receiver (Turns out the pins are the same size on 2 and 2.5")

And an Anti Rattle Clip (Pictured by an earlier poster) as well, nice and rusty nuts took all I had to tighten them Doubt average thief can remove.

The tow bars.. Well that pin is locking as well...

The reason for the anti-rattle is the drop hitch was modified to carry my Bicycle, custom job from Blue Ox.

[irishtom29]

If you weld it in the thief will need an arc gouge.

[slickest1]

That is the best answer!!