Opinions on best anti theft hitch lock type device.

[Reisender]

Hey folks. Any opinions on the best anti theft hitch lock device? It’s a little 18 foot trailer. If that means anything. Specific brand names and models are welcome. And reasons you like the product.

Thanks in advance.

[ajriding]

Wheel shackles.
Hitch lock.
1-7 of these
8,9,10 can be easily broken with a hammer, the yellow one is particularly cheap and useless. The pin locks are easily defeated.

Remove the safety chains from the trailer.You can hook chains on the trailer and the truck, they do not need to be welded to one side.

Multiple safety precautions are only a deterrent, but better than just one.

Tow a junky trailer full of worthless junk and a thief will run.

5th wheeler, few will have a hitch.

Removable tongue.

LowJack or, Apple makes transmitters that can be put anywhere and tracked, about the size of a logo button worn on a shirt.

Leave your phone in the trailer, hidden and on and with tracking enabled.

[FLY_4_FUN]

Proven industries. Costly, but its as tough as they come, and the chains also get locked up in the coupler. You need to send them a photo of your coupler to match the exact fit for maximum protection.

https://www.provenlocks.com/

[Lantley]

Reisender wrote:
Wow. Lots of replies. Thanks for all the insight. We are not worried about security at home. Mostly when on the road. I think the idea is more just to make it an inconvenience so they would rather move on to somebody else’s trailer. :). I like the chain idea and the old ball locked in the receiver idea. We’ll give it some thought folks. We sure appreciate all the responses though.

Cheers.

As far as being stolen on the road. A coupler lock is a good deterent, but nothing will be foolproof. Nothing will slow down a prepared thief that has targeted and scoped out your trailer.
The coupler lock wll be more of a hassle for you than a deterent to the thief.
An insurance policy is there to protect your assets.
Worrying about theft on the road is futile. I'm not naive enough to believe theft doesn't happen, however I'm also not paranoid enough to worry about it happening to me.
The whole point of insurance is to protect us from the unforeseen incident
I can understand the theft concern if you are forced to store your trailer in a sketchy location. However the concern that you will be randomly targeted while on the road is unwarranted.

[toedtoes]

They bypass a tongue lock by just hooking up the tow chains and driving off.

[Reisender]

ZINGERLITE wrote:

Thermoguy wrote:
I think I read on here that any ball lock can be bypassed, the best way to insure no once can steel it, use a thick chain and chain the 2 wheels together. Then it can't be moved because the wheels won't turn...

If they have to tool to cut the tongue lock they can easily cut the chain. the best theft protection i think is a good insurance policy.

Yep. We’ll have that for sure. Trailer theft is not super common here. But still, mitigating the risk us always a good idea.

[ZINGERLITE]

Thermoguy wrote:
I think I read on here that any ball lock can be bypassed, the best way to insure no once can steel it, use a thick chain and chain the 2 wheels together. Then it can't be moved because the wheels won't turn...

If they have to tool to cut the tongue lock they can easily cut the chain. the best theft protection i think is a good insurance policy.

[Reisender]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

Timmo! wrote:
Sometimes our minds will create a mousetrap that we think is unbeatable. Then something stupid happens and we must "beat" our "unbeatable" solution.

Case in point: We all have locks on the doors and windows of our homes; and when jump into our RVs and leave we feel safe. But, if we stupidly locked the keys inside the home, everyone of us would find away to "break in" to retrieve those keys.

Every locking device/setup mentioned here is not foolproof. Said differently, if you lost the key to your mousetrap, everyone of you would find a way to "break in" and undo your mousetrap.

Locks keep honest people honest. To a thief, locks are nuisances and consume valuable time; my deterrence to theft is to increase the nuisance level and the time involved to "break in".

Well said. The best deterrence might be to use two on them. One hitch lock and one wheel lock. Then a common thief will move on to a easier one.

Yah. It would probably enough to make them move on. And it’s not a lot of hassle.

[CavemanCharlie]

Timmo! wrote:
Sometimes our minds will create a mousetrap that we think is unbeatable. Then something stupid happens and we must "beat" our "unbeatable" solution.

Case in point: We all have locks on the doors and windows of our homes; and when jump into our RVs and leave we feel safe. But, if we stupidly locked the keys inside the home, everyone of us would find away to "break in" to retrieve those keys.

Every locking device/setup mentioned here is not foolproof. Said differently, if you lost the key to your mousetrap, everyone of you would find a way to "break in" and undo your mousetrap.

Locks keep honest people honest. To a thief, locks are nuisances and consume valuable time; my deterrence to theft is to increase the nuisance level and the time involved to "break in".

Well said. The best deterrence might be to use two on them. One hitch lock and one wheel lock. Then a common thief will move on to a easier one.

[ktmrfs]

Whatever you get make sure it is not just a hitch pin lock. The lock MUST also cover the ball entrance as well. Why? well with the size of the typical trailer ball, if the hitch pin is locked and the ball socket isn't covered, all that is needed to tow the trailer away is a 1 7/8" or 2" ball. the hitch will drop right down on it and away it goes. yes, the ball isn't locked, but still can be towed, especially with typical tongue weights.

[Timmo_]

Sometimes our minds will create a mousetrap that we think is unbeatable. Then something stupid happens and we must "beat" our "unbeatable" solution.

Case in point: We all have locks on the doors and windows of our homes; and when jump into our RVs and leave we feel safe. But, if we stupidly locked the keys inside the home, everyone of us would find away to "break in" to retrieve those keys.

Every locking device/setup mentioned here is not foolproof. Said differently, if you lost the key to your mousetrap, everyone of you would find a way to "break in" and undo your mousetrap.

Locks keep honest people honest. To a thief, locks are nuisances and consume valuable time; my deterrence to theft is to increase the nuisance level and the time involved to "break in".

[toedtoes]

Skibane wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Stealing a travel trailer isn't like stealing a vehicle because there isn't a real black market in selling parts.

That leaves most thefts in one of two categories:

1. joyriding. this will most likely be teenagers who see a bit of "fun" to be had.

2. a cheap sale to someone not interested in legalities.

Small trailers are common targets of theft, because they're under the minimum weight that requires a title to sell in some states. Not needing a title makes them easier to sell to unsuspecting buyers.

Naturally, their small size also makes them easier to steal, and to hide after being stolen.

I agree small trailer thefts are more common. The point I was trying to make is that most thieves don't care about damaging a trailer during the theft. They aren't looking to get top dollar for it. They'll sell it fast and cheap.

A coupler lock won't stop a theft because the thieves just attach the tow chains and go.

The best we can do is make our trailer less convenient than the one down the street.

[Skibane]

toedtoes wrote:
Stealing a travel trailer isn't like stealing a vehicle because there isn't a real black market in selling parts.

That leaves most thefts in one of two categories:

1. joyriding. this will most likely be teenagers who see a bit of "fun" to be had.

2. a cheap sale to someone not interested in legalities.

Small trailers are common targets of theft, because they're under the minimum weight that requires a title to sell in some states. Not needing a title makes them easier to sell to unsuspecting buyers.

Naturally, their small size also makes them easier to steal, and to hide after being stolen.

[Reisender]

Thankyou for the additional replies. That coupler lock might slow em down. 🙂

[theoldwizard1]

IMHO, remove 2 tires and store them somewhere else.