I show up to my excavator ( CAT 330L) this morning only to find someone cut my locks stole all 4 batteries and about 100 gals of fuel, not to mention the cut battery cables. Oh well at least the left me a brand new pair of bolt cutters on the tracks. Jerks! So a trip to the CAT store and 690 dollers later its back to work.
Were the bolt cutters checked for finger prints?
That sucks. A lot of the same going on around here also.
Been my experience that cops will only write a report and maybe patrol the area for awhile if you're lucky. They reserve fingerprinting for murder cases. We lost two sets of batteries last year. Tweakers.
F'in scum, I hate thieves. The other year when fuel prices were really high we had fuel stolen from our equipment at the local paint shop we use. I haven't heard much of it happening lately.
My snow machine droped a piston on me, so I got a ride home to grab the truck. I was gone an hour an my sled was gone!! I too hate light fingered SOB's!!
Hell, it was all I could do to get them to take a report over the phone! Just so I could have it for my records.
We were hit twice last year, both times a 500 gallon fuel tank emptied, and over $30,000 in electrical cord stole. All in one night, I wish I could catch these punks.
It's really to bad that these people won't apply themseves to actually WORKING for a living. We were ripped off on a job a while back where two guys stole our oiler's Snap On road chest tool box, Three 5 gallon buckets, a case of starting fluid, a case of brake clean, and a box full of S.O.S. sample bottles. They packed all the stuff over 200 yards to hole they cut in a chain link fence. We know it only two people by the foot prints in the snow. The amazing thing was they only made 1 trip that we could see.
They finger print robberies here.Does not do any good though.They do ask first if you have Insurance and if you do well that's the end of investigating.Was told it was better if the crooks were laying on the ground when the cops got there.Less paper work.
One time we followed my ATV tracks to the kids house. the father made shore all three kids sat down at my table and I gave them a kind of what it takes to be a man talk.I dont know what good it did but they wont forget it.
I hate a thief to, I went to school with a thief. He stole a welder from a company I worked for and was later burnt badly wen stealing batteries off a crane. He was standing beside the machines catwalk on a 5 gallon can and reached up and drug the battery from the machines side door. When it hit the catwalk grate it burst and splashed on his face and arms. He came by my shop wanting to labor for me with a sob story about his burns. I told him to hit the road no sypathy here. Here the law is totally incompetent handling a breakin or theft. I called the law one night I let the dogs out and heard a chopping noise. Crackheads down the road from the rent houses was chopping the copper ground wires off the power poles. THe sheriffs dept told me that it didnt affect me let them be as it would be 45 minutes before an officer could be there. While the phone was still connected I shot my old 12 gauge in the air. Crack heads left droppingtools and the law was there in 4 minutes. Also couldnt get them to investigate the mail theft going on here.
we had a guy working for us who was stealing fuel. He got caught when some one came in early and saw him with his pick up leaving. he came back near starting time with his girlfriends car. they started watching the fuel meter on the 10000 gal tank. come to find out he would come in and fill his tank in the back of his truck and swap cars with his gf. we don't know how much he stole but the sheriff took him and his gf away. never heard what happened.
Postal Dept.has people to Investigate mail thief.
This seems as good a thread to jack as any. Registered to get some information on a hyundai Dash 3 excavator I'm having some electrical/computer trouble with, but can't post new topic. Any suggestions? Burn the excavator? Call in some thieves to steal the key for starting new topic? Ask here? Call mom? Anything? Seems the only option here is to jack another topic.... I guess I just did...
Wow..... I see now I'm a probationary member.... Must be the reason I'm not allowed to post new topics. Wonder what I'm on probation for.... Hmmm... Maybe it was the screen name that did it, guess it is a bit odd, then again....
Someone stole a perfectly good 026 stihl off my service truck last year. I wanted to blame the help but I knew it wasn't him. He'd've stole the 046 as he hated running it... with the 026 gone he was stuck with the 046 for a couple weeks, an arrangement which he was not at all pleased with. So I knew it wasn't him.... Wonder if I can post new topics yet, or how long I'm going to have to continue this mindless jabber.....
Maybe I should post a picture of my excavator. Then maybe they'd say, "hey, he has an excavator! he's legit! lets take him off probation!" (whoever "they" is, I always wondered who "they" is, or are, anyway), but I digress, here's my excavator...
Yea, I think its three or four posts before they let you start a thread. (I'm not sure if they can all be in the same thread though...) And on the Thieves subject, we had a town worker doing the 'little fuel for me, little fuel for the town truck', it took them a long time to figure it out. In the end, the guy lost a $50 grand a year job for about $400.00 of fuel..... Dumb ass......
Ihate thieves too!!! I recently rebuilt a waste water lift station and had $3,5xx.xx of special order stainless steel tube for the job. Local thieves stole it and I had to purchase the material a second time to complete the job. They probably got a couple of hundred bucks for the pipe at the scrap yard. I have a large sign on my shop "Attention all thieves!! If you are caught stealing on this property you will be shot on sight!! Suvivors will be shot again!!" I'm having another sign prepared as follows: "Is there life after death? Steal from this property and find out!!"
Also, I lost a Ford 5000 diesel tractor to thieves a few years back---never heard from it again. Local police were of no help. we are on our own!!
I'm not sure what protocol is here for starting a new thread, but I seem to be in the same boat Psycho. I'm working on an EX 100 - 5E. The owner called me out because the machine had boom issues. He would release the joystick and the boom would continue to raise. Long story short, after all pilot issues were found to be normal I opened up the boom valve section to find a bad spool and badly scarred sleeve. I pulled the valve stack and sent it out to be re-worked. The sleeve was oversized and a new larger spool was chromed and ground to fit. I have it all back together and the boom, along with all other functions work great . . . . . except the swing brake. Swing either way and stop on a hillside of any type and the boom heads whatever direction gravity wants it to. Push the pilot lever forward and the brake sets. There is a square cartridge manifold mounted to the side of the swing motor which I assume to be the control valves for the brake. There are two pilot hoses coming from the top of this manifold. One goes to a port in the end of the valve stack, the other to a solenoid valve mounted adjacent to the valve stack. I tee'd a gauge into each of those two lines and found that the line coming from the valve stack has full pilot pressure whenever the pilot lever is accuated. Is this right? It seems I should only see pilot pressure there when the swing valve is shifted. Any chance a plug was left out somewhere inside the valve stack when the work was done? I have years of hydraulic experience but this is a machine I'm not that familiar with . . . it's gray market . . . and I don't have a manual. Any help would sure be appreciated.
Near the top of every forum you open up you'll see this; Announcement: "Forum Rules," and "Posting troubles for new members" Click it to read it. There is also a sticky in the Support forum that provides the information you seek. Alex.
The police here are completely useless when it comes to industrial theft. We have had police get in gunfights when chasing a Walmart shoplifter but when I had a $2500.00 laser stolen off a tripod in the middle of the day in a residential neighborhood with houses all around within 100 feet, I could not convince the officer to walk to a house and knock on a door. He absolutely refused to get out of his car even. He just kept asking me if we had insurance, and filled out a report.
Looks like we need to do like the Rail Road.Put a tracking device on everything.During Hurricane Ike people were stealing generators off R/R Crossings.But the R/R police knew where they were all the time.Told a County Deputy not to worry about it because it was their job to get the thieves.
Theives ripped our jumping jack, chop saws and a bunch of other stuff out of the work van we had on the jobsite. Fuel is constantly being ripped off from jobsites and residential fuel tanks, neighbors house got jacked on a sunday afternoon and other neighbor had a 45 pistol ripped from his rig just a few weeks ago. Oxy, meth, crackhead worthless pieces os. Cops do little or nothing unless your jaywalking or having a 2 beer limit after work, before dinner at the local pub. A friend of mine has a battery operated game video camera he uses behind his house. Motion detected so only records when there is movement and clear enough to read a face. Only cost a few hundred bucks and works in cold weather. Would be great for theives.. If you have power on the site similar ones can be bought just like stores have and are very effective. My friend has one in his house he can check from his I phone no matter where he is. Records movement also. Something has to be done cause it is only getting worse as our economy dies, illigal immigrants invade our country and our leader gives his followers no incentive to work for what they own..
Hey no doubt ...Ask my cousin who decide to steal an old bundle of ties that had been sittin for 2 years ...Them Railroad police don't play ..
I was doing a house demo and finished for the day so i parked the machine on all the scrap. when i came in the next day some very determined theives had sawzalled all along my tracks so all i got for scrap was what was under my tracks!!!!
vawilson, thats funny, I have had the same thing happen here several times. Short of posting gaurds or just staying on site, It feels like nothing is safe these days.
Yikes, I'd be feeling lucky that they didn't cut my tracks off too.......
i was suprised they didnt take my batteries and my radiators !!!!! im glad it was a small job and we were only there for a couple of days. every time i have to leave my bigger equipment on any jobs for any length of time i get neverous . we stripped out a animal rendering plant and was supprised how much stuff was stolen every nite. we had to leave the scrap in huge pieces so they couldnt carry it away .
Our son had his catalytic converter cut out of his Toyota Tacoma at an REI store in the middle of the day. He was in the store for only 20 minutes. He spent 20 years in Special Forces so I'm glad he didn't catch them in the act.
they were going to dealerships at nite and taking all the converters they could do in a nite
a couple years ago we had a brand new bobcat and trailer stole never seen again insurance replaced them immediately as they figured it would never be found anyway
There in no Revenue in catching thieves.It cost money but a ticket for speeding etc now that brings in money.So if you steal don't speed and you will not get caught.
The thieves here are brave and stupid.Stealing copper wire from Substations of the Power Company.A local Ford Dealership had the tires and wheels stole of several new vehicles.
same here a local dealership just had an ad and video on crime stoppers ther sick of wheels and tires going missing off new vehicles thieves are idiots showed ther truck clear as day on the surveilance good thing ther was snow covering ther license plate or theyd a been caught even sooner :Banghead
We were out salting for the City of Indianapolis 2 weeks ago & they had to bring cops in & guard the salt piles. we pulled up to get our first load & they had already stolen about 10 tons. We had people walking over filling coolers, trash bags & one guy even shoveled his pick up half full.
Chap here in the South West of England had a dozer stolen over the weekend a while ago, nearly new as well, monday morning they found it gone, rang the tracker company, it was found on a truck 300mls short of the border into Russia, in Poland. lnterpol got the local police to stop it, and he now has it back
It sucks when you work hard and honestly at something just to have some lazy no work ethic person steal it from under you. God is watching though, they won't get away that easy. One way or another it will come back and bite them.
We as citizen's allow this to happen..... we should be more stern with our law's and beat the s^&* out of our judges. Cut a finger off when caught stealing.. that'd slow some of em down.
Well grandpa that is why the thieves are so bold.The Judges and a few citizens feel sorry for them.Every time I read the news I get MAD.The petty criminals get more punishment than big time thieves etc.I say first time for some crimes a little jail time even for miners second time the big house.If this Country did like some other country's we might be better off.A lot of them when found guilty you get instant death are body parts handed to you in a bag.
I think it would great if the people that have stolen things from me in the past were sentenced to work for me until the amount they stole was worked off. I would work them so hard they wouldn't want to steal from me again bring back chain gangs too, make prison miserable enough they don't want to come back.
That totally sucks man! Litterbugs and thieves are the first to have really uncomfortable afterlives! My homie ownes A big building that methy losers poached like 8 dollars worth of copper from the AC unit and busted the HVAC which caused pigeons to start nesting in... 50000 dollars later after having to replace the entire sys (medical building) we are still wondering why we cant just kill em!
got all my manholes and storm grates swiped and the piece of 2 inch water main sticking out of the dirt on my last site . i tried to bribe the cops with donuts but he already had powdered suger all over his face from the last "emergency"
guess having the cutters checked for dna wont be a bad idea huh
A mechanic came by the landfill Friday to work on my D5. He said one of the loggers they work for some times had all his fuel caps stolen, battery cables batteries and broke in all the cabs and the radiator off the old pullout truck. A friend of mine had the radiator stolen off his combine last night, and the copper pluming out of his shed.
This weekend our mini got hit. Someone loosened the oil filter so when it was started, oil came running out. Luckily a groundman noticed it. They also cut the wires controlling the thumb valve, cut the leads off the temp sensor, took out the dipstick and threw it somewhere, and shut off the fuel at the water separator. Doubtful it was teenagers.
Geez, in the US you can't put enough doughnuts in a 50-yard trailer to get it fingerprinted, forget DNA unless it's a capital case.
I live next door to you almost.....there are a lot of meth heads around alcorn, tishimingo, and tippah counties. I've lived in mississippi all my life but only the last year in North MS.....law enforcement up here is terrible. this was a reply to post #12
Must have been "big mothers" for all that in one pass. Might not have wanted to catch up with them in the act. Just saying
Saw a sign on a salvage yard in south MS once. It said in LARGE fonts: "Owner on premisses 2 nights a week with 12 guage and 00 buckshot. Pick your night and take your chances. Have ID for the next of kin." Man never lost a bolt.....
At work we had a problem with thieves cutting wholes in our storage halls and stealing all kinds of stuff. Worst was when they put the bottom plug into one of our ferry boats. Rainwater filled the whole boat and drowned engine, elctrics, you name it. One of my coworkes mixed a Jerry can with gasoline and 20% battery acid. It was gone after a couple of days... Problem solved! Rumors say there is a couple of motorbikes with engine problems around...
One of my coworkes mixed a Jerry can with gasoline and 20% battery acid. It was gone after a couple of days... Problem solved! Now that is slick - I'm going to remember that for possible future use myself. Wonder if they siphoned any of the gas? Haw, haw. :cool2
I would laugh if it wasn't so true Mitch. There is a little justice in this world.:cool2
I had 2 5-gallon gasoline cans stolen a while back, and I REALLY hope the thief didn't realize they were filled w/ kerosene until he poured them in his car.
What I cant figure out is why, in this day and age, even with all the expensive electronics that the newer machines come with, not one of the heavy equipment manufacturers offer unique keys for the engine compartment and cab entry locks??? Not even as an option??? WTH? These are very expensive machines and on top of having to contend with theives, there is the added worry (at least for me) that a would be "competitor" or some random pr!ck comes along and sabotages my machine! Not that I think any lock is thief- or vandal-proof, but it should at least slow the typical oppurtunistic bum down enough till the alarm goes off and I show up with a 12 gauge... I'm just saying...
It's not like trucks that start the day in a yard, A lot of machines are left on the job. It's a hard thing to change, nobody wants to deal with all the different keys on a job site. The lowboy driver would have to find the guys with the keys etc., etc. I actually changed our old case skid steer to an automotive style key switch so it would have a special key. Our customers thought they they could just go and use it whenever they had a need. It just irked me they would never ask. "No point in calling you out when it's just a little thing" and paying me of course. When the digitals started I thought the age of the common key had changed but not so much. Most every one uses some obvious code anyone could guess. The Bobcat dealer we rent from was writing the code on the back windows with permanent marker! Real security there. Dad bought a new crawler loader in 1964 and even then a lot machines didn't even HAVE keys. It did have a somewhat hidden battery switch and that was a big novelty.
True. But I'm betting that if the heavy equipment manufacturers started offering special keyed locks as an option, or if someone in the aftermarket offered replacement keyed locks for our machines, it would become pretty popular thing overnight.
We grow up thinking the law is there when we need them, that went right out the window for me the first time I called them for help. That's when it hit me I'm all alone with protecting my stuff and my life. I'm all for very nicely hidden surveillance cameras all over the place. You'll be very surprised to find out you can use one of them hunting cameras seen for sale at Cabela's, they attach to a tree in order to see what wild life walks through the area, so why not hook up a few around the area if you need to keep your machine out someplace if you don't have a building to set up surveillance. I often wonder why police don't want to chase down a thief, may it that family member that's gone bad, worried it might be them..? Don't you think if you have your machine parked for the night 7 miles deep in the woods on a dirt road and you get your batteries & fuel stolen its someone that you know, or that knows you very well. Very few thief's around that rob from strangers is my opinion...
Yep, cops are useless around here too. Most just drive around harassing folks about expired vehicle registration and other "major" crimes like that, while the real criminals get away. I'm looking at the surveilance camera option too, since my machine will be on an isolated site. There is a bunch of nice IR/night vision stuff with remote recorders on the market. I agree on looking close to home for the culprits. I know exactly who I expect to go after my machine. Not to steal it, just to mess it up so they can get the work. But I'm not going to make it that easy for them.
I do some jobs with a friend of mine, where we both have equipment on the site. His equipment all has aftermarket key switches, which is annoying, but.... He started this a some years ago. He left a backhoe parked in the front yard of a house beside a road that was being widened, and when he came back, it was gone. A few months later, he was driving through an APAC jobsite, when he recognized his machine. It had been accidentally been picked up by an APAC driver, and moved to another job. They washed it, serviced it, and delivered it back to him with new teeth, and an apology. Since then, he changes key switches, and paints his name on all his equipment.
We got lucky and caught a theif or I should say the cops did. We had blown a main trans line on our 973, thus there was oil every where. We left to get the service truck and hoses when it all went down. The idot theif got the batteries out in middle of the day and was trying to carry them off when the police saw him. He tried to take off running and slipped on the oil and the battery actually landed on his leg sending him to the hospital and then hopefully he went to jail, but I seriously doubt he did. The police were laughing their asses off telling us what happened..
LOL! That's funny. I guess slippery oil won out over sticky fingers! Hopefully the battery didn't damaged when it landed on his leg!;-)
The oil story reminds me of the time I had a friend call me needing in backup. He was just starting out and had a an old 580 Case hoe and a truck and a small loader. He was doing some work for a farmer and a fellow came by and wanted to borrow his machine for a few minutes. My buddies old hoe leaked almost as bad as the BP Horizon well. We went down and followed the oil trail ad found it on the side of the road. THe pump was toast. THe law couldnt help him but wetook pictures the trail from the site, to the mans house and back. He later sued the man for a new pump. On the Apac and backhoe story a farmer near where i worked one time had an old D7G that was fairly grown up around it. I had looked at it a few times and talked to the owner. He only used it a little and it ran good but needed an under carriage bad. One moring I passed and it was dark but something didnt look right. I was on a parts run and saw a slew of cop cars on that road and the old D7G was gone. THe Farmer was at a loss as it wasnt insured. THey rode all over the county looking for it. About 3 months later it showed back up where it was taken from with a new UC and paint and cutting edges. The best we can figure that that another contractor working on a road cut that was running behind and borrowed the machine. THe farmer told me he had a bunch more stuff they could borrow lol.
these storys are great haha we had people try and take off road fuel from us awhile back but they couldn't get to the pumps thank god
Shoot them all!,its going to get worst
I think i may have found the ultimate security system. Check it out: http://www.fnherstal.com/index.php?id=658 Just bolt one of these suckers to the top of your excavator and put it in heat seek mode!
Just so you don't get shot going to work in the morning!!!
LOL! I'm hoping that they have a remote to disarm the sucker from a safe distance away! I'm actually going to install a Viper alarm system with RFI motion sensors in the cab and the engine room. The model I have has a 2 way remote with a 1 mile range and my operaor lives within a half mile of the site, so he'll know if anyone tampers with the machine. They better hope he doesn't catch them on site messing with "his" machine, or they may become a part of the geology! In fact, that should be a warning to all would-be excavator theives and vandals :- never mess with a man that can dig deep holes quick!
Had hyd hoses stolen on our 323, 10 of them and some truck batteries. Made me sick so spent a lot of time researching car cameras and came up with a pretty good serveillance system. Now the machine can get be robed but now we will know who was there at what time. Funny thing is we have not been robed since just visited without stealing anything. They are not cheap but cheaper than a couple of batteries and hyd. hoses.
Which system are you using and how do you have it set up?
Ok there are cameras you can get and there are alarm systems out now that will call you.Don’t get mad get even.
Yep its much more satisfying to catch them than to just prevent them from taking stuff. Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Those laws and such that the scrap dealers are supposed to follow to cut down on theft don't help one bit when the local scrap dealer is crookeder than the thieves...the one in my area had his niece and her s***bag boyfriend out gutting A/C units, including the A/C units at the park where I used to work and she was working as an administrative assistant, plus of course church A/C units and so on. Dad caught some tweakers stealing scrap off of our property and chased them right into the waiting hands of the county deputies. One of the tweaker scumbags, I am pleased to note, broke an ankle in the process and they messed up their truck trying to ram a barricade we had at one of the entrances/exits on our property Of course they were out on bail right away, and the geniuses were stupid enough to go stealing CSX railroad property... The local cops hate the thieves but there isn't much that can be done about them. It's hard to catch them in the act and harder to prosecute them beyond a slap on the wrist. Sounds like somebody is sending you a message...like that they don't like you working that job.
I wonder if a good bumper sticker on equipment that reads "I don't call 911 " would deter a theif ..
theifs well hear in GA. We have never been able to find anyof them.
just the other weekend had owe JD 450 and Volvo rock truck completely empty of fuel ! heres the kicker it has sercuity on the top end of the site ***
Turns out the tweakers don't care about threatning bumper stickers, signs, etc. They don't even care if you have a gun in your hands pointed at them. They only care if you are sending rounds downrange at them. Unfortunately we are too "civilized" to shoot thieves these days (since it's illegal in most areas with the notable exception of Texas, which has a few different ways of doing things). Hence, everybody gets their stuff stolen because thievery is a low risk activity.
Here is how I started this thread, rather than retype it, I just copied it because the only thing different is this time it cost right at $1000.00 to fix and replace every thing. So my opinion has not changed. I still HATE THIEVES!
Isn't there a product on the market that sends you a text message to your cell phone or pager telling your vehicle is being broken into? Of course this is no good if your far from where you parked your machine for the night to catch them. But lets face it 98% of the time the person who broke into your machine knows who you are, and the best time to break in, and you most likely know them, you may have hired them at one time and they left on bad terms with you. Depending on the size of the population you live in there are chances you can figure this out who took the batteries, it's always the thugs, the people who know the business, knows you or of you, and has to be familiar with the machine. If the thief's like to hang out at a few of the local watering holes chances are you can catch them, thief's like bragging, they are also good at getting someone mad at them enough to where they rat them out to the police or to you, but that's most likely to happen if you post a small $100.00 reward right in the bar. You'd be surprise how easy it is to catch these people, but thats only if it's not one of them cases where the guys were traveling far from their home town on the hunt. Make sure you file a report with the police, because with any luck the thief's are dumb enough to pawn the batteries, or if you really want these people caught, check the few local area parts stores for anybody who recently came in looking to buy batteries. Post back if you install some kind of security system, I'd like to know what you did.
My work area is far to big and populated for any of your ideas to work, plus as a one man show its sure not anyone I have hired or fired. Around here they smash the batteries for the lead to recycle. We did file a police report as I was not the only machine targeted that night, but that's as far as the police will take it. I was able to get permission to park in the adjoining land owners drive behind locked gates for the weekend, I should finish the job Monday or Tuesday then on to the next one. I did strap a game camera on my boom when I left on Friday and parked in such away that my battery box was crowded into some blackberry bushes. As far as an alert to my phone even if I had something like that like so many of my jobs, its about an hr away, and police response time is no faster than I could get there either. Good thoughts though and thanks for the reply.
Thats too bad with where we park our machines sometimes we have to worry, especially someone like you who travels far covering huge section of well populated areas of the State. If it's not the kids throwing rocks at the glass, it's someone taking parts off of them... I'm surprised with the Heavy Equipment Industries knowing these kind of problems have existed for such a long time that companies like Cat and JD have not yet designed right into each machine actual OEM storm panels as a common option be standard that locks right into place with ease to cover the glass, from rocks and storm debris flying around. And to design key items like the battery box as well as some other key items that are often stollen be designed with security measures into place. I'm sure it can be done as new models come out. perhaps a factory rep will read this and we'll soon see this happen. wishful thinking lol....
My Dodge 2500 disappear this afternoon. My hired guy parked it in the shed at 3, locked it up, and locked up the keys. The truck was gone at 8pm. Has massive company logos plastered all over it. My name in massive letters. Takes some serious balls if you ask me. Theft is so rampant anymore, nobody really gives a crap except the victim, and then only for a while. What are you supposed to do? The truck was definitely nothing special, not by a long shot. I only got it a couple months ago. Bought the cheapest work truck I could find and afford. **** me off!
That sucks!
I hate thief's and vandalism! I caught the kids last time!!!! I park snowplow equipment behind a mall. Every now and then they get the urge to bust stuff up. Well these kid left tracks all over, busted windows, ripped out wires, stupid S***! It took awhile but as I crossed this lawn following the tracks, two kids are looking at me out a window with there jaws dropped. BINGO. I yell I caught ya and the disappear. It was perfect. These kids where like 11 years old it's nuts! The cops said do you want to press charges I said hell yea! I want the word to get out. He talked me out of it but did scare the crap out of them and there mommies. Parents paid for damages that was a first.
Another time I had a locked garage with mostly spare tools and a pickup parked in it. They broke in loaded my pickup with all the tools and took off. The cops and insurance company gave me a hard time about leaving the keys in the truck. I'm like *** it's in a LOCKED garage. I got the truck back when a buddy calls a week later and says whats your pickup doing a this apt building? Did one your guys move there? At least I got the truck back.
And the worst part about it, is some methhead probably sold it for scrap. (That would be the first places I'd be checking.) At the College where I work, our facilities guys caught some punks pulling the copper down spouts off from an OCCUPIED building.... How did they catch them you might ask? Well, the meth heats took off running into the woods to escape. (That part was good thinking, can't really fault them there.) The problem was, they left their van, with half of the bent up down spouts, and their freakin' wallets on the seat. And even with all of this, its still been dragging on in the court system. So much for speedy trial.... I could have had that case done and over in an hour, even counting the time it took to find them in the swamp.
Thieves have been taking everything lately. I always put a hidden ignition cutout somewhere. Park in a puzzle and out of main sightlines. Most times theft is a opportunity crime. Make it harder for them and they will move to a easier target. Im definitely going to make them earn it if they want it.
Yup, secondary measures are always a really good idea. A friend of mine first day on the job site, and asked the owner what measures they were to take to secure the cats. "Oh, we just take the keys out of them." My buddy wiped out his personal collection of keys, (As back in those days they all used the same key) and fired up the guys machine right in front of him. So as much as I dislike the new machines with the keypads, I can see why they are out there....
This has gotten really interesting. You learn something new every day. ( and as I am typing this the phone rang, it got even more interesting) Turns out there is a system of thievery established on the local native Indian reserve where Indian towing companies charge insurance companies for towing abandoned vehicles. So what happens is the vehicle is jacked and rushed to the reserve where the Provincial police have no jurisdiction. The Indian police are in charge there, the OPP have to stay off the reserve if i understand things correctly. So the vehicle is driven to the reserve. They may even go in groups and jack a 3 or 4 vehicles to make a good round trip of it. The vehicles are parked somewhere out of the the way, but still on the road. Taking it off road and destroying it is rare. They may grab the stereo or other small bits and pieces and leave. Usually the tires and rims go too. The next day the local cops find the stolen cars, sometimes several parked all in one place. They call a local tow company to bring them in and impound them. The tow company sits on the vehicle for a while, racking up impound charges. After a month or so, the vehicle is reported found. Your insurance company gets the call. By that time the vehicle is written off. The insurance company has to pay to get the vehicle back, and towed to somewhere where it can be fixed. Or the insurance company has written it off, and the towing company is allowed to keep the vehicle, and turns it around for sale as a recovered vehicle. The towing company splits the proceeds with the actual thief, and system goes on and on. Sounds like the towing company can get $1500 out of a lower value vehicle. If its worth more, they impound it a little longer so the impound charges are sufficiently high such that the insurance company allows them to keep it. They can then sell it for whatever its worth and net whatever they get. What is neat about the whole thing is the thieves no longer part the vehicle out, or operate a chop shop. They don't burn or wreck the vehicle. They simply grab it and deliver it to the reserve, where it falls under the umbrella of the Indian police and towing companies. --------------------- Before I typed all the above, I called the farm equipment shop I work with. The lead mechanic is a good guy, and confirmed the above story, and that the exact same thing just happened to his truck a month ago. He said he would call a nearby auto shop/recovery company (Leny's) to tell him to keep his ears open. Leny goes to the reserve several times each day to pull cars out that have been "found" He said every stolen vehicle on the reserve ends up going through one big towing company up there. Every vehicle that is ever recovered comes from that yard. He called me back 30 seconds later because apparently Leny had heard on the scanner that 4 vehicles were found this morning, in a group, and one of them was a big white dodge. Wheels gone. --------------------------- This entire system hinges on the fact that the OPP can't go on the reserve to investigate. It's as if the reserve is another country. As far as the Indian cops are concerned, they are finding and towing abandoned vehicles. Its an enormous scam and nobody can or wants to do anything about it. Everyone wins in this system except the original owner, and anyone paying auto insurance premiums. I may have the truck back, but I may not want it back either. If it was found with a bunch of other vehicles, then it is likely fine mechanically. Time will tell...
Wow, that's a drag. Even if you do get it back, if its missing rims and tires, it will probably cost more to restore it to drivable condition than it will be worth. If you can confirm any of this, I think the people to talk to might be 16X9 or some other TV program that specializes in stuff like this. It might not help you, but it might go a long way toward stopping this. What a crappy situation....
Anything I would like to say is culturally insensitive, and I'm supposed to be ashamed of myself.
Wrong is wrong, there are bad people in any nation, none of them are exempt from all laws....
Thi
Well I got hit sometime this weekend, not near as bad as others but still frustrating. Pulled up at the pit this morning and was fueling the track hoe when I glanced over and saw the plastic top holder for the batteries laying on top of the machine. Immediately I knew my batteries were gone. Lucky for me when they pried the locked door open they didn't break the lock or bend the panel. It's one thing to be out $220 for two new batteries and a jumper but I had 3 hired trucks set up to be at the pit at 7, this was 6:30. So two batteries cost me 3 trucks sitting for an hour while I go get batteries and hook them up. All in all it was $500 up a wild cat's ass first thing this morning.:guns
CM1995 did they cut the cables and hold down clamps to? We had 3 or 4 machines on a job last summer and the just cut the batt cables the hold down clamps and took off! plus another contractor that had 3 or 4 machines on site had theirs stolen to. What do they get out of batt? somebody told me for making drugs????
Luckily they just took the two batteries and the jumper cable between the two and didn't cut the copper pos/neg leads on the machine. It could have been a lot worse. Either they got $2-5 a piece as scrap or sold them as used batteries to someone.:beatsme I was madder than a hornet this morning and would have gave them some lead if they were still there.
Well, it must be a full moon or something, I showed up to find the windows in the door smashed out. At least they didn't break the windshield.
It seems like it's coming down to welding your battery box in place, if your worried about where you park your machine from time to time, or it seems like every year your getting your batteries stollen, go ahead and weld the battery box shut some how, rig up some kind of set up with extra metal if you have to so you won't ruin your machine if it's still in nice shape. like set up a strap going around the box. I'm sure we're all smart enough to figure out some kind of set up to rig it so the batteries are behind welded panels ands its no big deal to cut the welds when replacing or servicing the batteries. My Bro-in-law was always getting his motor stollen to his cement mixer, now that I think about it, it would have been nothing to have welded the engine block to the frame of the machine. And if someone hits your machine and brought their own cutting torch, then chances are you know the guy.
That sucks. I had just had a new windshield put in last Sat., at least they were only thieves that hit me and not vandals. Also at the dump site, someone dumped 12-14 old boats, I mean 16-20' long boat hulls. The guy that runs the dump and the pit called me yesterday to see if my drivers saw anyone coming in or out. I rode by there on my way home and there was the USS Minnow with a dozen more, marooned between piles of muck.:beatsme