2022 JTRD stolen from driveway (don't let it happen to you)

[chrisandrews]

That’s actually the current plan now. Waiting to hear from the dealer in St Catherine’s on whether or not I need to head down there or if there’s someone closer to install.

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[legacy_etu]

That’s actually the current plan now. Waiting to hear from the dealer in St Catherine’s on whether or not I need to head down there or if there’s someone closer to install.

Cool. Sounds like you'll be well protected then. Maybe get a Ring camera too covering the driveway so you can get an instant alert when someone is in your driveway. It's amazing the wildlife I catch overnight on mine.

 

[chrisandrews]

Cool. Sounds like you'll be well protected then. Maybe get a Ring camera too covering the driveway so you can get an instant alert when someone is in your driveway. It's amazing the wildlife I catch overnight on mine.

I actually already have one... but I had let the batteries die and hadn't recharged them since September! The detective said he'd seen a lot of Ring footage over the years and all they ever show are two guys with hoods and masks, vehicle lights coming on, and the vehicle driving away. Criminals don't give a shit about cameras. I do have motion alerts announced on my Echo devices though and I would have heard that, so maybe I could have run to the window and yelled at them with my lowest baritone register: "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY JEEP OR I WILL UNLEASH MY DOGS" who also would be barking their heads off.

For context, this is a totally idle threat, look at these lazy bones:

 

[ShadowsPapa]

if your on the east coast, or mid Atlantic region, The same installer I used will do yours.

dealer can be found here: https://www.ravelco.com/dealers.html

sounds like you got it but wanted to reply anyway.

Question about that setup - of course I don't want to know any details - that the whole point of the thing, but if you need to leave your truck with valet parking, or at a dealer or for that matter, any other shop like a tire shop - I assume there are provisions to bypass whatever they do or at lease some sort of one-time way for the good guys working on your truck (tire shop, etc.) to start it as many times as they need to?

 

[HooliganActual]

First off: to the OP @chrisandrews, I'm sorry this happened. In the old days of the American West, horse thieves were hung and, without sounding too "militant" maybe that wouldn't be a bad practice when they steal 285 of them. I hope you have more success with your next whip.

Now...I've been reading this thread and I know that if a thief really wants something, they will get it regardless of the deterrents. I agree with layers of deterrents to "keep the honest people honest", as my old man would say.

I've read a lot in this thread and another security related thread that's been running concurrently about different things to protect the fob, the OBD2 port, the CANBUS, etc. but here's my stupid question:

Is there anything that could be done, mechanically or electrically, to deter a theft that doesn't require an add-on, etc.? Back in the day, if I was leaving my car unattended for a period of time, I would pull the distributor wire. I know that doesn't stop it from being pulled away with another vehicle, but it certainly would stop any car thief that wasn't walking around with a spare distributor wire.

As I understand, most of the car thieves today are running around with fob cloners and computers to hack the security, but how many are actually carrying a spare "distributor wire"? Or 30A fuse for the ignition circuit, or whatever. So my question is real here and not just some trolling snark...is there a fuse that could be pulled, a cable disconnected, etc. that doesn't require adding anything but could disable the vehicle and cause a thief to move on rather than waste time troubleshooting? I mean, even hood locks and a disconnected battery is going to stop some percentage of thieves...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

First off: to the OP @chrisandrews, I'm sorry this happened. In the old days of the American West, horse thieves were hung and, without sounding too "militant" maybe that wouldn't be a bad practice when they steal 285 of them. I hope you have more success with your next whip.

Now...I've been reading this thread and I know that if a thief really wants something, they will get it regardless of the deterrents. I agree with layers of deterrents to "keep the honest people honest", as my old man would say.

I've read a lot in this thread and another security related thread that's been running concurrently about different things to protect the fob, the OBD2 port, the CANBUS, etc. but here's my stupid question:

Is there anything that could be done, mechanically or electrically, to deter a theft that doesn't require an add-on, etc.? Back in the day, if I was leaving my car unattended for a period of time, I would pull the distributor wire. I know that doesn't stop it from being pulled away with another vehicle, but it certainly would stop any car thief that wasn't walking around with a spare distributor wire.

As I understand, most of the car thieves today are running around with fob cloners and computers to hack the security, but how many are actually carrying a spare "distributor wire"? Or 30A fuse for the ignition circuit, or whatever. So my question is real here and not just some trolling snark...is there a fuse that could be pulled, a cable disconnected, etc. that doesn't require adding anything but could disable the vehicle and cause a thief to move on rather than waste time troubleshooting? I mean, even hood locks and a disconnected battery is going to stop some percentage of thieves...

As I've said in other threads related to this topic - just pull some relays out of the PDC. Spare fuses are everywhere. They could pull a fuse from another vehicle, or use one of the spares in the PDC or even one from their vehicle say the blower motor fuse and have a fuse, or just stick a short piece of wire where the fuse goes. Their problem is solved.
Relays, that's another patter.

I also believe that if I were to take time to pull my PDC off and explore the bottom side, I could rig a relay hidden in the cab controlled by a micro switch that would cut power to necessary things with the flip of a switch, or like I also said - use a USB key in the console.
Pull USB key, it kills a relay that would open a circuit, say, for the fuel pump or injectors or coil packs. It doesn't take much for me to come up with a way I could render one of these "unstartable" and make my mods like factory.
They'd have to tow it away.

I guess years of dealing with "why won't this car start' or "why isn't this working" has given me clues.
Plus, hate to say it, but I got really good at securing our gov't agency's network in part because I can think like a bad guy. There's a bit of Boris Badenov in me. How would I go about breaking in, how would I steal something, what would I look for.
If I was a thief, I'd have certain tools and bits and pieces of wire and fuses, and maybe even a few common relays (MOPAR used the same relays in Grand Cherokees for years and often the exact same relay number was used for multiple spots/functions)
So if you target MOPAR vehicles - you would know what you needed and have a small bag of stuff.
It's like when someone would bring in a certain model car with a problem, years ago I could walk over to that car with the tools I needed already in-hand, no going back and forth. I know what tools I needed and knew part numbers of common things. I'd holler up to the parts department "I need a 89966 xxxxx"
Good thieves will be that way. So you have to think way beyond the common or ordinary.

(Frankly, I could probably use almost any piece of wire to function as a make-shift coil to distributor cap wire if I only wanted to get it to my garage. It's high voltage, very low amperage. )

 

[sharpsicle]

Question about that setup - of course I don't want to know any details - that the whole point of the thing, but if you need to leave your truck with valet parking, or at a dealer or for that matter, any other shop like a tire shop - I assume there are provisions to bypass whatever they do or at lease some sort of one-time way for the good guys working on your truck (tire shop, etc.) to start it as many times as they need to?

You have to leave them the plug cap. The Ravelco is just a wiring plug, nothing fancy enough to allow valet-style programming. Heck, even if the cap falls off while you're driving it'll shut down the truck. It's that simple.

Also, there's nothing truly secretive about it. You could make your own Ravelco pretty easily. The security isn't in the design as much as it's in the possible connection combinations it provides. They've just made a commercial solution that's good at hiding that combination and making it difficult to test for on the vehicle (through false positive wire connections). The plug cap, on the other hand, can be easily tested and the combination figured out, so handing out that cap is handing out the secret.

 

[ecidiego]

Question about that setup - of course I don't want to know any details - that the whole point of the thing, but if you need to leave your truck with valet parking, or at a dealer or for that matter, any other shop like a tire shop - I assume there are provisions to bypass whatever they do or at lease some sort of one-time way for the good guys working on your truck (tire shop, etc.) to start it as many times as they need to?

No way to do that. Ravelco is a physical disconnect of several systems. No plug, no start.

 

[legacy_etu]

I actually already have one... but I had let the batteries die and hadn't recharged them since September! The detective said he'd seen a lot of Ring footage over the years and all they ever show are two guys with hoods and masks, vehicle lights coming on, and the vehicle driving away. Criminals don't give a shit about cameras. I do have motion alerts announced on my Echo devices though and I would have heard that, so maybe I could have run to the window and yelled at them with my lowest baritone register: "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY JEEP OR I WILL UNLEASH MY DOGS" who also would be barking their heads off.

For context, this is a totally idle threat, look at these lazy bones:

Looks like my dog. She sleeps the days away ............

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You have to leave them the plug cap. The Ravelco is just a wiring plug, nothing fancy enough to allow valet-style programming. Heck, even if the cap falls off while you're driving it'll shut down the truck. It's that simple.

Also, there's nothing truly secretive about it. You could make your own Ravelco pretty easily. The security isn't in the design as much as it's in the possible connection combinations it provides. They've just made a commercial solution that's good at hiding that combination and making it difficult to test for on the vehicle (through false positive wire connections). The plug cap, on the other hand, can be easily tested and the combination figured out, so handing out that cap is handing out the secret.

So frankly what I've thought about doing on our own Jeeps is a bit like a home-brew Ravelco setup.
Sorry, but making these things so they can't be started is just stupid bloody simple if you know your way around wiring systems and think like a thief. The trick is to hide the changes and make anything you need to add look factory.
I could re-route some of the truck's systems in a combination that would take them hours to figure out. And make it look factory.
You'd not believe the people really knowledgeable in AMCs who look over my car and say "I didn't know they put that engine in these".
(I hope I never lose my custom wiring schematic or map/key of wire colors and combinations)

 

[Artsifrtsi]

Tank chain locked to axle housing and to an anchor point in the driveway will add a lot of time to drive-away and drag-away thefts. Add an electric fence transformer to the chain, and you'd really deter them.

OOO... or a special seat cushion with fish hooks in key locations... hmmm...

My dad said they use to park their cars over a chain drag (like for baseball fields) and connect a stick welder to both the drag, and the frame of the car...

Had a friend many years ago that had his car stereo stolen. When he replaced it, he affixed razor blades to the back edges to where they wouldn't contact the wiring... that mod really deterred the next thief, but he had to clean the blood out of his car.

 

[Free2roam]

Well I just found this nugget

Ok but what about the ess function. Everytime it shuts off you have to re-enter the code? Super cool though.

 

[chrisandrews]

They've just made a commercial solution that's good at hiding that combination and making it difficult to test for on the vehicle (through false positive wire connections). The plug cap, on the other hand, can be easily tested and the combination figured out, so handing out that cap is handing out the secret.

And they claim 'hardened wiring' behind the dash portion of the plug, but the install location makes it vulnerable--and while that wouldn't necessarily mean it could be defeated easily, I am not keen on having it be so accessible. Ugh... goddamn thieves, giving me ulcers.

 

[sharpsicle]

And they claim 'hardened wiring' behind the dash portion of the plug, but the install location makes it vulnerable--and while that wouldn't necessarily mean it could be defeated easily, I am not keen on having it be so accessible. Ugh... goddamn thieves, giving me ulcers.

If you're looking for an entertaining read on Ravelco, check out this site:

https://ravelco.fun/?en

I'm not saying I do or don't agree with any of the assertions there, but it's an interesting read.

 

[JeepCode4]

Question about that setup - of course I don't want to know any details - that the whole point of the thing, but if you need to leave your truck with valet parking, or at a dealer or for that matter, any other shop like a tire shop - I assume there are provisions to bypass whatever they do or at lease some sort of one-time way for the good guys working on your truck (tire shop, etc.) to start it as many times as they need to?

It is hardwired and cannot be bypassed. That said if/when you need to leave your car at service or with a trusted party, you either leave the keychain connector in place in the vehicle, and say nothing, or show them how to use it. I never allow Valet parkers, never have. I can tell you countless times how many valet folks have been arrested for theft. If you go somewhere that makes you valet, insist you can park your own vehicle, or go somewhere else. If the place wants your business, 99% of the time no one cares. When i had a manual vehicle i never allowed these idiots to park my cars either.

I personally dont leave my vehicles with anyone, and if/when i go for service, i say nothing and leave it in place. No one will know what it is or if its there, if the plug remains in.

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