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Bring a boot/wheel lock for road trip?

johnparjr

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Doing a cross country trip in a few months and looking for opinions on peace of mind countermeasures.

We’re going to be alternating camping and doing hotels, and while not going anywhere suspect... the world is a little crazy right now.

I have a lockable hood and a battery disconnect already installed, but my friend was mentioning that I should carry a couple boots with me to scare off opportunists and prevent someone pulling it off with a tow truck:

https://www.trimaxlocks.com/shop/wheel-locks/twl400/
https://immobilize.com/component/hikashop/product/770-the-protector

I emailed both companies and they would fit a 37inch tire, but now I’m on the fence. Am I being paranoid?

Feels strange to be contemplating strapping a couple yellow boots to my truck at night.

Need a little group therapy!
Don't take this the wrong way but way to paranoid there is no way to tell when and if you would ever be broken in to and if they want it they will get it. Only thing really to do is have good insurance coverage
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Kindafearless

Kindafearless

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If you are willing to spend money like that on gadgets, then you might want to play some offense, not just defense. Defense is locking your doors, alarm is set, kill the battery, lock the hood, lug nut locks and all that good stuff. But beyond the obvious, nothing is going to stop someone from taking it, like others have said.

Imagine someone did just take your Jeep. Do you have a GPS tracking device? That's the best thing you have when it's time to call the police. You install one you manage on your own, and you can see it's location with your phone. Or you go the route of a subscription based service where a company manages it, but I would rather just do it myself. I've read stories about people doing this with an old phone they hide somewhere. Plenty of "find my phone" solutions out there. Traveling with 2 people, 2 phones? Sleeping the night in a hotel? Hide one of the phones in the Jeep overnight. Done! You might even be able to get some kind of notification in the middle of the night that your "phone" has moved, or detected audio. Just some ideas. I don't have the full solution, but I'm interested in researching this type of thing.
I was actually thinking about building a passive GPS tracker as a fun project. I never remember to turn on the GPS tracker on my phone or tablet when going on trails or drives, but a microcontroller installed in the car feeding data to a small server could do that passively, and I could pull it down when I want anytime.

Nowadays the computing power and hardware to do something like that is pretty cheap and the programming and security aspects aren’t that hard.

It could serve as what you are describing with a little more code too.
 
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Kindafearless

Kindafearless

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Also, thank you to those who have given constructive answers to this thought exercise. It’s good to have a community of people who like tinkering, gadgets, and adventure.

As everyone with that mindset knows, we all have good ideas and bad ideas AND receive good advice and bad advice. Thank you for the second opinions.
 

Jaxmax

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That awesone build of yours also deters the catalytic thiefs, getting around skid plates with sawzall will make them look for easier pickings. Very nice job and thought process on your build!....Jack
 

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Has anyone ever used the Rivian device? I saw it advertised and gave a cursory look but not sure about how effective it is.
The web site says professional car hackers in Mexico could not get past it and the insurance institute there gives a 25% discount for customers with that device installed.
Not sure about the veracity of that claim, hence the question.
 

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If you are willing to spend money like that on gadgets, then you might want to play some offense, not just defense. Defense is locking your doors, alarm is set, kill the battery, lock the hood, lug nut locks and all that good stuff. But beyond the obvious, nothing is going to stop someone from taking it, like others have said.

Imagine someone did just take your Jeep. Do you have a GPS tracking device? That's the best thing you have when it's time to call the police. You install one you manage on your own, and you can see it's location with your phone. Or you go the route of a subscription based service where a company manages it, but I would rather just do it myself. I've read stories about people doing this with an old phone they hide somewhere. Plenty of "find my phone" solutions out there. Traveling with 2 people, 2 phones? Sleeping the night in a hotel? Hide one of the phones in the Jeep overnight. Done! You might even be able to get some kind of notification in the middle of the night that your "phone" has moved, or detected audio. Just some ideas. I don't have the full solution, but I'm interested in researching this type of thing.
I have one of the GPS trackers that was installed by the dealer. It comes with a three year paid subscription, and a phone app to track the vehicle. It is a dealer installable Mopar option. There are several threads about people finding these in their Jeep and disabling or removing them.
 

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One very good one is on second page of this thread, I will add a little. If you stop somewhere and that "gut feeling" is going leave. Following the sense your born with can help. Now a big one.. don't get buried in cell phone, camera ect ect. #3 good / nice places "get" more action than a less affluent one many times. Locking gas cap deterrent from gas removal and someone putting something in fuel tank.
 

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Has anyone ever used the Rivian device? I saw it advertised and gave a cursory look but not sure about how effective it is.
The web site says professional car hackers in Mexico could not get past it and the insurance institute there gives a 25% discount for customers with that device installed.
Not sure about the veracity of that claim, hence the question.
Sorry, got the name wrong. The device is called RAVELCO.
 

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I really don't care for the modern design motel/hotel that doesn't have a door that allows entry from where my vehicle is parked. I'm more concerned that someone is going to mess with my Jeep than the stuff I have in my room. So, I want it parked directly outside my door. This is also helpful since I have a ton of photography gear I bring into the room. My advice is, look for an older, single floor motel where the doors open directly to your parking, and where the proprietor is in a good position to see if there is monkey business going on outside your room (for when you go to dinner). And then take responsibility for keeping an eye on your rig. If you have a burglar alarm, that is especially helpful in adding to your comfort. If you can, walk to meals, but hang the do not disturb sign on the door and turn up the TV.
Mark I’m going to have to disagree with you. I believe the OP is female and personal security trumps vehicle security every time. My wife (pre-Covid) was a road warrior and has taken several steps to increase her personal security while traveling. On the top of the list is only staying in hotels with limited entrances and multiple floors. She does not stay on the first floor or near elevators. I agree to bring in everything that is of value and could be seen. Other than that just lock it up and let your insurance do the rest. I have, when traveling in my Porsche made sure I could see it from my hotel room which is pretty easy to do.
 
 



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