My poor truck has been targeted by scumbags again

^^ I actually really like that idea. I have a metal fabricator buddy who would love a quick project like a battery basket. I wouldn't even leave a note* just a blank space where they expect their free $10 to be would be enough for me.

*After I chased off the guy trying to steal my truck, I wired the driver's door with a household chime so it would sound when the door opened, and I pulled the fuel pump fuse so I can hear the motor cranking, but it won't start. I left the truck in the same place he abandoned it after I literally ran him (screaming) off. And I left a note propped right in front of the gauges that said, "You better be faster than last time. I will be."

Take a battery sized cardboard box paint it black and put it where the battery should be with the factory wires attached to it.

I vote for putting it under the seat. Doing anything like razors under the lip, moderate voltage to the latch etc. will cost you a windshield.

Trunk Monkey. Duh.

I hadn't watched it in a while.

I find that a bright light and a dummy camera usually does the trick, along with a "This Truck Protected by Smith & Wesson" sticker.

In reply to motomoron:

How have I missed that?

alex wrote: I have a metal fabricator buddy who would love a quick project like a battery basket.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Weld-In-Battery-Box,3455.html

1. Relocate real battery elsewhere.
2. Buy some cardboard tubing about an inch in diameter, some red paint, a small electronic project box from Radio Shack or the likes, a cheap kitchen timer with a big display, and something cheap and electronic from a yard sale/Goodwill.
3. Use the above items to make a mock-up of your typical movie dynamite pack. You know- bundle of red dynamite sticks, box of electronic junk, lots of wires sticking out, and the the timer prominently visible on the front. Securely fasten 'dynamite' where the battery was.
4. Wire up a contact switch that starts the countdown on the timer when the hood is opened. Set the timer for something like 20 seconds.
5. Be sure and have some form of video recording setup to document the thief's reaction and their face to report to the police.

Ashyukun wrote: 1. Relocate real battery elsewhere. 2. Buy some cardboard tubing about an inch in diameter, some red paint, a small electronic project box from Radio Shack or the likes, a cheap kitchen timer with a big display, and something cheap and electronic from a yard sale/Goodwill. 3. Use the above items to make a mock-up of your typical movie dynamite pack. You know- bundle of red dynamite sticks, box of electronic junk, lots of wires sticking out, and the the timer prominently visible on the front. Securely fasten 'dynamite' where the battery was. 4. Wire up a contact switch that starts the countdown on the timer when the hood is opened. Set the timer for something like 20 seconds. 5. Be sure and have some form of video recording setup to document the thief's reaction and their face to report to the police.

That's quite brilliant.

I relocated my hood release in one of my old cars... cause it broke. No-one was able to open hood except me....because by relocate, I mean added a pulley so you had to reach under the bumper to find the drawstring that activated the hood release.

Leave the release handle there, but don't have it hooked up. they will move on, when they see your 500 dollar truck can't have the hood opened.

it isn't about pissing them off... it is about making it not worth their time.

mad_machine wrote: How to stop cats pissing on your car

Ill see your super crazy ausie cat sparying device, and raise you a BLENDER DEFENDER - equally as hilarious

There's a crew running around my hood cutting catalytic converters off cars with sawzalls. One of the residents of my condo building found some catalog (possibly Skymall) that had a security system that was a motion sensor activated speaker that would play the sound of a dog barking.

Rig one of them small replacement washer pumps w/ a switch activated by pulling the hood latch, spray hunters' fox piss cover scent all over 'em. It's not inhumane as razor blades or sumthin' but they'll never berkeley w/ you again.

... be easy to identify 'em too.

fasted58 wrote: Rig one of them small replacement washer pumps w/ a switch activated by pulling the hood latch, spray hunters' fox piss cover scent all over 'em. It's not inhumane as razor blades or sumthin' but they'll never berkeley w/ you again. ... be easy to identify 'em too.

We did something like that back in my college dorms as retribution against the floor above us for destroying our microwave. We'd pooled funds and gotten a floor microwave that was kept in the TV room and was supposed to be used just by those on our floor (who had paid for it). People from the floor above us would regularly come down and try and use it and not clean up after themselves- when we told them to knock it off and get their own, one of them put a coffee mug with a couple of metal forks in it into the microwave and destroyed it.

One of the guys on our floor was a hunter (this was mid-Missouri), so one weekend when he went home to hunt he came back with a bottle of buck urine, went up to the offending floor and poured it all over the inside of the light fixtures in their study room. After a few days, they just sealed the room up and didn't use it for the rest of the year...

You can buy these little Alert-Mate or similar alarms for about $10 bucks. You pull a little pin and 130db shrieking noise goes off. Rig one to the hood and another to the battery. Cheap and downright scary when they go off.