Trailer Hitch Locks
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Well a few years back I was selling a boat & trailer, and had them parked close to the side of road on a friends land.
Pad locked the hitch closed on a old ball that had no threads on it. (Cut it off with a torch.) Also took a short length of decent size chain ran it through the wheel on the road side and around the frame.
It sat there for 3 weeks till it sold.
Pad locked the hitch closed on a old ball that had no threads on it. (Cut it off with a torch.) Also took a short length of decent size chain ran it through the wheel on the road side and around the frame.
It sat there for 3 weeks till it sold.
SAFireman
Member
Trailer locks are only for honest folk.
I helped a buddy remove one that he lost the keys to.....it took me less than a minute with a basic hand tool.
I am sure that there are some that really work well, but they can all be overcome by someone determined. The easy to carry battery operated grinder with a cut-off wheel will make quick work of most locks.
I helped a buddy remove one that he lost the keys to.....it took me less than a minute with a basic hand tool.
I am sure that there are some that really work well, but they can all be overcome by someone determined. The easy to carry battery operated grinder with a cut-off wheel will make quick work of most locks.
I have no confidence in the expensive wrap-around locks and have known several people who used them and had their trailers stolen because someone used a sledgehammer and quickly broke off the lock. I use bolt cutter resistant motor cycle chains and padlocks and wrap them around the leaf springs and through the wheels which also keeps someone from stealing the wheels. I always jack the trailer as high as possible and put another chain around the jack handle and I just put a padlock on the hitch. With 4 locks to defeat most crooks would seek an easier target but it's best to have the trailer insured.
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Jon651
Member
Unless you have a ball or something inside blocking the trailer's hitch when you lock it shut any thief can defeat your security by simply using a smaller ball on his vehicle. There are several locks that do this and I've attached a few example pictures.
Anything with a chain has the weakness of being cut off with bolt cutters. Anything with a key has the ability to be picked - but it's not as quickly done as using bolt cutters. Unfortunately, anything can be stolen with enough effort, but I find these hitch locks have worked for me for many years and they all run in the $15-25 range.
Anything with a chain has the weakness of being cut off with bolt cutters. Anything with a key has the ability to be picked - but it's not as quickly done as using bolt cutters. Unfortunately, anything can be stolen with enough effort, but I find these hitch locks have worked for me for many years and they all run in the $15-25 range.
Attachments
My nice trailer has slot type rims. A piece of chain through one rim and around the axle with a good lock makes the casual guy think. But, even Master padlocks are really easy to break. Cross 2 pin bars in the loop and apply pressure and it will pop the tooth.
Here is what I did.
Placed the lock and one end of the chain under the frame and to a steel loop welded to the axle. The out side end of the chain where it passes through the rim has a piece of steel welded to it to large to go though the rim slot and make getting to the lug nuts suck. The chain is heavy and short, so it would be difficult to remove the tire and replace it with the chain in place. That way a thief can't just stick on the spare and tie up the chained rim. Heavy hardened chain is difficult for bolt cutters. Getting to the paddock or chain under the trailer is a lot harder for cutters or picking.
If the thief has a $40 Harbor Freight battery powered grinder and a few .045 disk and chain cable and locked on balls can be cut off in a couple minutes.
Chain is harder to cut with a grinder than cable. Hold the cable in one had and cut it. Same with a U bolt type lock on a ball.
With chain you must make one link steady and then cut both sides of that link. Doing it on your back under a low trailer would be even tougher. But, not impossible. Most thieves are not looking for difficult. They like easy.
Hopefully if one tries, he is stupid enough to shoot grinder grit in his eyes.
Here is what I did.
Placed the lock and one end of the chain under the frame and to a steel loop welded to the axle. The out side end of the chain where it passes through the rim has a piece of steel welded to it to large to go though the rim slot and make getting to the lug nuts suck. The chain is heavy and short, so it would be difficult to remove the tire and replace it with the chain in place. That way a thief can't just stick on the spare and tie up the chained rim. Heavy hardened chain is difficult for bolt cutters. Getting to the paddock or chain under the trailer is a lot harder for cutters or picking.
If the thief has a $40 Harbor Freight battery powered grinder and a few .045 disk and chain cable and locked on balls can be cut off in a couple minutes.
Chain is harder to cut with a grinder than cable. Hold the cable in one had and cut it. Same with a U bolt type lock on a ball.
With chain you must make one link steady and then cut both sides of that link. Doing it on your back under a low trailer would be even tougher. But, not impossible. Most thieves are not looking for difficult. They like easy.
Hopefully if one tries, he is stupid enough to shoot grinder grit in his eyes.
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Most are just for looks. The hardly slow down a thief.
Remove a tire!
Saw a surveillance video of two guys remove a 150 outboard motor from a boat (in the water) took 2 minutes!!
Remove a tire!
Saw a surveillance video of two guys remove a 150 outboard motor from a boat (in the water) took 2 minutes!!
Where we farm our county sheriff was coming home late one Saturday night from going out on the town with his wife. A truck pulling a utility trailer was sparking and jumping all over the road in front of him like it was not connected to the hitch—it wasn't!
Turns out two meth heads were pulling the trailer down the road by the safety chains (there was a lock through the hitch latch so they could not connect it to the ball)! They had "lost" the key according to their story.
Anyway, I asked the Sheriff when he was telling me this story, why these types don't go buy a $50 Harbor Freight angle grinder and some cut off wheels. That got a big laugh from him and he responded with 1. "Do you know how much meth they can buy with $50!?" 2. "That would require some work to run a grinder for two minutes, rarely will thieves steal anything that requires work." 3. "It would require some measure of planning and organized thought to go to Harbor Freight, shop for a grinder, get cutting wheels, etc."
flagman1776
Member
I took a different approach. I removed the crank assembly to the landing gear on my gooseneck horse trailer.
Thieves are lazy and are looking for easy is true. Doing anything that makes it difficult will stop most of them. Most of them won't pay for a grinder. Now some of them may well have stolen a grinder.
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Fishinfool
Member
I know a guy who trailers his 22 foot fishing boat up to Lake Ontario each spring, and leaves it at his mobile home for the season, often un-attended for weeks at a time. He has experienced theft before.
He removes the wheels / tires from one side, as well as the wheel hubs, and leaves it up on a block of wood. Also removes the hitch from the trailer neck. Yea, a bit of a pain, about an hours work, but it's worked for him for many years while others in the mostly seasonal trailer park have experienced loss over time.
Wanted to add that the problem with hitch locks is that most trailer hitches on smaller trailers can be removed from the trailer tongue by removing just a couple of bolts and off it comes - with the lock. Easy to carry and bolt on a new hitch in just a few minutes.
Larry
He removes the wheels / tires from one side, as well as the wheel hubs, and leaves it up on a block of wood. Also removes the hitch from the trailer neck. Yea, a bit of a pain, about an hours work, but it's worked for him for many years while others in the mostly seasonal trailer park have experienced loss over time.
Wanted to add that the problem with hitch locks is that most trailer hitches on smaller trailers can be removed from the trailer tongue by removing just a couple of bolts and off it comes - with the lock. Easy to carry and bolt on a new hitch in just a few minutes.
Larry
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Art Doc
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Only so much you can do. A determined thief with tools will likely get it. I have a utility trailer parked in my driveway and I have the small padlock through the coupling and a chain through one wheel and frame. So far so good. You make stealing it as inconvenient as possible and hope he moves on to easier pickings.
As with any lock, they only keep the honest people honest. Some are more effective than others, but all be defeated.
Jon651
Member
Maddog 521
Member
Jack it up as far as possible on the jack stand and lock or remove the handle. They will have to cut the jack stand off to get the hitch onto their ball. Of course that won't work if the JS folds up. Worked for me
SC_Mike
Member
Remove all wheels.
Recusant
Member
As long as thieves can't get to my guns they can have the trailer: its insured!
There's a company in Tulsa that makes Rectangular security chains for the oil field business and they are sold by the foot and they ain't cheap but they are supposedly harder steel than bolt cutters are, you might Google it.
misswired
Absent Comrade
This subject reminds me of the reason I remove the lug nuts from my hunting lease trailer. One of our hunters keeps his Polaris Ranger on his trailer parked beside his house. (not very smart) He had a locking pin for the hitch, but he removed the lugs as an additional safety measure. One evening when he returned home from work he found a pickup - partially out his driveway- attached to the trailer, but one of the tires had come off the hub and the trailer frame was on the ground. The weight of the trailer and Ranger plus the sharp angle, prevented the thieves from being able to get it off the ball, so they split, leaving their truck behind. Thieves were tracked down.
I love a story with a happy ending.
Jon651
Member
These two have worked for decades, but, I don't live or park in high crime areas
Anyone can steal that trailer without even bothering with the lock just by using the next size smaller hitch ball. Any hitch locked like that will easily drop down over a smaller ball and as long as they don't hit any bumps hard enough to make the tongue bounce it will stay put long enough to leave the area.
I use to have a 19' Four Winns V6 ski boat that had a removeable tongue and hitch on it's trailer and it was designed to be easily removed so the trailer would be shorter so someone could store the boat in their garage, which I did. I just removed two nuts and pulled two big bolts out and then pulled the tongue and hitch off which I did a few times also while camping to make it more difficult to steal and I thought that was a simple but great idea.
flagman1776
Member
Years ago, one of my marina customers brought his boat in for us to set on his trailer first thing the next morning. He opened his garage door, ready to hook up the trailer. As he was getting a cup of coffee, he heard a noise and ran out in time to see his trailer turn the corner! He never got it back.
Cdog
Member
I live in a mostly rural area west of Atlanta.
The meth heads here have easy access to trucks and trailers large enough to get your trailers, 4 wheelers, tractors, mowers, etc even if they don't have wheels attached and are chained to an extremely "anxious" bull.
People on dope are crazy and will steal anything.
More than once my own family members have stolen from me.
I still use locks and chains. I have photos of this and the numbers in hopes it will make it more difficult for the insurers to say I didn't do my part to protect them.
The meth heads here have easy access to trucks and trailers large enough to get your trailers, 4 wheelers, tractors, mowers, etc even if they don't have wheels attached and are chained to an extremely "anxious" bull.
People on dope are crazy and will steal anything.
More than once my own family members have stolen from me.
I still use locks and chains. I have photos of this and the numbers in hopes it will make it more difficult for the insurers to say I didn't do my part to protect them.
