I hate car thieves

[Neal]

I picked up an 89 XJ a few weeks ago for my daughter to build and have some fun wrenching on. She was pumped and started right in on a build plan. Two days ago it was stolen from the parking lot at her apartment complex (I call it the Gulag Heights Apartments...). The PD recovered it this morning with the perp passed out in the driver's seat, out of gas and with assorted drug paraphernalia and a stolen wallet strewn about the interior. Good job by Albuquerque's finest.

After jimmying the door the perp had ripped apart the lock cover on the steering column to do the tried and true screwdriver-in-the-back-of-the-lock-cylinder trick. It worked as advertised and he headed down the road to where he could yank out the stereo and fence it, perhaps to buy the drugs that led to his unconscious state and current incarceration. I have been searching the Interwebs for steering column parts and have found that there basically aren't any. RockAuto has the lock cylinders but that's about it. Beyond that, what I really need are some of the plastic covers that go over the ignition lock and steering column behind the steering wheel. All the Mopar parts sites list the parts I'm looking for as "discontinued" and E-bay and Amazon have nothing but complete steering column assemblies, no individual parts. The local wrecking yards are fresh out of early XJ's. I've been checking Jeep wreckers online but so far I have come up dry, although I have to admit my Internet skills are fairly basic and I could easily be missing something obvious. If anyone here has any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them.

Decent basis for a build - if she can keep it...

Aside from the stereo nothing was missing and the only damage was to the steering column and lock cylinder.

Maybe I'll just replace the lock cylinder and wrap the steering column in plastic, then heat shrink it... yeah, that'll work.

 

[MountaineerTom]

I wonder if late 80’s Dodge trucks would be the same. I have an ‘86 Dodge Ram 250 and without Having it here with me, it looks pretty similar to what I remember.

 

[A. Paul]

I do believe that's the old Saginaw steering column. You can find those in just about anything from a couple decades ago. The fitments of the columns between vehicles differ but the covers off some should interchange.
No guarantees but you might be able to get an early 90s GM truck cover on there - should be lots at your local wrecker.

 

[reddvltj]

I picked up an 89 XJ a few weeks ago for my daughter to build and have some fun wrenching on. She was pumped and started right in on a build plan. Two days ago it was stolen from the parking lot at her apartment complex (I call it the Gulag Heights Apartments...). The PD recovered it this morning with the perp passed out in the driver's seat, out of gas and with assorted drug paraphernalia and a stolen wallet strewn about the interior. Good job by Albuquerque's finest.

After jimmying the door the perp had ripped apart the lock cover on the steering column to do the tried and true screwdriver-in-the-back-of-the-lock-cylinder trick. It worked as advertised and he headed down the road to where he could yank out the stereo and fence it, perhaps to buy the drugs that led to his unconscious state and current incarceration. I have been searching the Interwebs for steering column parts and have found that there basically aren't any. RockAuto has the lock cylinders but that's about it. Beyond that, what I really need are some of the plastic covers that go over the ignition lock and steering column behind the steering wheel. All the Mopar parts sites list the parts I'm looking for as "discontinued" and E-bay and Amazon have nothing but complete steering column assemblies, no individual parts. The local wrecking yards are fresh out of early XJ's. I've been checking Jeep wreckers online but so far I have come up dry, although I have to admit my Internet skills are fairly basic and I could easily be missing something obvious. If anyone here has any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them.

Decent basis for a build - if she can keep it...
View attachment 117687

Aside from the stereo nothing was missing and the only damage was to the steering column and lock cylinder.
View attachment 117688

View attachment 117689

Maybe I'll just replace the lock cylinder and wrap the steering column in plastic, then heat shrink it... yeah, that'll work.

Not 100% sure that it is an exact match but this is from an AMC Eagle 81-88... Looks close.

 

[KimsJeep]

My husbands son's car just got stolen yesterday. They lucked out and found it, but they had already ripped the stereo and speakers out and also took misc. stuff off the engine. It was stock.

Anyway, with your daughter living in an apt complex, you may want to look into something like this for the Jeep.

It goes around the column. Course you would have to find one that fits a Jeep. I just got the pic off of a random site. I used to have one of these for my Buick Skylark. I feel the work better then a steering wheel style one. Those they just cut the steering wheel and go on their way.

Best of luck finding the parts. Sure is a nice looking Jeep.

 

[Neal]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I finally found a seller on eBay that has replacement covers, I wish I knew why the same stuff didn't show up during yesterday's search. And yes, the steering column is a standard GM part that was used by several manufacturers during that period. Now I get to do a deep dive into the steering column to strip off about three layers of parts to get to the point where I can replace the covers. Nothing could possibly go wrong...

 

[tworley]

At least it was recovered and the damage somewhat minimal. Can insurance cover the cost of the column parts?

We had a series of car thefts this spring close to our neighborhood. 3 of them were early 00s F250s.

 

[Neal]

At least it was recovered and the damage somewhat minimal. Can insurance cover the cost of the column parts?

She only had liability insurance on it, trying to keep the costs down, and even if she had full coverage the deductible would probably have been more than the cost of the parts. Now that she has the vehicle back (she's calling it "The Ghost" because it's white and has returned from the dead...) she's thinking about installing a kill switch, but while that would have prevented the theft it wouldn't have prevented the damage the thief did before realizing that it wouldn't start. Welcome to the real world, kid.

 

[Hook_62]

she's thinking about installing a kill switch

I was going to suggest this, have done this on a couple cars. If she does go this route, put it on the ignition wire so the car still cranks but wont start. If it wont crank it's a sign to the perp to look for a kill switch.

BTW, I love your avatar,,, 31TH ST SW, now that's funny shit!

 

[reddvltj]

She only had liability insurance on it, trying to keep the costs down, and even if she had full coverage the deductible would probably have been more than the cost of the parts. Now that she has the vehicle back (she's calling it "The Ghost" because it's white and has returned from the dead...) she's thinking about installing a kill switch, but while that would have prevented the theft it wouldn't have prevented the damage the thief did before realizing that it wouldn't start. Welcome to the real world, kid.

Alarm systems are cheap insurance... You can go full blown with glass break detectors and starter interrupt or even just the fake flashing LED light can be enough to deter most would be car thieves. Especially the ones that are just trying to boost a radio for a quick fix!!

 

[Jeanfi007]

Hello,
it's the same in France. we must protect our jeep. I will install a hidden switch on the fuel pump relay

 

[astjp2]

89 chevy van, full size, is the same column. They also have some parts at the chevy dealership left. I had to rebuild my YJ colunm, that is what I had to look the parts up under. YJ and XJ were almost identical. Just buy a complete column, it is easier than repairing. Tim

 

[Flivver250]

What our courts and judges dish out does nothing to deter criminals. I'm okay with the death penalty for car thieves. Why bother trying to rehabilitate. Its not like we will run out of shit birds. Nice looking XJ. Sorry you and your daughter had to go through the angst.

 

[Jcraig]

I picked up an 89 XJ a few weeks ago for my daughter to build and have some fun wrenching on. She was pumped and started right in on a build plan. Two days ago it was stolen from the parking lot at her apartment complex (I call it the Gulag Heights Apartments...). The PD recovered it this morning with the perp passed out in the driver's seat, out of gas and with assorted drug paraphernalia and a stolen wallet strewn about the interior. Good job by Albuquerque's finest.

After jimmying the door the perp had ripped apart the lock cover on the steering column to do the tried and true screwdriver-in-the-back-of-the-lock-cylinder trick. It worked as advertised and he headed down the road to where he could yank out the stereo and fence it, perhaps to buy the drugs that led to his unconscious state and current incarceration. I have been searching the Interwebs for steering column parts and have found that there basically aren't any. RockAuto has the lock cylinders but that's about it. Beyond that, what I really need are some of the plastic covers that go over the ignition lock and steering column behind the steering wheel. All the Mopar parts sites list the parts I'm looking for as "discontinued" and E-bay and Amazon have nothing but complete steering column assemblies, no individual parts. The local wrecking yards are fresh out of early XJ's. I've been checking Jeep wreckers online but so far I have come up dry, although I have to admit my Internet skills are fairly basic and I could easily be missing something obvious. If anyone here has any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them.

Decent basis for a build - if she can keep it...
View attachment 117687

Aside from the stereo nothing was missing and the only damage was to the steering column and lock cylinder.
View attachment 117688

View attachment 117689

Maybe I'll just replace the lock cylinder and wrap the steering column in plastic, then heat shrink it... yeah, that'll work.

Sorry for the loss to you and your daughter. Thieves are not the lowest of the low but certainly deserve a place in the scum of the earth top 3 category.

 

[MutantNinjaTJ]

I've had 3 Cherokee's stolen in Abq, and got them all back, thank god she always kept them empty. Kill switch in the Wrangler now.