What's your security philosophy?

I sympathize, I've parked on the streets in and around Los Angeles for years. In the city homeless have slept in my back seat and in the suburbs kids rifle through it regularly. I'd get rid of the tuffy glove box, it is a mess when it is torn out. I have a rear lock box and personally couldn't live without it. I use my Jeep to go hunting, fishing, backpacking, kayaking and just plain shopping. If it needed a babysitter it just wouldn't work for me. I don't worry about my Jeep being stolen, the world has moved on to the JK/JL.
 
Don't leave anything of value inside. That is my philosophy, along with good insurance. Check what this individual did to me between the hours of 2am and 7am. Climbing over the tonneau cover was apparently to difficult.
20170625_165530.jpg


20170625_165527.jpg
 
Was your CB radio in there when he did that?

Yeah, they left it. I got lucky on this one. I had a number of tools in the back under the tonneau cover. They only made off with my ARB deflator as it was right in the door pocket. Doors were locked, parked under a street light, house literally 10 feet away, my guess is an early morning jogger scared them off. This was maybe the 4th break-in Ive had, and I finally learned my lesson.

The only thing in my jeep now is the $60 kenwood unit, a CB, loose change in center console, and my insurance card. I leave it unlocked too.
 
Yea, sadly, Jeeps and soft tops just seem to attract assholes. Back when I lived in a really shitty apartment complex, I had two instances where someone had messed with my soft top. The first time, they just unzipped it and looked around. The second time, someone just slashed one of my windows. Neither time was anything stolen, not that there was anything worth stealing. I also didn't know anyone else in the area at the time, so I hadn't made any enemies. More than likely, some dumb fucking kids were just bored and numb to how their actions affect others.
 
  • Like
Reactions: danof76
I don't worry about my Jeep being stolen, the world has moved on to the JK/JL.

I sure hope so. The world has also largely moved on to autos as well, so I count my manual as another theft deterrent.

This was maybe the 4th break-in Ive had, and I finally learned my lesson.

Four? Oh man. I've heard stories of people still getting their stuff slashed or smashed despite being unlocked anyway. It's something I struggle with as I said in a previous post.

A slightly related story in regards to the JK I used to own: I had some cheap Chinese LED tail lights on my JK that got swiped. I was mad when they got stolen, but used it as an excuse to get the nice JW Speaker tail lights they make for the JK (I was not satisfied with the Chinesium ones anyway). Needless to say, I wasn't about to let those get stolen considering they were damn near $400. So I removed the cage nuts that allow the bolts to thread into the frame to hold on the light. Then I got some security bolts instead with a funny head on them you don't often find and most don't have in their toolkit. To make matters worse for anyone even thinking about stealing them I got nylon lock washers and used red Loctite all over the threads. Taking them off would require a fair amount of work, plus knowing how to get to the back of the light and getting the right size deep-well socket (can't fit a wrench where it was) and having enough elbow grease to get all four bolts out for the pair of lights.

The lights stayed on the JK from then on.

My other security philosophy, and this is just in general, is that if something can take five or ten minutes to take away it's not worth the thief's time. Video instances of theft and even retired/jailed thieves will themselves say it's too risky to take any longer. I don't look to make something impossible to defeat but I would do my darndest to make sure it's too troublesome to try.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Equilibrium31
Yea, sadly, Jeeps and soft tops just seem to attract assholes. Back when I lived in a really shitty apartment complex, I had two instances where someone had messed with my soft top. The first time, they just unzipped it and looked around. The second time, someone just slashed one of my windows. Neither time was anything stolen, not that there was anything worth stealing. I also didn't know anyone else in the area at the time, so I hadn't made any enemies. More than likely, some dumb fucking kids were just bored and numb to how their actions affect others.

Funny, I had change stolen out of my JK (they also tried busting open my center console, too) and the lights I just mentioned stolen in a very nice apartment complex in a nice part of town in the middle of the night.
 
If I lived anywhere in the L.A. basin and was limited to street parking I would remove everything of value and would probably remove the locking glove box and locking security trunk as well - they are thief magnets.

___________________
Everything of value includes the vehicle registration and proof of insurance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RubiconMike
The only thing in my jeep now is the $60 kenwood unit, a CB, loose change in center console, and my insurance card. I leave it unlocked too.

This makes sense until I think about my daugher's car getting broken into by a homeless idiot. They left the $90 stereo and walked away with less than $1 in change. Getting her passenger door window replaced cost me around $150.
 
Everything of value includes the vehicle registration and proof of insurance.

My insurance has my address on it, which if they're rooting thru my things, they are already in my driveway.

Vehicle registration--what useful information is on that? Aside from having the physical copy and my jeep I could see them trying to claim ownership or a sale, but what other information would be pertinent if they only had that? Truly curious.
 
Jeep wrangler security go together like military intelligence......

NO car is theft proof. Jeeps are one of the hardest to defend. No amount of kill switches or lock boxes are going to stop a thief. Remove everything of value from the jeep.
Like @Chris posted keep it in a locked garage. Or at least locked inside of your side/back yard.

2 added wires from inside the hood will start and and keep the vehicle running. ( 3 wires if you have a skim). That is the non destructive way.

My personal opinion on security is leave nothing inside. Never lock the doors. And i put a club on the steering wheel. Not that it would even slow down a professional car thief but it makes me feel better inside.

While you can not stop a thief there are things you can do to help recover your jeep. Add a GPS tracker. Keep in mind a professional thief will jam the transmitter with a 30 dollar Chinese jammer.

Even these new cars with keyless start can be stolen easily without damaging anything.


I spend a lot of time watching lock picking YouTube videos. (Im now a certified YouTube locksmith) it is very eye opening how insecure 99% of high end locks are.

Quote of the day: locks only keep honest people from stealing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rasband and Chris
Even these new cars with keyless start can be stolen easily without damaging anything.


I spend a lot of time watching lock picking YouTube videos. (Im now a certified YouTube locksmith) it is very eye opening how insecure 99% of high end locks are.

Quote of the day: locks only keep honest people from stealing.

Where does one find a relay that can do this sort of thing? Surely not something from the shelf at the local best buy
 
Funny, I had change stolen out of my JK (they also tried busting open my center console, too) and the lights I just mentioned stolen in a very nice apartment complex in a nice part of town in the middle of the night.
Apartment complexes seem to be really popular places for car thieves, no matter how nice the place is. This particular apartment complex I was in was particularly shitty (I had just graduated college in 2009 into a recession economy, so my housing budget was particularly tight), but I've had cars broken into in the past while living in much nicer areas.

Kinda makes sense if you think about it though. At a place like a mall, you have people coming and going all the time. At apartment complexes, you have the same wide variety of cars to choose from, but it's a pretty safe bet that few people will be around since you can go through them while most are asleep. Very few apartment complexes have much of anything for meaningful security. Gated communities give the illusion of a secure area, but add next to no security at all since everyone just tailgates the person in front of them to get in and walk through gates are constantly propped open for people who forgot the code. If anything, a nicer area probably just means you have more expensive cars to sort through.
 
  • Like
Reactions: danof76
Apartment complexes seem to be really popular places for car thieves, no matter how nice the place is. This particular apartment complex I was in was particularly shitty (I had just graduated college in 2009 into a recession economy, so my housing budget was particularly tight), but I've had cars broken into in the past while living in much nicer areas.

Kinda makes sense if you think about it though. At a place like a mall, you have people coming and going all the time. At apartment complexes, you have the same wide variety of cars to choose from, but it's a pretty safe bet that few people will be around since you can go through them while most are asleep. Very few apartment complexes have much of anything for meaningful security. Gated communities give the illusion of a secure area, but add next to no security at all since everyone just tailgates the person in front of them to get in and walk through gates are constantly propped open for people who forgot the code. If anything, a nicer area probably just means you have more expensive cars to sort through.

I guess I should elaborate because not only was that complex the only time I've ever had anything stolen out of any vehicle of mine (and I have lived in a couple of sketchy places) but my parent's neighborhood, which is also really nice, had four car break-ins in their driveway in the ten years they were there.

I guess it's not too surprising, if you want something nice then go look in a nice part of town. I suppose a Jeep that looks a little rougher around the edges but with tons of money dumped into it might be a low risk high reward target a thief looks out for.
 
I guess I should elaborate because not only was that complex the only time I've ever had anything stolen out of any vehicle of mine (and I have lived in a couple of sketchy places) but my parent's neighborhood, which is also really nice, had four car break-ins in their driveway in the ten years they were there.

I guess it's not too surprising, if you want something nice then go look in a nice part of town. I suppose a Jeep that looks a little rougher around the edges but with tons of money dumped into it might be a low risk high reward target a thief looks out for.
Yea, sometimes ya never know. Even nice, rich, law abiding people end up having kids that get into some terrible shit.

When I was in college, I had a roommate that invited a bunch of people over for a party and somehow this one super rich kid who was the son of some big weight loss program that was huge at the time (can't remember the name) ended up coming over. We ended kicking him out because we found the bastard trying to smoke crack in our bathroom with a tin foil pipe. I've never really trusted roommates since, lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: danof76