Security. Dont miss the obvious

[Simon_5067648]

I have seen all sorts of hitch locks to allegedly secure the caravan to the car when parked, but all they do is cover the caravan towing hitch and its bolts , all someone needs to do is come along with a large spanner or socket and undo the two bolts fixing the cars tow ball to the cars towbar, (very easily accessible and usually unprotected) then re-attach the towball still attached to the caravan in the hitch lock to a blank towing plate on the thiefs vehicle and off the van goes, less than 4 mins and the caravan is stolen complete with its towing hitch which the thief can then remove at leisure.

Is anyone aware of any device to make it as difficult as possible to remove the two towball bolts from the towbar. I have not seen any and this seems to be a glaring security threat.

Kind Regards to all, Simon Dane.

 

[Steve L]

Quite a simple task would be to file the corners off the hexagon's of the nut and bolt. Don't go beyond the diameter ofthe across flat dimension and then the strength won't be affected.

This would mean that you would have to grind the bolt head off to remove the tow ball. But you would only need to do this to replace it anyway andthis would normally be done at home. I haven't yet seen a battery powered grinder so our thieving brigade would be stopped in their tracks.

ATB

Steve Lloyd.

 

[john_5061281]

HI

Flatting the threads of the bolt at the nuts with hammer and chisel will do the trick.It will come back off but it will take time.Bolts are now scrap.

Regards

Jock

 

[VIP2006]

Simon - I must admit my ignorance that a van can be stolen this way. and I suspect that a lot of remedies will be forthcoming on how to stop this.

my thoughts wander to the question of how many people are involved in the crime prevention business. my guess is about 10% of the working population. Whats your guess?

 

[SteveW77]

Quite a simple task would be to file the corners off the hexagon's of the nut and bolt. Don't go beyond the diameter ofthe across flat dimension and then the strength won't be affected.

This would mean that you would have to grind the bolt head off to remove the tow ball. But you would only need to do this to replace it anyway andthis would normally be done at home. I haven't yet seen a battery powered grinder so our thieving brigade would be stopped in their tracks.

ATB

Steve Lloyd.

Battery powered grinders are readily available and very efficient.

Steve W

 

[hughdavies]

What about detachable towball no bolts atall?

 

[Simon_5067648]

Simon - I must admit my ignorance that a van can be stolen this way. and I suspect that a lot of remedies will be forthcoming on how to stop this.

my thoughts wander to the question of how many people are involved in the crime prevention business. my guess is about 10% of the working population. Whats your guess?

Hi Shiraz, Certainly all of us caravanners should be, watching out for anything suspicious !!

 

[Simon_5067648]

Thats a solution, bear in mind the bolt will re-cut the thread as its would off unless the mashing job is quite thoroughly done.

One advantage of this method over rounding off the heads by the way is that you can still torque up your bolts occasionally as is recommended to ensure they are not coming loose. (It would also prevent them coming off completely where they to loosen) For this reason rounding the flats is not recommended because it would make regular important tightnesss maintainance checks impossible.

I take then that no one knows of a manufacturer that makes a small but strong box type cover like those that go over the hitch to cover towballl bolts before I start to put one together?

Kind Regards to all, Simon.