Preventing equipment theft

[Keith Merrell]

What are some good ways to keep skid steers, backhoes, excavators, trailers, etc. from being stolen? I already know about the fuel cutoffs and battery disconnects but I think a lot of the thieves do too. Anyone know anything about GPS tracking technology?

[walker]

I have a handful of the Milwaukee Tick tracers. Just put them in and load the app on your phone. Not as good as a dedicated gps, but uses no power and is cheap.

[12345678910]

Take them home with you. don't leave them on site.


Hidden start switches.
Hidden hydraulic cut offs.


Mean dogs. Mean ones. Only you feed them. Kennel-ed, and only you handle them.

Lights and lighting

Lock them inside buildings. Don't let passers by know they exist.

[BD1]

You can slow thief's down, but if they want it they will get it. Maybe get security cameras like trail cams to setup.
They have tracking devices that can be hidden, but real pros have the device to deactivate.
We would remove one wheel from engine drive welder that would keep the easy pickin thief away. The real thief would would bring his own and still steal it. Then we started pulling wheel and hub off. That did work .
With enclosed trailers we'd park machine up against door hoping that it would work. They can still use a battery ool grinder to cut side open. Usually with flatbed set bucket on tongue.
Sometimes it is best to take back to shop or home. It's pretty hard to stop theft.

[Ky farmer]

The was a job site hit near me over the weekend. The crew had blocked then door on a shipping container with a large pipe, so the thiefs got a trac hoe started and tore the side out of the container. Said they stole about 30,000 dollars of stuff.

[arcflash]

Taking the lug nuts off one side of the trailer stops them pretty fast, but GPS is the best.

[Popeye an old miner]

Just be a mean sonofabitch with a shotgun and an even meaner dog

[leightrepairs]

Nearly impossible to stop a determined thief, locks an other deterrents only keep honest folks honest. GPS won't stop anyone from stealing, only helps recover what ever is left after they steal it and part it out. The Milwaukee ticks only work if someone is near the unit with the app running on their phone. I think the best is usually simple common sense things, well light storage area, don't hide the keys on the equipment, battery switches, park so it is harder to simply drive off. If you are really concerned about the jobsite and it is practical haul it out each day.

[ronsii]

We run into the same thing when doing jobs... a lot of times it isn't practical to haul the machine(s) off site each day... some are small out of the way private jobs... some are in bad areas Looked at gps trackers once... downside is the monthly cel bill.... there are other trackers with greater range than a tick/loc8tor/etc... but still limited if they take it out of the area....
A buddy had a small artic loader stolen a couple weeks ago from his yard!!! some reports of it still being in the area - stolen by a father son team who steal lots of things ( they don't have it back yet afaik.... but supposedly know who took it... IMHO the right thing to do would be hunt the perps down and you get it back... one way or another

[John Bartley]

I worked for myself most of my life as a power equipment dealer (Stihl / Ariens / Kohler / Generac, etc). After almost fourty years of experience I still don't know how to stop someone from stealing from you if they are determined .... short of hiring an on-site security service. Dogs don't work. The criminals poison or shoot dogs, so I've never even entertained the idea. An acquaintance in the same business hired trained temp duty dogs .... they ate the seats of the snowmobiles he was selling. Thieves don't care about alarms or lights. They give themselves a set time and go in and out. They usually shop ahead and have a list. I have seen the results of break-ins where they stepped over some easy to take things .... just to pick up stuff on their list.

My cousin ran a J-D dealership just up the road from me and a friend ran a competing business in the next town. We used to stay in touch, just so the others would know they were next .... my cousin parked his tilt-n-load across his garage door one time .... they stole the truck. After having both our garage doors driven thru one winter my buddy installed 6" concrete filled pipe inside the door and I put steel beams across mine on the outside. They found other ways in.

[123weld]

Just be a mean sonofabitch with a shotgun and an even meaner dog

shotgun no. a 22, u got all night , start w/ the feet, and slowly work ur way up

[Popeye an old miner]

shotgun no. a 22, u got all night , start w/ the feet, and slowly work ur way up

Ya know what...that could be fun...then let the dog have breakfast. Nuthin worse than a thief...nuthin better than a dead thief

[smithdoor]

Make tool look ugly and broken down.

Dave

What are some good ways to keep skid steers, backhoes, excavators, trailers, etc. from being stolen? I already know about the fuel cutoffs and battery disconnects but I think a lot of the thieves do too. Anyone know anything about GPS tracking technology?

[Joegreen02]

If they want it their gonna get it. Best bet is to keep them unaware of the equipments existence.

Kill switches on equipment

Battery isolators

You can layer up those sorts of protections.

Removable tongue on the trailers

There are some gps asset management systems but the real effective ones are costly

Knowing your area is a great plan too. Find out if there are thieves in the area. Although when my truck was stolen the guys actually drove down to San Antonio from the Dallas area for the sole purpose of stealing a truck with tools.

Best bet, keep enough money in the bank to purchase every piece you need to keep in business at a moments notice.


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[Fast Leroy]

At my job site a concrete crew was building forms for a containment wall, had their shop truck parked across the parking lot maybe 100' from where they were. A beat up car drove through the parking lot, stopped beside the truck, a guy jumped out and grabbed a concrete cutting saw, put it in his car and drove off. This was in broad daylight....