How do you make your LR safer?

Got chatting to a friend today that says that the LR's (4x4's) are the hot favourite for being nicked with the disco pretty high on the list! Which did jog my memory about some posts on LRO about there disco's being nicked. Well this has got me thinking how i can make my disco more likely to stay on my drive! Its a 94 300tdi ES and has remote c/locking and would seem to have a factory fit alarm too.

My thinking is to fit a simple immobiliser switch inside close to the drivers seat, this has some good advantages in the fact that it would be unique to my LR and also help in a car jacking senario!

What meachanical locks do you guys and girls recommend, my friends Defender has a box type unit built round his peddles and then the lid opens to expose the peddles and your heels rest on the lid. Some others i believe lock the gear stick in place which would be good if used with the transfer box etc. Any ideas.

In addition i was going to have all the glass etched too ( wonder if Plod still do it? )

A removable post at the end of the drive is a possibility too but any smart thief would just drive it out through my neighbours drive way.

Also thought about de-badgeing it

Anything else that might be good too?

Mark (aka Jinx)

Reply to
Jinx
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Er how about swapping it for an old series 3 like mine, at least if the thief does drive away in it, you could pedal after it on a bicycle :)

Reply to
Larry

If your serious about this then get tracker fitted and an alarm that alerts you by text message when the alarm activates.. At least you stand a good chance of not only getting your motor back but also of trapping the scum who steal it and maybe even result in the recovery of further stolen vehicles / parts if stashed at a lock up pending shipping out of the country / ringing or breaking for parts i.e. sodbury.

With most forces now having tracker equipend vehicles and Helicopters at there disposal there is liitle else as effective in the prompt recovery of stolen motors.

May seem expensive but Insuarance companies do big discounts so get a quote with one fitted to work out the difference.

Oh and if you do have one fitted then don't stick a Tracker fitted sticker on it.... then again if you don't then do stick a sticker on it.... should at least keep the thieving scum sweating!

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Ya must agree with you on it being the best why to keep it but i bought it for 5200 and its nearly 10 years old so not sure it would work out cost effective! what you have made me think tho is that a couple of tracker sticks in the window might just deter the scum bags in the first place! Prevention is better than the cure or so someone old i know says

Mark

Reply to
Jinx

I asked this a few months back and many people recommended Disklok.

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They used to have a .co.uk too but that's down atthe moment.

Halfords sell them, but you will need to buy the largest one for a Disco, which most stores don't stock, so I found mail order was best - £100 delivered to the door. It's a hefty chunk of metal and it's so blindingly obvious you have one that it makes a good deterrent. It's also supposedly one of the most tamperproof of the lot.

For £100 it's given me a lot of peace of mind. Recommended!

David.

Reply to
David French

Ah, here you go:

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Reply to
David French

looking to get a 2003 disco se...

any thoughts on off-road worthy-ness? tires for the 18" rims...

lifts?

I live in slc, ut, so good trails aren't to far... this will be a daily driver for my wife for about 2 years then my toy.

tia,

g

J> Got chatting to a friend today that says that the LR's (4x4's) are the hot

Reply to
gregclimbs

Genuine Tracker installs don't have a sticker (or at least they didn't when I last had one fitted in '97). If the scum know it is fitted they will dismantle the car as soon as they get it to their lock-up to try and find it. Lots of Land Rovers are stolen for parts - they are worth more as individual untraceable pieces than as whole vehicles and can be stripped to parts in a very short time.

I've got a Thatcham Cat 1 alarm and immobiliser on mine, which also introduces some nice features such as automatic locking. £300 installed. You never get all the money back on insurance discounts, but it does ease the pain a little. Many of the major insurers insist on Thatcham Cat 2 immobiliser as a minimum anyway.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

Unless they've changed their policy in recent years, Tracker do not fit any external stickers suggesting that one has been fitted.

Malcolm

Reply to
balloons

I'll second that, disklok, there's one on my Impreza. As for the Landy (SII), I take the steering wheel off!! (a la Mr Bean). Try doing a three point turn without a steering wheel!! I imagine that with these new fangled things with air bags and the like that might be a little difficult, and impractical.

Personally since my brother had his motor bike nicked a few weeks back I have made greater efforts than usual to secure the vehicles and their keys

Reply to
Howard

one of the chaps in our club reckons the best way to prevent theives nicking your tdi defender is to remove the tdi badges and replace them with V8 badges. Supposedly V8`s are nowhere near as nickable due to the fuel costs, suppose the same would be true of discos as well. Round our way (very much a farming community) tdi`s of all kinds (defender, disco and RaRo converted ones) are in great demand and stolen ones are broken up within hours of being nicked just for the engine and box. but a fully encased steering wheel lock cover is still the best deterant in my book.

nick c series 2a `67 D90 300tdi

Reply to
Nick C

Mole grips?

My dad had an Escort nicked once and they drove it 25 miles through rural roads with the steering lock on.

Plenty of well-secured, immobilised, alarmed vehicles are nicked due to the thieves having got hold of the keys. My mum's downstairs neighbour had their door broken down whilst on holiday, they found the keys and took their M3 within seconds, leaving valuables, TV etc behind. If we go away I either hide the keys (we have a house alarm so it's to make it a more time consuming task to find them), or take them with me. In particular I never leave the keys where they can be seen from the outside, or reached from the letterbox or cat flap - there have been stories of people using poles and even fishing rods to get hold of them.

David.

Reply to
David French

Or better still ... MPi

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

Heh,

You coould always cover it in stickers, name it, and make sure EVERYONE knows what it looks like...oh and make sure they know it has a healthy thirst for petrol!.

Don't laugh - mine has the above plus some extra added annoyances :)

Neil

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Reply to
Neil Brownlee

Tracker do not fit or supply 'warning stickers', or at least did not last week when they equipped my new motorhome with one.

Dave

Reply to
Foxhunter

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:30:03 +0000 (UTC), "Jinx"

Paint it "Who the hell would want to nick that" Purple?

;-)

David

Reply to
rads

Works for me (that and the locals thinking I'm some kind of survivalist nutter with guns in the cellar, that is...)

Martyn

Reply to
Mother

Many years ago, after having had a 4wd stolen with a commercial "crooklock" attached, I decided to make my _own_ !! One that would cause "work" for a scum ( since they don't want to 'work'! ).

My lock is a length of stainless steel bar 2" x 3/8" that 'forks' around the clutch and curves around the steering wheel rim. There is a substantial padlock below the clutch (that's hard enough to get a key into) and another padlock through the steering bow. With the bar in place it's difficult to _sit_ in the driving seat !!! Hacksaw and bolt cutters won't get this thing off !

To 'tailor' the bar, form , weld and finish takes a couple of hours, but I reckon it's OK !!

Sure, my Defender _can_ be winched onto a tray ,or front lifted and towed, but it'd be very difficult to remove the bar from the vehicle. Stainless is hard enough to cut in a vise and the padlocks are 'heavy' (Schlage security) and not particularly accessible to 'tools', and even bending/ removing the steering wheel still won't allow driving. Sure, an angle grinder will cut the locks ( not the stainless, though!), but the bottom lock is pretty hard to get the _key_ into. .... It'll mean 'work' !!!

It's 'standout shiny' and very apparent through the windows when locked in place. I reckon it looks like 'too much trouble' for the general scum.

The 'anyone can do it' :)) design can be tailored for _any_ vehicle so I've made one also for my wife's machine , as well as several of my friend's 'new' cars.... all 'love' jobs, of course! :)

Still........'One day' ( :))))) ) I'm going to fit an alarm that will be entry-triggered !!

..... frodo.

Reply to
frodo

In that case, whip something up which would lock the gear lever and difflock lever, then it ain't going anywhere (except by crane).

David.

Reply to
David French

Only takes a minute to get the drive flanges off though ;)

Regards

William MacLeod

Reply to
William MacLeod

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