Catalytic converters

A friend recently had the catalytic converter stolen from the truck she was driving. Checking into this, we found that there is an epidemic of catalytic converter thefts due to the high value of scrap platinum. Pickup trucks are especially vulnerable because they have enough ground clearance to make the theft very easy.

I plan on welding mine in, and I suggest the rest of you consider this, also.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman
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A comment about welding on catalytic converters was made and to this I say:You can weld them on but it will do you no good. I work for A police dept. (steam engineer/building maintenance) and the cops catch the perps all the time. In there possession is A battery powered sawzall or A hacksaw. In our maintenance shop we have 5 or 6 cats( we sell them when we get enough to make A scrap run worthwhile) and all of them have been sawed off. If A socket or wrench was used to remove the clamps the perp would still need to wrestle the thing off the exhaust system and that takes too long. They want to get under and out with there ill gotten gains as fast as possible.

H.R.

Reply to
harleyron

The crooks are crawling underneath cars and trucks with battery operated recip saws or Oxy-Acetylene 'hot wrenches' and chopping them out, so welding it in place isn't going to matter to them. And as an added bonus, now you need to repair or replace the tailpipes.

You want to stop them, you need a locked and burglar alarmed garage, preferably with Central Station monitoring.

Second best would be a big screen cage of expanded metal under the car around the catalytic, and tamper that to trip the car alarm. Then you come outside, and let the perp know you are deeply religious - in specific, a member of the Church of John Moses Browning. Time for the perp to genuflect, hold his hands in supplication behind his back, and hold that position till the cops arrive.

Or move to a nicer neighborhood - that's always worked best for me.

-->--

Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

Id love to have one of THOSE creepers!!!

How fast was she going?

"Confiscating wealth from those who have earned it, inherited it, or got lucky is never going to help 'the poor.' Poverty isn't caused by some people having more money than others, just as obesity isn't caused by McDonald's serving super-sized orders of French fries Poverty, like obesity, is caused by the life choices that dictate results." - John Tucci,

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Ever watch the movie "Speed"?

Reply to
Paul

That is one of those 'Obama Energy Plan' creepers they plan to use to tune up your car without you knowing about it. ;-)

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

RCM only

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:43:37 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, Gunner Asch quickly quoth:

Blueprints and video of it in action are here.

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My first thoughts, exactly. (Thanks for the grin, Leo.)

-- Smokey the Bear's rules for fire safety should apply to government: Keep it small, keep it in a confined area, and keep an eye on it. --John Stossel in _Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity_

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Mine are welded in-line from the factory, doesn't make any difference when you've got guys with a cutting torch and no reason to go easy on the collateral damage. They've had a few here that were caught trying to sell bunches to scrap dealers, those were apparently honest enough to call the cops when they showed up and weren't their usual junkyard dealers.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

They recently caught a couple of guys with a pile of Cat converters here in Oregon. They showed the converters on the news---every one had been sawn out of the exhaust system. Only thing that caught them was a camera in the park-n-ride lot.

Reply to
BillM

A recently solved case here involved bronze memorial urns from a local cemetery, something like 175 urns on their way to a scrap yard 50 miles away. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

Gerald Miller wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

A local TV station in Houston, TX, last night aired a story about a topic near and dear to many hearts: Beer.

It seems that the Beer Industry is being victimized by unscrupulous individuals who "collect" empty beer kegs and sell them as SS scrap. This forces the Beer Industry to purchase new kegs (often made from the recycled old ones) in which to supply their product.

This results in an estimated $50,000,000 in additional costs being passed along to the consumer.

FWIW, the same station has aired stories concerning the growing tide of copper thefts from HD air-conditioning systems including many from schools and businesses.

Reply to
RAM³

here in phoenix, the tweakers hit the local animal pound, removing the copper pipes and caged valves. they were unable to water, clean and cool the animals for a couple of days (since the a/c is run off the water supply). there were a LOT of very angry people about that.

on the subject, my 4runner was hit for it's converter. the replacement oem part cost is very high, the generic isn't too bad, but they also tore up other things to get it out, and cost me hundreds to get repaired. when i reported it to the police, they said that at least 15 other trucks/suvs had already been reported hit that night in the same general area .

regards, charlie

Reply to
charlie

And now they know you have a new one:) Years ago I owned a towing business. Guy calls his car wont start. Go out, no battery some AH stole it. Get a new battery and install it. About six months later the guy looks under his hood and his old battery is back, the brand new one is gone. Thief must have come right back and swapped them.

Here they are stealing gas with an ice pick. Poke a hole in the tank, let it drain into a flat container, come back and get it. And the car owner has a plastic fuel tank with a hole in it, and a large repair bill.

Al

Reply to
Big Al

We've had a spate of drain and manhole cover thefts. Very quick job for the scum to get a few tons of cast iron scrap, very high cost to replace, since new covers often do not fit old frames, so the road has to be dug up and it all replaced. Potentially very bad news if you drive along the road just after the theft :-|

Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

Seattle lately tightened their laws on scrap dealers. They basically are not allowed to take kegs. That plus having to issue payments by check after a delay for any scrap over $15 (IIRC), and requiring ID. It may be helping.

Reply to
Bob F

There's a business idea just waiting for someone to do it- sized manhole and drain covers! get 'em made oversize and find a bigass (but short bed) lathe and turn to size.

Dave

Reply to
spamTHISbrp

The solution to some of this stuff might be right here:

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:-)

Reply to
Al Patrick

A sheetmetal screw and a small peice of rubber (hose or innertube). Our 62 Tempest on the way to Alaska in 63 got a small hole on the tank and it was fixed that way, lasted for years, was still OK when we traded it in years later. ...lew...

Reply to
Lew Hartswick

Gas tank in a 62 Tempest was plastic?

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Back in 1974, the electrical sub-contractor wanted to substitute 24" covers for the specified 30" covers on electrical manholes constructed as part of an airfield contract. When asked for justification for my refusal, I told him "neither the airfield electrician, or my electrical inspector (both of whom were present) will fit through a

24" hole, there was no more discussion on the topic. Gerry :-)} London, Canada
Reply to
Gerald Miller

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