Does anybody have an idea where I can get a smallish stainless steel worm clamp hose clamp with a Torx screw? This would be a totally standard stainless hose clamp, but for the Torx. Size should be about 1 1/2" diameter.
The application is a simple pickup tailgate lock. You would need to unscrew the clamp to pop the tailgate. I could use a standard clamp, but screwdrivers are pretty common. Torx is much less common. It would be possible to disassemble a clamp, grind the head off the bolt and TIG weld the top off a stainless Torx bolt on, but a source of finished goods would be much less work.
There is no hole, and I am not going to drill holes in my brand new truck to add a lock.
By chance I was at McFadden Dale Hardware today. They had #14 pin span stainless screws and the right driver. I think I can convince my neighbor to do a small bit of TIG welding for this project.
Check the truck accessory shops for a remote tailgate lock. My neighbor has one on his Chevy. There is a switch concealled in the cab that needs to be on to open the gate. Greg
Nice idea, but if you pull on those real hard they just open anyway. Try it. Like certain candy machines with steel "flapper" gates, these will keep away the
10 second thief. But the 60 second thief has no problem.
A hose clamp with an uncommon screw is at least as secure and costs much less.
A spanner of the correct size may work. If you simply filled in the slot, then you'd need a socket of the appropriate size to unscrew it easily. Torx can be defeated by a jamming a straight screwdriver in the slot, if you can find one the right sixe.
I put the hasp on the frame that holds the tailgate and the loop on the tail gate itself. Its not particularly in the way and it prevents me from having another $15,000 burglary to my truck.
Gunner
"The entire population of Great Britain has been declared insane by their government. It is believed that should any one of them come in possession of a firearm, he will immediately start to foam at the mouth and begin kiling children at the nearest school. The proof of their insanity is that they actually believe this." -- someone in misc.survivalism
Reminds me of a tragic story. Six University of Georgia students were riding in a pickup truck. The truck went off the road and into a lake. The two riding in the cab got out ok, but the four in the back drowned when they couldn't let down the tailgate.
I suppose, being UGA students and all, it never occurred to them to simply step over the tailgate, or the bed sides. Thieves, generally smarter than UGA students, would probably figure out that they could simply reach over the locked tailgate to take what they wanted from the bed of the pickup.
On my work truck, I have a large Greenlee job box welded to the bed. Its lid is held closed by two shielded padlocks (they're in pockets which prevent them from being attacked with boltcutters). I put high value items in the job box instead of just leaving them in the bed where anyone can get to them. Thieves have broken into my truck, stealing the CD player out of the dash, but they haven't yet been able to penetrate the job box and get to my high value tools.
BTW, an aluminum camper cap is about worthless as a way of stopping thieves. A couple seconds with a prybar will peel back the aluminum, or they'll simply heave a brick through the glass, then they have access to everything in the bed that is not welded down.
About the only thing putting a lock on the tailgate might do is prevent the thieves from easily stealing the tailgate.
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