Recovering Stolen FJ60 and what I learned

[cruisedeisel]

way easier, just get a worn out cruiser key, or any toyota key and your good to go. its disgusting really, but when you lock your keys in you r truck and ofcourse your best bro thats with drives a yota and his keys work. well i'll be dammed. love those trucks, how do think i have those two parts vehicles, hahaha j/k

 

[Randy88FJ62]

At trailcrew meetings 90% of the guys can open my door with thei key. Kill switch and locked storage are on my upgrade list. Glad to hear it didn't get thrashed.

 

[1tontoy]

Glad to hear it was recovered

 

[cruiserfj45]

A club is always a excellent visual deterrent for a low buck truck. If its some meth head, they will keep on going for an easier target. The ones I'm worried about is the guy who knows what it is and can get into it. If you need any help with kill switches and the such feel free to pm me and I can give you some tips. I don't like to publish all my tricks for all the world to see even though its where found most of mine. Its kinda of like that news cast showing everyone how easy it is to get bomb making stuff and then how to make them.

 

[NorCalBorn]

Blah-blah-blah...

You got it back!!


Ok..now to read the rest of the posts before I skipped to my reply. [Stoked for you man! Kill Switch time. You have a pm!]

 

[Beams37]

Anyone know the cost to re-key the truck ?? I have been very interested in doing mine.

 

[Tinker]

So in the Peoples' Republic of California (& Boulder, Rover) a gun sticker isn't a visual deterrent but an invitation for the meth-heads to rob you or the Nazis to harass you? Couple more reasons I could never live there (do like visiting, though).

So consensus is The Club with a kill switch? I really like the Trunk Monkey, but where does he hide in a 60?

 

[vipergrhd]

Glad to hear its back man,i too live in a decent place but its the rift rafts that drive by at night and looking for a quik grab that causes all my broken window a lot of times its a target practice (bbguns) and it just gets me unhooked that i want to wait at night and just wait and shoot the bastards with a high powered paintball gun (frozen balls) works best.i did manage to keep my rig in the driveway and install a kill switch for the idle circuit the only way you can keep this running is push the pedal nearly to the floor.pedal locks work best from what i heard.

John

 

[Lugal]

Man, that bit with the forklift reminds me of Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full." Probably not worth reading, but the start bit where the main character tries to get his car back from the impound lot is classic.

Yes, I've now exposed myself as a complete nerd.

 

[JLH911]

At trailcrew meetings 90% of the guys can open my door with thei key. Kill switch and locked storage are on my upgrade list. Glad to hear it didn't get thrashed.

I opened yours and can open two others...I couldn't believe it.

 

[cruiserfj45]

You can call a good lock smith and have him rebuild the old lock cylinders with new tumblers. Sometimes the housing is also too warn out so you will need a new housing but you wont need to change the key cut. Just get a good factory cut. You can find the factory cut number on the pass side lock cylinder stamped into the housing (not the arm). Just take that code to a lock smith and he can cut the key to that code then re build the lock cylinders. Usually the only ones that need rebuilding are the drivers side door and ignition cylinders.

 

[ToyotaDon]

You beat me to it, cruiserfj45.

I was also going to recommend just taking the cylinders or the whole vehicle to a locksmith. Otherwise, you may still be able to get a complete lock set from the dealer and have your ignition cylinder rekeyed to fit the new keys.

Glad to hear you got it back!

 

[2GooniesFJ60]

So consensus is The Club with a kill switch? I really like the Trunk Monkey, but where does he hide in a 60?

What about a hidden switch in the starter wire going to the ignition? Someone that knows can probably hotwire around that quick too, huh? Anyway, glad you got your rig back!

 

[csd4682]

I am glad to see so many of you can open other doors with your keys, because half the time I cant even open my own doors with my keys. Mostly just the gas door and the lift gate. I have to jiggle the key for a bit to get it to work.

As far as being able to open other doors, its not just toyota. My company has a fleet of Chevy express vans and up untill 2008 any express key could open anothers doors with a little jiggling. Apperently the door locks only have 2 tumblers changed so it doesnt take much to get those to to hit right. At one point I guess the key for my truck was very close to all others because I could open the doors of our entire fleet with my key. We even had a guy lock his in his van at a supply house, he went in and asked everyone who drove a chevy to come out and give him a hand, he was back in his van in less than 5 min.

I am glad to see you got your truck back. We have a fairly low crime rate, but I will be looking into this kill switch. I know my truck isnt worth much, but I cant put a price tag on the time spent on it.

 

[Rigger]

I'm not the most up-to-speed on this topic, but I am still trying to determine why a 60-series would get stolen. They are not high-value cars. I love the danged things, but what does a common thief see in a 60-series wagon? Most of the Cruiser thefts I have read about here on MUD have been like this: Car disappears for a few days, is recovered and returned to owner. Sometimes things are missing from the truck, sometimes not. It was not clear to me why the trucks were stolen. Were the thieves looking for cash? Stereos? Parts? A quick joyride? Seems like nuisance thefts to me. Has anyone ever heard of a Cruiser that was stolen and then parted out?

I keep mine in my garage, but that is more for my own convenience than for trying to keep it away from thieves.

The key discussion is funny! We all have these trucks and we could just about all swap keys and never know the difference!

 

[Gurr]

You can't predict thieves, except that chances are when the opportunity presents itself, they're not going to say no.

I'm surprised you didn't start it up just to hear the exhaust was cut in half for that cat! All things considered(moron thieves and moron impounders) seeing that truck again would have made me very happy.

 

[tirewater]

They're generally stolen to commit crimes (including joy riding). It's not uncommon for drive by shootings to be done in stolen vehicles.

For this 60? Perhaps the thief had to move some large items around.

I'm not the most up-to-speed on this topic, but I am still trying to determine why a 60-series would get stolen. They are not high-value cars. I love the danged things, but what does a common thief see in a 60-series wagon? Most of the Cruiser thefts I have read about here on MUD have been like this: Car disappears for a few days, is recovered and returned to owner. Sometimes things are missing from the truck, sometimes not. It was not clear to me why the trucks were stolen. Were the thieves looking for cash? Stereos? Parts? A quick joyride? Seems like nuisance thefts to me. Has anyone ever heard of a Cruiser that was stolen and then parted out?

I keep mine in my garage, but that is more for my own convenience than for trying to keep it away from thieves.

The key discussion is funny! We all have these trucks and we could just about all swap keys and never know the difference!

 

[Rigger]

They're generally stolen to commit crimes . . . It's not uncommon for drive by shootings to be done in stolen vehicles.

I have to laugh at the thought of a drive-by shooting from an FJ60!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"There, I think I hit him! Now step on it, and let's get outta here!"

[Long pause]

"C'mon man, CAN'T YOU MAKE THIS THING GO FASTER!!"

[sirens in background]

"Yeesh! Next time, I PICK THE CAR, OKAY!!"

 

[cruiserfj45]

What about a hidden switch in the starter wire going to the ignition? Someone that knows can probably hotwire around that quick too, huh? Anyway, glad you got your rig back!

The way to get around the hotwire problem is to make all your connections under the hood hidden someware in the wire harness. I perfer to let the engine crank over but kill something else like fuel or spark. This gives them a chance to make some noise. Stoping the fuel on a FJ60 lets them drive as far as the fuel in the carb. On a FJ62 you can shut off the injectors and fuel pump and they wont go anyware. Stoping spark allows for some cranking but they wont make it anyware. If you realy want to mess with a theif you can shut down all but 1 or 2 cylinders that way it gives them some hope of starting it and they keep trying for a little longer and give you a little more time to catch those scum bags. On a FJ62 you can also stop signal from a critical sensor like the crank sensor.

The second half is hiding the switch. There are thousand of answers for that. Make it someware easy to turn on and off without anybody seeing you or the switch.

 

[Itsadryheat!!!]

Had an FJ40 i welded some thick tabs on both shifters, could lock down both shifters...one in reverse and the other in lowrange. Would make for an interesting police chase! Would also pull the fuel pump fuse and replace with a blown one...never got stolen...