Recovering Stolen FJ60 and what I learned (1 Viewer)

[NLXTACY]

So sometime last Monday Nov.29th my FJ60 was stolen out from the front of my house. I live in an upper middle class area called Woodland Hills which is the South West of the San Fernando Valley. Its always been a safe area but maybe that makes it a target for thieves. When it was stolen I had to go into the Police station to actually fill out the report. They don't take reports over the phone any longer.

Now I bought this particular 60 for $1000. It was cheap but it drove fine and I used it as my DD. Because I paid so little and it was worth so little, I decided to just go with liability insurance...especially since my deductible was $1000 anyway. So when the truck was stolen I knew I was outta luck.

Lucky for I had the company truck to use for as long as I needed so I started looking for a replacement truck. I contacted a few folks about their 60s and 80s for sale. In fact I was going to go this morning to go look at an 80 for sale.

But last night when I got home I had received in the mail a notice that my truck was recovered and was sitting in a lot in Marina Del Rey. This was roughly 30 miles South of me. This morning the and I go drive out to take a look and hopefully be able to drive it back.

I get there and I could tell the fat bitch behind the counter just deals with assholes all day because she let me know her attitude the moment I walked in. Ugh.

So I prepared myself mentally on how much it could possibly cost to get my truck out of hawk. Turns out they found the truck on the 1st but I only got the notice last night. So...

• $109.50 for the tow
• $134.00 for the storage
• $13.40 for tax
• $115.00 for "Release Fee" (But I don't remember the banana massage)

For a grand total of $371.90 for the HONOR of getting my truck stolen. Assholes.

Now here is the thing. I NEVER lock my truck. In fact half the time the windows are rolled down even. There is NOTHING of value in my truck worth stealing. Hell the truck isn't worth stealing. But the night before I rolled up all the windows and actually locked the doors. I don't know why I did, I just did.

I've been trying to figure out how they actually entered the truck. All the doors were locked. All of the door cylinders are in one piece. None of the windows were broken. I checked the hide-a-key. Its still there. Hasn't been touched. I may never know.

So anyway I pay the extortion fee and wait...and wait...and wait for my truck. I can see it in the lot and I have the key so I kept thinking that I should just go grab it myself.

See this is what I finally see:
YouTube - Recovery of my FJ60

Yup a forklift...bring my truck by the back wheels. If they did this to my LX I would seriously blow a gasket.

 

[NLXTACY]

So as he is forklifting my truck over to me I am at least happy its in one piece, the rack is still there, all the tires and wheels are still there and it wasn't burned to the ground like my 4Runner when it was stolen.

The doors were all unlocked so I opened the door and everything seemed fine. Then I looked at the steering wheel. There was the tell-tale sign of how they started it. Hot-wired for sure. My hunch was confirmed when I found their little home made tool.

YouTube - Recovery of my stolen FJ60

Here is what they used:

 

[NLXTACY]

So what I learned:

• It doesn't matter where you live or work. If someone wants your truck they are going to take it.
• How they got into the truck without breaking a window, prying the door or slide hammering the tumbler had me wondering. Then I came to a realization. I locked the driver's side door when I went to my kids soccer game. When I went to open it I just used my key instead of walking over to the passenger's side like I normally do. I just wasn't thinking anything of it. Well if you notice I have a different beige door on the driver's side. I don't have the key for it. But my key worked. Not right away but I had to jiggle it a bit but it unlocked. That's when I realized it was the wrong key for that door. I unlocked the passenger door. No problem. Opened up nicely. I looked at the key and noticed that all the bumps on the key were well worn. So I confirmed this by grabbing the keys from my 84 FJ60. Low and behold!!!! It took awhile but son of a bitch, I could open the door with that key too! This worries me!!! So how am I going to remedy it? Well I can replace all the locks with a fresh set with a new key. That is really the only way around it. I won't do it on the 86 but I will on the 84.
• Kill switch. I don't have one but I have a million ideas of what to do. I don't detail those here but a kill switch would have taken care of the issue even if they did get so far as to try and jump it.
• Hydraulic brake lock. I had one on my 68 Camaro RS/SS but I didn't like it because it would cause the piston's to eventually start to leak with the constant pressure on them.
•*Fluid lock for the fuel line. This seems to be best direction to go in. Can't go too far without fuel.
• Finally how to prevent even the hotwire. Well whoever stole my truck wasn't a complete a****** because they didn't just strong arm the steering column with a prey bar. They carefully removed the screws and the two plastic surrounds. So there are two options here: 1) Make a plate that covers the back of the ignition switch so that they can't get access to the solder points to use as a jumper. 2) make a metal enclosure that replaces the steering column surrounds. This could actually be relatively easy to manufacture and to top it off I would cover the ignition switch bezel so that they could not use a slide hammer to remove the ignition tumbler.

I'm on a mission now.

 

[Spike Strip]

Hey, that's my roach clip!

Is that the Sheriff's impound on Fiji way ? If it is, the fawking collective IQ of that place is two-digits... Axe me how I know.

Glad she's home anyway... So what's your plan for the future? Shotgun and mean dog ?

 

[NLXTACY]

The truck was located by the police at 12117 Pacific Ave in Marina Del Rey. The lot where I had to pick it up was at 4140 Glencoe also in Marina Del Rey.

When I picked it up there was no gas in it. It sputtered the whole way down the block to the gas station. I was panicking that the gas tank wasn't going to give it its vital last few ounces. But she did! Sputtering and bucking the whole way. My guess is that they tried to get to the gas station and noticed they had no way to get to the fuel door so they took it as far as it would get them.

 

[Dynosoar]

I am sure the little roach clip had prints all over it. Fxxxing jackwads deserve to have a boyfriend in Jail. I have dealt with Brufy's in the past as well that is why I call them apes!


Dynosoar

 

[NLXTACY]

I am sure the little roach clip had prints all over it. Fxxxing jackwads deserve to have a boyfriend in Jail.

Police took no evidence. Stolen, recovered. Not high value. Not used during another crime. They could care less. Super low priority.

 

[Spike Strip]

Wow ... That's all the way down at the tip of Balona ... What the Fawk did they do down there ? Unless they had to get back to the Cunard line before it left !

 

[Tinker]

Instead of kill switch, gas lock, etc., how about a Smith & Wesson or NRA sticker? But car thieves aren't brain surgeons & prolly can't read. English, anyway.

P.S. My 60 with the Vortec has stated-value coverage with Allstate. It's not the money so much as the time & effort I'm trying to protect.

 

[NLXTACY]

S&W means the thieves just scored a S&W. I had no idea when the truck was taken so there was no way to prevent them that way unless I slept in the truck. NRA stickers aren't a good idea in CA anyway. Its enough probable cause to have your truck ransacked by the police for a simple traffic infraction. So no thanks there. And no, I'm not going to make my pit sleep in the truck in front of the house either

Passive protection is better.

 

[tag3]

That's the same way I hotwire cars.

 

[Spike Strip]

I tell everyone I know with NRA stickers to take 'em off...

If you park in a driveway, it's a neon sign to the Sh!t-bags as to which house might have firearms -- To steal !

 

[brian]

awesome that it was recovered in "original" condition!

awesome too that you were allowed to pay for such outstanding "customer" service.

i would go with the fuel cutoff. it will move far enough to actually say it was stolen, but not far enough that it can't be found.

 

[ntsqd]

...... NRA stickers aren't a good idea in CA anyway. Its enough probable cause to have your truck ransacked by the police for a simple traffic infraction. ......

BT, DT; took the sticker off shortly thereafter. Sad, isn't it?

Glad that you got it back, though it wouldn't have been my gasket that popped if they'd used a forklift on any of my vehicles.

 

[rover67]

I had a big Glock sticker on my suburban when it was stolen right out of my driveway. Bummer. I loved that 89' burb.

bummer that it was so expensive to get it back, but hey, at least you got it.

When I was towing cars a while back i was always amazed at how little the people at the impounds cared about anything. Most of the cars in there never got back to their owners, they were either in jail, or nobody told the owners that their cars were recovered. Hell, some of the tow truck drivers would loot the cars just for the hell of it.

When they impounded my sport bike because I was speeding they went so far as to do a big ol burn out on it before i came and got it a few days later. The rear tire was corded. they didn't give a $hit and I didn't have a leg to stand on.

Crazy business.

That truck will have an even more special place in your heart now

 

[BG_TX]

Reminds me of 20/20 or 60 minutes story about how readily available bomb making materials are then going on to show the viewers how to make one...

Sounds like a kill switch is mandatory.

Glad you recovered your wagon!

 

[CruisinFJ60]

I had the ECU stolen out of my Del Sol out front the other day... I really HATE theives I have had thousands and thousands stolen from me in the last 5 years so I completely understand the frustration. Glad you got it back tho with minimal damages, round here I would be lucky to be notified they had my car for a month... So many impounds yards and tow yards are full of corrupt people it is sickening. I wouldnt put it past a few of them to steal a vehicle either... pick it up take it to the yard wait a couple of days and say it was found in x location before they let you know they "found" it.

 

[2sun62]

Glad to hear you got your truck back!

A few months ago someone was breaking in to my 62, 3 times in a month they got my ipod, flash light, leatherman, knives & sum l change from ashtray, but not the stereo.
I had a alarm put in w/ a ign kill switch & no one has messed w/ it since.

If they want ur truck there gona take it!
W/ alarm it might slow them down.

 

[Elbert]

trunk monkey to the rescue!

trunk monkey - Google Search


Yeah...having to pay to get your stolen car back is the ultimate icing on the cake kind of thing. Just like getting a ticket after you have wrecked your car, by the nice COP who determined you broke some law.

 

[RAMZ]

Kill switch

I put a kill switch in when I did my electiric fuel pump.
It will run about 30-45 sec. before dying.
If the motor is COLD, they wont even get it out the driveway.
glad to here you got your truck back.
and for what it is worth, If some f***er tried to move my
truck with a forklift I would come UNGLUED.
And the would be picking me up at our local
cop shop!!!!!!!!!!!