Stolen Land Cruisers -- Common Factors

[eastoak]

I can't fit my LC200 in my garage here, so it parks out on the driveway apron in full view of the passing traffic...which has me nervous. I had forgotten that these vehicles don't have an active "find me" feature...I've become used to it with BMW and M-B. I have a new AirTag sitting here in front of me - how do I disable the speaker before I put it in the LC? Also, can I really bury the AirTag in the interior, or does it need to be somewhere close to the driver's se

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Since it works with any passing iPhone it doesn't have to be right up front, if the thief has an iphone it should ping off of it when they are in the truck, if he has an android then you're counting on people passing by the truck with ipones. My airtag pings off of people walking by my house all day.

 

[Mdog97]

Removing the speaker worked like a charm - thanks for the video @eastoak . My speaker unit was "stuck" to the case with some sort of sticky tape, but it came right out with a little prying from the tiny screwdriver. Also, getting the plastic ring out was a bit more destructive than it appeared in the video. Maybe there's been a production change of some sort and the fit is tighter on newer AirTags? It's scuffed / scratched up, but still works fine (and you really can't see the damage once the battery cover is back on).

This has the potential to be a cheap, near-killer app for tracking a stolen vehicle.

When I have it with me, the AirTag updates in real time in the Find My app, with or without the speaker unit. However, I'm guessing the AirTag has to be in "Lost" mode for it to speak to other nearby iPhones and broadcast its location when it's not with my iPhone, right? Presumably Lost mode uses a lot more battery power, but it's easy to replace the battery. Can Lost mode be turned on and off repeatedly, or is it more of a PITA than just flipping a switch in Find My?

 

[A2ShedsJackson]

Will the police in your area respond to your phone call if you tell them that you have found the location of your stolen car? I had a vehilce stolen while I was at the movies on xmas eve years ago. The car was found by the police a mile away before the movie was over. They did not inform me that it was found until two days later after being towed ($200) and stored in the impound ($50/day) for being improperly parked.

 

[eastoak]

Will the police in your area respond to your phone call if you tell them that you have found the location of your stolen car? I had a vehilce stolen while I was at the movies on xmas eve years ago. The car was found by the police a mile away before the movie was over. They did not inform me that it was found until two days later after being towed ($200) and stored in the impound ($50/day) for being improperly parked.

Here in Oakland they will come out "when they have time" is what the dispatcher will usually say.

 

[Whiskerz]

Will the police in your area respond to your phone call if you tell them that you have found the location of your stolen car? I had a vehilce stolen while I was at the movies on xmas eve years ago. The car was found by the police a mile away before the movie was over. They did not inform me that it was found until two days later after being towed ($200) and stored in the impound ($50/day) for being improperly parked.

In Atlanta the police rarely show up for a stolen car. You will be paying to get your own car back. Looking for stolen cars is towards the bottom of police priorities as well. Friend of mine had his 87 Chevy pick stolen. He bought it new and took amazing care of it. The police were not interested in looking or even doing a report

 

[Outsane]

I added a compustar alarm system with drone.

Phone app
GPS tracking, with geo fencing
Waterproof key fob

I sleep a little easier.

 

[Broski]

Will the police in your area respond to your phone call if you tell them that you have found the location of your stolen car? I had a vehilce stolen while I was at the movies on xmas eve years ago. The car was found by the police a mile away before the movie was over. They did not inform me that it was found until two days later after being towed ($200) and stored in the impound ($50/day) for being improperly parked.

They do were I live, when my daughters car was stole and found a week later forty miles away we got a call and very nice CHP officer stayed with the car for a hour and then helped load it on my car trailer. There was no damage to the car and nothing was missing.
Another perk of small town living. She was very lucky!!!!!!!!!

 

[NorCalFJ100]

I added a compustar alarm system with drone.

Phone app
GPS tracking, with geo fencing
Waterproof key fob

I sleep a little easier.

Which model? Most of these alarms seem hard to come by these days...then there's the install which is a crapshoot. I do a lot of wheeling in very remote areas and cannot have a wiring break down immobilize my ride. But I'd definitely consider this. What's the deal with the drone though? Haha.

 

[Outsane]

compustar 4900s with a T12 remote that is supposed to work from 3 miles away... crazy.. but you also get notification on the phone.

You don't have to wire up the immobilizer, and just use the GPS and door unlock function.

 

[Outsane]

Oh and ordered from Amazon, used asmuch of the oem alarm harness to install

 

[Mdog97]

Since it works with any passing iPhone it doesn't have to be right up front, if the thief has an iphone it should ping off of it when they are in the truck, if he has an android then you're counting on people passing by the truck with ipones. My airtag pings off of people walking by my house all day.

So I tried an experiment this past weekend - put the newly de-speakered airtag (paired with my phone) into our sedan just prior to wife driving it 3.5 hours away for the weekend with our daughter. On the Find My app it gave real time updates (moving icon on a map, almost in real time) for about the first 1.25 hours. I presume it was pinging off of her iphone (can it ping off of an LTE apple watch I wonder?), rather than passing cars on the highway.

But then the "last location" for the airtag froze in the Find My app, and stayed frozen at that intermediate location all weekend, until well after the tag was back here within range of my iPhone. (By "well after", I didn't see that the airtag had updated its location back to our home until probably at least 18 hours after it had returned on Sunday night.)

I did not change it to "Lost" mode while it was frozen - do I need to do that to get it to update after a certain amount of time away from the originating iPhone?

 

[eastoak]

So I tried an experiment this past weekend - put the newly de-speakered airtag (paired with my phone) into our sedan just prior to wife driving it 3.5 hours away for the weekend with our daughter. On the Find My app it gave real time updates (moving icon on a map, almost in real time) for about the first 1.25 hours. I presume it was pinging off of her iphone (can it ping off of an LTE apple watch I wonder?), rather than passing cars on the highway.

But then the "last location" for the airtag froze in the Find My app, and stayed frozen at that intermediate location all weekend, until well after the tag was back here within range of my iPhone. (By "well after", I didn't see that the airtag had updated its location back to our home until probably at least 18 hours after it had returned on Sunday night.)

I did not change it to "Lost" mode while it was frozen - do I need to do that to get it to update after a certain amount of time away from the originating iPhone?

I've never experienced any freezing with mine and I've never had it in lost mode either, I get updates all day from people walking past my truck with iPhones. Maybe yours is malfunctioning. After the location was finally updated did you test it again?

 

[Mdog97]

Weird...it's brand new, but for the speaker removal. Could be malfunctioning, or could be some kind of software / setting issue yet to be identified. Either way it definitely needs another test. Now if I could just get the wife to go somewhere else without me....

Maybe I'll put it in one of the kid backpacks tomorrow before camp.

 

[eastoak]

Weird...it's brand new, but for the speaker removal. Could be malfunctioning, or could be some kind of software / setting issue yet to be identified. Either way it definitely needs another test. Now if I could just get the wife to go somewhere else without me....

Maybe I'll put it in one of the kid backpacks tomorrow before camp.

I live in a major metropolitan area so lots of iPhones around, if you live in a rural or semi rural area you would expect updates to be less frequent.

 

[Mdog97]

Oaktown 357! I'm in a "city", technically, but the layout is more like suburbs. The airtag traveled through some pretty densely populated areas, then onto some big highways with lots of traffic (which again went through multiple densely populated areas), and then off into the mountains. But this is a comprehensive test of the potential stolen vehicle tracking use case. I'd expect a stolen non-joyride LC to travel to a "cooling off spot", like a public garage, to sit for a few days (in case Lo Jack), then for it to be moved to the chop shop (unlikely) or to the port for quick shipment out of the country.

The AirTag was in the right cupholder of the car for the whole trip, and the car was parked at the condos at Sugarbush in VT over the weekend, so plenty of iPhones around (not including my wife's iPhone 12 Pro, which was in and out of the car all weekend). If you're getting hits from the iPhones of passersby to your parked truck, then I'd expect this tag would be getting hits. (I wonder how long it takes to make a connection - is it like wifi handshaking, which can be measured in seconds, or faster?)

I just spent 20+ minutes searching the local HS for my son's missing swim bag, so I've definitely encountered another use case for these airtags. If the stolen vehicle tracker idea really works, and works reliably / repeatedly, then I'll be all in for hiding one or two in the LC.

 

[Dave 2000]

Yeah, but a LOT of garage doors (that's to say you have a garage) are too short for built Cruisers. You can modify the door and the roof if you own it, and your house isn't on top of it, and the roof isn't flat....

I had to laugh, my garage door was too low to get the 80 in with the roof rack on, I also like to lift the roof rack off the car without taking the rtt off, so while business was slack due to the Covid I had the roof taken off and lifted the beams and block work a couple of feet!

Needs must!

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

There are many ways to track your vehicle but the trick is to stop it being taken in the first place, oooor make it findable very quickly indeed!

Fit a tap in one of the brake lines press brake pedal turn tap brake on and one end are locked on, it will be very difficult dragging an 80 down the road with a set of wheels locked, unsure about insurance, I know some are sensitive to this subject so will go no further. But if you need more info Google 'Line lock', I run an electric one to the front wheels on my 1/4 miler Jaguar years back.

One of my favourites is something you can make yourself which is a latching relay. Look it up, you switch on the ignition and use a touch button, or reed switch (my favourite), and the ignition all lights up and you drive off. The moment the ignition is switched off the relay latch releases, the car is now dead until the sequence is run again. The magnet idea is good because the reed (thinner than a matchstick) is glued behind anything the magnetic force can penetrate, it could be right in ftont of the thief and they would never know it, and as the driver you can never forget to set the relay, turning the key off does it for you.

Now how about getting your car back quicker.......really quickly? Again using the latching relat method let's imagine the thief bypasses your ignition which to be honest if they got that far then they have some skills. So they drive off down the road and at a time set by you the fuel pump cuts out, you determine when it would be most inconvenient, perhaps the three minute drive from your home to a busy intersection, the next time the brakes are applied and the timer is active the motor stops, a busy junction, the middle of the road, it matters not, the theif will not be faffing about under the hood trying to get the motor going, and of course the car will be stopped somewhere attracting plenty of attention as the alram is now sounding.

This is easy (read very) and can be made up with very basic skills, and no don't ask me, I lack the patience these days.

Remember this is custom stuff and once you have fitted it you will know how to bypass it even if in the middle of nowhere.

Regards

Dave

 

[fj80pb]

Thanks so much to @jaymar for opening this thread. Scary stuff for sure
Although extensively driven and used, my 97’ shows that it has been properly kept, pampered and maintained. Always garaged while at home-one of the reasons to keep a modest but sufficient 2” lift.
Five years a go, rarely someone look at this rig. These days however I must confess that I have become increasingly wary when certain folks approach to “admire” it. Always did my best to keep a subdue and discrete appearance...no big lights all around and/or other shine and “tough” objects...yet an 80 with front & rear bumper...ain’t invisible
And the current overlanding fad is just exacerbating the trend. Hope it fades away sooner rather than later. At the mean time looks like one of the methods mentioned here will soon be installed on my rig

Cheers!

 

[Broski]

I just don't think the fad is going a way soon, everyone needs to keep their thumb on there Rig to keep the thieves from stealing them.
I know it's impossible for some but the best way is to lock it in the garage or like I do in the back yard behind a 6 foot fence and in the shop locked up with a guard dog in the yard.
I sleep well with this arrangement.

 

[jaymar]

I just don't think the fad is going a way soon, everyone needs to keep their thumb on there Rig to keep the thieves from stealing them.
I know it's impossible for some but the best way is to lock it in the garage or like I do in the back yard behind a 6 foot fence and in the shop locked up with a guard dog in the yard.
I sleep well with this arrangement.

I'd worry about the dog. Maybe make it so the truck can't be moved in a hurry and put a screamer on it. As soon as the screamer goes off, the house lights go on, the dog starts barking and your would-be thieves are gone with the wind...