Stolen Truck

[Diamondpilot]

Have you seen this truck? It belongs to a boating buddy and fellow pilot. He has put a lot of work into it as you can see. It was taken from around Sunman Indiana (south east Indiana) a few days ago out of his driveway. I told him I would post it and try to help.

Here is the description he gave me: 1982 Chevy K10 4 door 4x4,... if seen call 911 thanks joe

Chris

 

[ninefinger]

Hate that for your friend, but I can see why some low life would take it. Not much for chevy but it is a good looking truck.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I am not a Chevy man either but it is a clean rust free old truck. Not much on power, only a 350, but got the job done. He used it every weekend to pull a small 21' boat that weighed about 5,000#. That is all the work it sees. He actually hitches the boat up in May and unhitches it in October. He has a barn he simply pulls them into together during the week. He had it out to go pick up some hay and did not put it away for the night then left for work the next day and it got swiped.

He has had it for about 4 years and the only real problem he has had was the rear end had to be rebuilt and last summer on the boat ramp the right front tire about fell off. He got out and looked at it and there was 1 stud left, all the others had sheared. We found 4 other bad studs on the other wheels so we replaced them all and repacked the front bearings at that time.

Chris

 

[JayC]

That sure was a nice truck your friend had. I hope they catch who took it. I absolutely hate thieves!

 

[daBear]

Man I hate that for your friend hope they catch the crook soon.

There is nothing wrong with not driving a Chevy truck, but if you don't what do you tell your friends?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well I just talked to the guy and the cops said there is a family in his town that is no good. They heard the day after they came back from Michigan with a car on a trailer. Maybe they hauled this one up and came back with one stolen from up there. The only other thoughts the cops had was it will show up stripped of all the goodies like the $2000 wheels and tires or find it somewhere stuck in a field after a joy ride.

Sucks for him. He only had liability. Even with full coverage the pay out would have probably only been a $1000 or less. I can't believe the book value of a 82 truck is worth much more.

Chris

 

[kenmac]

I think GM trucks are very easy to steal. There have been several stolen in my area. I even had 1 stolen back in 1995

 

[Diamondpilot]

I think GM trucks are very easy to steal. There have been several stolen in my area. I even had 1 stolen back in 1995

Did you get it back?

Chris

 

[Ductape]

Yep........ unfortunately a small ball peen hammer and a screwdriver are all it takes. Literally gone in 60 seconds. I hope he gets his truck back. I hate to say it, but if he does, it probably won't look much like it did in that picture.

 

[kenmac]

Did you get it back?

Chris

Yep, I think the insurance wouldn't pay off for about 30 days. They said that is within the time frame that stolen vehicles are usually found. It took them about 32 days to find it . Insurance had already off. A boy where my son goes to school had his stolen last week. They found it in 2 days.Like I said.. I think chevy's are or were easy to steal

 

[amaxwell]

Sure hate it for him . Had my 86 chevy stolen ,not a good feeling to have.On my next truck I instaled a hidden $2.00 switch in the fuel pump circuit.Flip it and it would crank until the battery ran down ,but not hit a lick.That will work for the common theif,the pro's will get it anyway.
Amaxwell

 

[MarkLeininger]

I put this thing called a battery brain on my wife's SUV:
BatteryBrain

The real reason I put it on was because she left something electrical on when the car wasn't running and ran the battery dead so many times I couldn't keep up with her. This thing automatically disconnects the battery if it detects more than a small drain for a short period so you can't run the battery down. A nice side effect is that it has a little remote control that allows you to enable/disable the battery. So by disabling the battery and either taking the remote with you or tossing it under the seat, the car won't crank. If you go under the hood you can override the thing, but at least it adds a couple minutes of pain for the thief, might be enough to deter them.

 

[crbr]

Sucks for him. He only had liability.

All within the elemet of risk that one is willing to take. Sucks to only have liability.

 

[gemini5362]

Ok I will ask the question why would older chevrolet trucks be harder to steal than older fords, or older dodges or older toyotas, or older datsun, or older etc.


Until they started coming out with more modern security you took something and pried out the ignition tumblers and then you took a screwdriver and turned the mechanism that engaged the starting switch and unlocked the steering column. All trucks were made like that. I guess I could fire up the wars and say that the reason it seems like cheverolet trucks were easier to steel was because more of them were stolen. The reason more of them were stolen was because they were a better truck.


I would point out that now if your chevrolet truck has onstar (and a lot of them do) if it is stolen for a joyride the police can find it instantly. What other major truck company has that capability ?

 

[Willl]

I think GM trucks are very easy to steal.

Why is that ?

 

[Ductape]

Ok I will ask the question why would older chevrolet trucks be harder to steal than older fords, or older dodges or older toyotas, or older datsun, or older etc.

Its not just the GM trucks....... its the cars too. All in the design of the steering column. Thieves would take a small hammer and knock a small hole in the side of the column, use the screwdriver to pry out the "gear" the ign. turns, then use the screwdriver to pry back the rod thats activates the actual switch. All done in seconds.

Not to say other makes can't be stolen too..... some you could break out the ign. and use a screwdriver to start them. Just that the thieves figured out the GMs were much easier than the other brands.

As was stated earlier..... a pro is gonna get whatever he wants. The joyriders or casual thiefs usually stole GM vehicles.

 

[ray66v]

Sucks for him. He only had liability. Even with full coverage the pay out would have probably only been a $1000 or less. I can't believe the book value of a 82 truck is worth much more.

Chris

Sorry about his truck.

Hit him up side the head when he feels better.

He could have had comprehensive on it, for peanuts. The book value is a guide, clearly this truck is worth more than a thousand in that condition. Sure, they weren't going to give him back what he had in it.

He really should have insured it for a stated value, and set his own price, (still not that expensive). I'll bet he could have had $15k worth of comp. coverage for a year, at about the cost of 10-15 gal. of 100LL.

 

[ray66v]

Its not just the GM trucks....... its the cars too. All in the design of the steering column. Thieves would take a small hammer and knock a small hole in the side of the column, use the screwdriver to pry out the "gear" the ign. turns, then use the screwdriver to pry back the rod thats activates the actual switch. All done in seconds.

Not to say other makes can't be stolen too..... some you could break out the ign. and use a screwdriver to start them. Just that the thieves figured out the GMs were much easier than the other brands.

As was stated earlier..... a pro is gonna get whatever he wants. The joyriders or casual thiefs usually stole GM vehicles.

I don't agree that they were easier. They were all pretty easy back then, if you knew what to do.

We had plenty of Ford's and Chrysler's go through my shop, the ignition locks and switches were defeated in much the same manor, just in different places. There were some Imports in there too.

In this part of the country, it was really about selling the parts. GM's were the most popular cars, and they were stolen the most, for that reason.

For a while here, they could steal your car, strip it, leave it to be recovered by the police, buy it from the insurance co. at auction, for salvage, put it back together, and have it with a title for $1500. The state finally made it so you had to have a salvage license to buy them. Now the real "crooks" can't buy them, just the salvage ones.

I'm not saying the whole salvage business was crooked, but, when you bought a used front end, and got one, that was not even dirty, it did make you wonder.

 

[Bird]

Sounds like in some parts of the country, the Chevy trucks are the most popular with the thieves, but years ago, before I retired, the half ton Ford pickups were the ones most often stolen in Dallas.

And you sometimes wonder about the thieves who take the old vehicles when newer ones are everywhere. When I was attending the Northwestern University Traffic Institute for the 1971-72 school year, we lived in an apartment in Des Plaines, IL. I had a 6 month old 3/4 ton Chevy with a 10.5' slide in camper in the apartment house parking lot that was not bothered, but there was a Kentucky State Police sergeant in the same class, living in the same apartments who had a 1966 Chevy pickup that was stolen from right beside mine. I don't think his was ever found. And in 1990, we made a trip to Alaska, and an aunt and uncle of mine went, too, in their Class C motorhome. When we got to Anchorage, my uncle called his son and learned that his (the uncle's) 1969 Chevy pickup had been stolen from his driveway. It, too, was never found.

 

[herringchoker]

Last week we sent one of our trucks ('06 Western Star twin steer with 12 cu. yd. concrete mixer) to a tire shop to have new tires installed on the rear axles. The next morning the truck (with 8 new tires) was missing from the tire shop, all except some shattered glass in the snow where it was parked. The truck is still missing. We're guessing it went to a chop shop, but how do they hide a 12 cu. yd. mixer drum?