Lock your tailgates!!!

[two_bit_score]

Of course I remember when the T-tops were popular with the thieves. And when I was a young patrolman working the northwest part of Dallas, hub cap and bicycle thefts were our most popular crimes (remember the Olds spinner hub cabs?). A little later, CB radios became very popular with the thieves.

Oh yeah the CB radios...That was in the early-mid '70's .... all the unlicensed CB's would get spooked when a strange van came through town and rumors started flying that the "FCC was there to track 'em down". Hilarious!


TBS

 

[Bird]

Factory should install the saftety release type lock GM uses on their PU/SUV crank down spares . No one would ever remove a tailgate . Wife shreaded a tire on the Suburban. Went to do my road service call. Could not get that sucker to release on the side of the road. Pulled the wheel, went to my local tire place and had a nice used tire mounted to get by until I decide what to do, need two back tires. Anyone having one of these safety locks on their vehicle, I recommend trying to get it down and off the carrier in the driveway at home. I had to remove the license plate and reach in there to free the pin. Cleaned, lubed and reinstalled. Those things are the work of the devil.

My tailgates are about 50%. Dodge 99-01 Dodge tailgates contact the lip of the bumper when lowered, even with the cables attached. Any significant load on the tailgate leaves a bumper crease on the tailgate.

Q

On my 2015 Ford F150, there is a key lock in the back bumper. You insert your ignition key, turn it and pull the entire lock out. Only THEN . . . can you insert the tool through the bumper to lower the spare tire. And yes, pickup spare tires were at one time quite popular with the thieves.

 

[Bird]

Oh yeah the CB radios...That was in the early-mid '70's .... all the unlicensed CB's would get spooked when a strange van came through town and rumors started flying that the "FCC was there to track 'em down". Hilarious!


TBS

:laughing:I didn't figure many folks would remember that.:laughing:

 

[fordmantpw]

I wonder why the thieves are only targeting tailgates from Fords.

Fords have the tailgate step, which makes the tailgate more valuable.

 

[Clint S]

I think there was a study that found the "buffer" created by the turbulence in the bed allows the air to stream back over the top of the whole bed, whereas the tailgate down (or what they were studying--those mesh replacement "fuel savers"), allows the air streaming over the cab to create steady downforce on the truck bed, and decreases MPG. It was many years before the internet--back when the mesh tailgates were new--and I was "needing one" to save money. Don't know about the full covers and tonneaus...

Mythbusters did a show and rover just that. Better mileage with tail gate up.

 

[Hughman]

I like to lock it when I have a trailer attached so that I don't smash the tailgate into the trailer jack or anything else that might be sticking up above the bumper.

(Protecting myself from me)

 

[Wagtail]

Mythbusters did a show and rover just that. Better mileage with tail gate up.

Mythbusters proved that the average persons knowledge of physics comes from watching old Roadrunner cartoons.

 

[check]

Fords have the tailgate step, which makes the tailgate more valuable.

I love my tailgate step!

 

[QRTRHRS]

:laughing:I didn't figure many folks would remember that.:laughing:

I kid you not, early on when CB's were catching on big time, I was directed off the interstate into a rest area for a CB license check. LOL! I actually had a license!

 

[two_bit_score]

I kid you not, early on when CB's were catching on big time, I was directed off the interstate into a rest area for a CB license check. LOL! I actually had a license!

You were a rare breed!



TBS