Dam Thieves.

[Turbo21835]

Think of it this way, how many people ask questions when a lowboy, or pickup truck show up on the job site to pick something up. Around here there are a few companies that dont have names on the side of their pickup trucks, and they dont have a fleet of alike pickups. I think this may get a little more obvious next year when pickup trucks are required to have DOT #s on the side if they are a company truck.

I have worked for guys that you have to beg to get a piece of equipment such as a saw, or a plate packer. Something that every jobsite should have. When I finally got it, i have no way to make it secure, and im not going to be throwing a plate packer in my car. I also wont take the saw home and have the responsibility for it. Im not a foreman. Owners solution. Well, just put the saw in the cab of the machine, and put the plate packer in the bucket of the wheel loader, park it up against the dozer blade. Then, hang the machine key on the dipstick like all of our machines.

I have worked at companies that send a connex box, or C can as some call it, to every job. That doesnt stop these pricks. We always tried to park one machine in front of the box so that someone cant winch it up on a trailer. Then we always parked a machine at the back of the box. On one job, someone busted the dash apart on a brand new D6N to hot wire the machine and rip the doors off the box. Same job, a month later, we had a D8N parked with the blade against front of the box, and a komatsu D85 parked in front of the doors. The low lives used the weight of the 8 in front to their advantage. They fired up the d85 and proceeded to open the C can like a can of sardines.

 

[biggixxerjim]

Would seem to be a very big problem all over ,as an old hand said to me once a lock only keeps an honest man out.On one site I was on when they chouldn't steal anything they vandalised all the equipment.
Another tale for you years ago we were working on a live motorway at night when a lowloader pulled up the driver walked up to the shift foreman gave him some documents to say that a 30ton machine that was only 6weeks old was recalled by the manufacture on a safety issue and to bee piped for a breaker, so he went down with the truck told the excavator driver to load it and when done to call it a night and to be in again the following evening (a Friday) the machine was loaded with a brand new breaker and escorted off the site.
On hand over the foreman told the dayshift that the machine would be back that night and what had taken place,we arrived in that night and no excavator/breaker and again the following night ,so Monday they rang the suppplier who knew nothing about any recall,they the police who had seen the lowloader pulled it over gave them a ticket for not permit and escorted the truck off the motorway and to the best of my knowledge that was the last that was seen of that truck and load.

On a final note from personal expierience I have found that most thefts are by exemployees who know the system that all sites use,and very little to the oppertunist thief

grammer and punctuation, PLEASE

 

[AtlasRob]

grammer and punctuation, PLEASE

with a handle like you've got !

 

[sparky]

Then they parked the grader sideways and leaned the tire right on the lock. Couple weeks that worked ok and then someone came with a torch and cut the side off the C-can and took a 2" pump and a 3" pump.

My older brother used to be a mechanic for a paving company who had been broken into a few times, and had his toolbox cut open with a torch twice. So my brother being the mean SOB that he is started leaveing cans of starting fluid in his box.

No one outside of the garage help knew that they were in his box and it never got cut open again, just stolen altogether even though other locks in the building did get cut. Always lead me to believe that it was an inside job.

A friend of mine built a new garage and the alarm company did'nt show up on time. But as the rent had run out on the building he was in, they moved in anyways on a friday night. Had 3 1 ton dump trucks parked in the garage loaded with tools,lasers,saws etc waiting to be unloaded, you guessed it someone else unloaded them.

 

[stock]

grammer and punctuation, PLEASE

if you are going to start painting , better get a bigger brush, or as a famous book says,"let he without sin cast the first stone":beatsme:beatsme

 

[tootalltimmy]

About keys. I noticed that this sold on Iron Planet to someone from B.C. for $90. It had 24 keys from many different types of heavy equipment.
Seems like you would go to a dealer if you needed a key for your own machine. Why would this be sold?

This key chain will cover about 99% of your heavy equipment key needs. All keys are 100% tested for accuracy and operability and guaranteed to work. This is a brand new keyset designed to cover the most common machines on the market. See Specifications below for details. Free Shipping within Continental United States.

 

[biggixxerjim]

if you are going to start painting , better get a bigger brush, or as a famous book says,"let he without sin cast the first stone":beatsme:beatsme

Im just sayin that was nearly painful to read.

 

[95zIV]

Im just sayin that was nearly painful to read.

Then don't read it, but you really shouldn't complain about other people's spelling and grammar, after all in just 9 words you made 2 grammatical errors yourself. But on a bigger note there's no need for anyone on here to criticize anyone's typing there's enough of stuff like that in arguments over equipment here.

 

[Deere9670]

Im just sayin that was nearly painful to read.

sayin??????? Is that a word and there sould be a comma after saying, and also its I'm. ointhead

 

[Steve Frazier]

OK guys, grammar lessons are over.

I have to agree though that I have difficulty in reading posts that are not punctuated or in paragraph form. Most times I end up skipping them over.

Let's get the thread back on topic please.

 

[Iron Horse]

Three thing's , one is that i'm sure "theft" of machinery will rise as owners find no other way out of their finance debts in such bad times . Two is that a court of law would have a field day with an equipment manufacturer that not only has no theft deterents fitted too machinery but also supplies a master key that fits all of them . And three is that not everyone is well schooled , like myself . Having too leave school early to help with the family income has taken it's toll , but i never felt bad about it until now .

 

[jughead]

theft

we need statutes like Texas. one can defend property with what ever force is necessary.

 

[d4c24a]

deterrent

the company i work for has had these fitted to all their plant, although not fool proof it is a deterrant and also results in low insurance premium
http://www.kosran.com/

 

[OCR]

Three thing's???

Three thing's , one is that i'm sure "theft" of machinery will rise as owners find no other way out of their finance debts in such bad times . Two is that a court of law would have a field day with an equipment manufacturer that not only has no theft deterents fitted too machinery but also supplies a master key that fits all of them . And three is that not everyone is well schooled , like myself . Having too leave school early to help with the family income has taken it's toll , but i never felt bad about it until now .

No reason for this at all!!!... Iron Horse....

Having too leave school early to help with the family income has taken it's toll , but i never felt bad about it until now.

OCR

 

[surfer-joe]

OK, the way it was and likely still is, is that equipment operators tend to take keys home with them at the end of a shift. Guess what, they either forget to take the key into work with them the next day, or perhaps it is that the fella on the next shift needs the bloomin key, but it's no where around and the dealer either isn't open, hasn't opened yet, or is a zillion miles away and doesn't have a spare key anyway. What to do then? Leave a couple hundred thousand dollar machine sit while numb-nuts goes home for the key? Well, that's one solution, but most operators just say, "well, it was there when I got off you know....... On some projects with big spreads, the number of keys missing might be several. I've had this happen many times. If I had a dollar for every bloomin lo-bed driver that snatched a set of keys, I have a tidy fortune.

On older models of diesels, all you needed was a short piece of iron or steel to short the starter solenoid anyway. No key needed at all. As some here have said, all a lock or a key does is keep an honest person honest. They don't deter thieves for very long.

What to do? Simple. The manufacturers either install a T-handle style master switch, or uses two standard keys on every machine they build. I sincerely wish I had a buck for every Cat key I have purchased in the last forty some years. The number is probably in the several thousand range, would make a nice payday for me. I've stocked hundreds of foremen, superintendents, and project warehouses with Cat, Case, Deere and other manufacturers keys. Back in the seventies when I was hangin with some 651B's, I could sell a Tachometer reset key for a hundred bucks cash. But with today's computerized engines, jumping the starter isn't a good option anymore and you really need to have a dedicated key, though I'm not seeing that much yet. Maybe it still isn't a good idea.

To my recollection, most of the stuff that was stolen around me was almost certainly done by guys from the inside. I've related elsewhere on these forums some of the stories so won't repeat. Have to admire some of the takings, the guys that did them had big brass ones.

 

[stock]

If I remember correctly Doosan rubber ducks use a standard key but you have to put in a code before it will start and as long as the key is in place so is the code, take out the key and you need the code to start, by the way it's a 4 digit code. so no chance of winging it.

 

[312King]

I Guess it comes down to the old saying. If They want it bad enough, they will get it. One way or another.

 

[Iron Horse]

I still don't get it really. There are trucking companies with fleets of truck in the hundreds . Not one of those trucks would have a key that will fit another truck . You would be hard pressed to find two trucks that use the same key anywhere . What's the difference ?

 

[knucklehead98]

I still don't get it really. There are trucking companies with fleets of truck in the hundreds . Not one of those trucks would have a key that will fit another truck . You would be hard pressed to find two trucks that use the same key anywhere . What's the difference ?

Actually, I was told at one time by a Locksmith that Freightliner only used 7 keys for thier trucks. How much truth there was to that,I don't know. :beatsme

 

[Turbo21835]

I dont know what to tell you about trucks where you are located. Around here it is common for fleets to be keyed alike. At least each brand truck keyed alike. I know of 25 Sterlings and 30 Volvo- White GMCs that are keyed alike. They are part of a national auto carrier fleet. I also of a few excavation companies that have all their trucks keyed the same.