Suggestions to secure a Ford 4500 TLB against theft?

Something I have been thinking about.
What is to stop someone from pulling up to my place with a heavy duty trailer when no is home. Starting up the 4500, loading it and taking off with it? Seriously doubt my neighbors would stop anyone from taking it. They all loathe the day it arrived! LOL.

Recently had a contractor at my house when looking to have the garage built. (Still nowhere with that). Soft spoken, seemed nice enough. But his ref"s did not pan out and when I did a search for his current biz registration came up MIA. Did find he has opened and closed a handful of biz"s over the last 10-15 years. Many dissolved due to lack of filing. Also found some kinda of court case against him by the NH state. No details. Sent him a email I was not interested.
He has called more then once asking if I still wanted to build the garage? He acts like I never said no and today he called again and I strongly stated bad ref"s, too many failed biz"s, no thank you. Was he just checking to see if I was home?

My paranoia thickens. I periodically search CL to see if there are any 4500"s for sale in my area. Been a few on CL with pics. BUT recently there was a listing for a 4500 that sounded just like mine right down to its faults. Odd, no pics, location remote woodlot in NH.
Emailed I was interested. Got a reply asking for my ph nbr to call me. Never heard back.

Tractor has push button to start it, starts right up if its above 30 out.

I figure I would turn the front wheels all the way to the left, chain either the steering wheel or better yet the front axle so it can"t be turned straight. Also let down rear stabilizers and chain those 2 handles so they cant be raised back up. This should keep anyone from being able to load it on a trailer.

Getting paranoid in my middle age.
Been burnt one to many times.

Pete

Chaining is a good idea.
How abour replacing push button switch with a key switch, or a battery disconnect in a hidden place. If they want it bad enough, they'll figure a way - all you can hope to do is slow them down.


I had a battery swiped out of my tractor parked in my yard 100 feet from my bedroom window.

Exactly!
" If they want it bad enough, they'll figure a way - all you can hope to do is slow them down. "

when looking for a way to secure a piece of equptment, think like a thief. If they can reach the starter, they can jump it right there with their own battery. chains can be cut quickly with a battery powered 4 1/2 inch grinder, hoses can be cut to the rear stabs and they can be chained up. If they want it bad enough they will find a way. multiple levels of deturents will slow them down, but make to unhandy when you want to use it. mark it to be identifyable, have it insured and make it as hard to get to it as you can. hidden game cameras can help too.

buy insurance.

Park it somewhere that you can't get a trailer close to it and removed the battery and the rotor.

You might get a new battery out of the deal or they might burn it when they can't get it to start.

best way bar none,sell it before they steal it. if they want it bad enough even taking it apart wont stop them.

A chain won't even slow a thief down; if they want it bad enough, they're probably gonna get it. Trouble for you, but if you're REALLY concerned, you might remove the front tires and carry them with you.

Jack it up and remove the wheels.

Since all my tractor tires are loaded, they don't take much air to fill them to pressure.

I usually park it with the valve stem up, let enough air out to almost flaten it, and make it visible. It's hard to push or pull a tractor with a flat. If they're going to steal it anyway, no use in giving them 2 good tires, let 'em cut one to ribbons. It also gives the machine a much less usable or salable appearance.

Two portable air tanks will bring it back up to operating pressure.

This is only when they're left in a remote field, at the house, the dogs would probably help a thief start them and load 'em.

Pull the rotor as suggested if it's a gas engine.
Get a good security camera and cable it to a vcr so you can record the thieves. I have motion detector lights installed with dual lights. One of the camera's looks like a spot light bulb. The camera is connected to the vcr to video in and then out to the tv set so you can monitor what's going on. We also have a Chow dog and she's not very friendly with strangers. Hal

Scum of the earth losers are all over.
I know a guy that (I am pretty sure) stole a piece of equipment years ago. This guy has had a few businesses that didnt pan out either, carpentry, excavating, etc. He has not held a real job in many years. I think he also dabbles in wacky tabaky sales too.
As suggested, Remove the rotor and or plug wires, Remove a tire or two. Get insurance. Get a camera. Remove the start button. You may want to get with your local detectives and tell them the story and they may want to get a sting set up to catch this bozo. I hate people that make a career out of being a criminal and are so good at it that they dont get caught.

Your only keeping the honest man out. Call your insurance agent and do what they say to be sure your covered. No offense but a 4500 can't have the hottest market as a stolen item, not like a later model skidloader or even a purpose built backhoe like a 555.

Several years ago, one of my employees found our new 410E missing from the job site. He went up to find a pay phone to call the superintendent to see if he had moved it. On the way to the phone, he spotted it about two miles away at a tire store. Of course, they didn't know who owned it and I guess the thieves wanted to be sure it didn't have a gps device. Now, I have our and phone painted on all equipment and our 410G has the top of the cab painted a contrasting color - also the loader arms so it's easy to spot. Also, have a hidden switch locking out the starter.

Had another backhoe that we found sitting on the outriggers with the back tires and wheels gone.

Hello Pete The Rookie,
You can install a toggle switch for the coil power. With the (HIDDEN) switch off... no spark!
You can also put a electric valve on the fuel line powered by a hidden switch, it may start with the carb fuel, but it won't run for long!
Guido.

Ramlock from Lincoln security..fits on the steering ram in a minute, real difficult to cut off and a million security combinations!
Sam

Chain the stearing wheel. At the same time pull one plug wire and exchange it with the coil wire. When trying to start it, only one plug will fire, and the thief will give up. I would think those guys are in too much of a hurry to do any trouble shooting. My memory being what it is.If I pulled the rotor on any of my stuff I would try to start it, in a couple days and wonder why it didn't start. Stan

tks for all the help. a diesel so no rotor ect.
No steering ram.

I agree the 4500 is not a hot commodity but worth a quick couple of grand sold off into the rural areas around here.
Real fear is like the one poster expressed I have crossed paths with a serial criminal and he knows how/when to strike and get away with it.

I think I'd pull some shenanigans with the tractor, intercept the ignition feed with a hidden 3 pole switch (may be keyed) 3 pole meaning a or b is on. A would be the ignition b would be horn, siren or strobe or all 3. Park tractor and flip hidden switch when bubba comes calling and doesn't flip ye olde switch instead of ignition he gets a sound and light show, at what point he usually leaves the area. If you really want to get fancy put your alarm on a timer with a separate feed so the unauthorized attempt to start gives him 5 minutes of sound and lights. Another idea is to intercept the ignition circuit with a momentary action normally open switch that you have to push to get ignition, but wire another feed through an oil pressure switch so you hold the momentary action switch to start it but if you let go before the oil pressure comes up it stalls. Let your imagination run free just wire something into the tractor that is not normal it won't stop them but might make them decide to go elsewhere. I worked at a new car dealer for a little over a year, one of the F&I guys came to me one afternoon said he was busy and asked if I would hop in the Cougar XR-7 out front, it was a lease turn in and he needed it pulled behind the fence and parked on the transit line. I took the keys,hopped in the car stuck the key in the ignition cranked it and nothing happened, HMMMMM? Looked and there was a sticker on the window protected by a sentry alarm, I thought a bit put my foot on the brake and hit the key and it started, seems the starter was wired through the brake lights. Later that day the F&I guy admitted to me he had been unable to get it to start.

I chain my BH to other equipment that I park in kind of an interlocking fashion so they've got to move a bunch of stuff to get what they're after. I use a security chain I bought online. Not impossible to cut but darn hard. Also put the locks down underneath where they're hard to reach or even see. Insurance is thru my h/o policy so I don't worry too much. I won't say what I do with old boards that I find laying around with old nails sticking out.

All the suggestions are good ones, and as most have said, they keep the honest people away.

All the switch interlocks and hydraulic locks will not stop a strong winch on a good tilt trailer.

Was a guy stealing Bobcats around here when the building boom was hot, finally got busted, somewhere around $500K worth of Bobcats he had hocked. His MO was hitting construction sites with his one ton and trailer, starting them up and he was gone. No one thought much since he was a contractor himself, used his business truck and all. Took around a year before they nailed him.

Rick

Letting the air out of loaded tires? Are you
serious? I think the ramlock shown would work
really good and it wouldn't have to go on a
steering cylinder. It could be put on any
cylinder; a backhoe stabilizer, boom or even the
bucket cylinder(s)on the loader. If the bucket was
tilted down and put on the ground, it would be
real hard to load it on anything. Another thing
you could do is put a fuse on the wire going to
the starter and just take it out. I say this
because I put a fuse on the wire for my Cat and
it's up under the dash where no one would even
think of it. You could even put a blown fuse in it
and really puzzle a thief. Being it's an older
machine, there's less chance of someone wanting to
steal it.

I just have to be a smart butt here: who would want to steal a Ford 4500 TLB????????????? LOL

I know where they are two different ones that the guys would like to have stolen. Real money pits. I know some guys think that Ford TLB are fine. I have ran them and don't care for them myself.

Truthfully I really doubt a guy trying to bid on a building is lining you up to steal a Ford backhoe. I could steal a pickup load of tools and have more value than that and be ten time easier to sell/move.

You have way too much spare time on your hands.

Honestly paint it pink with your company name, or some other unique colour. No one notices a yellow backhoe going by.

Not much else will stop a thief, even a steering lock you can put the bucket down and drive backwards to get on a trailer. Sometimes have a major component apart will deter thieves ie a boom cylinder un pinned or the head off the engine but even then the scrappers are still interested.

The best devise Ive seen is an under size fuse switched in to the ignition line.The engine will start but stall when the fuse blows.The fuse is jumped by a hidden switch for normal use.Crossing spark plug wires on parked equipment works.Friend had a home made tractor.To keep his younger brother from useing the tractor he would take the rotor out.Kid went up to the Western Auto and bought his own rotor.He would disconnect the speedometer and note how much gas the gauge read.He was careful to park in the exact same spot.We used to put whistle bombs on friends cars.The chief of police had a little Crosley car.The local boys would pick it up and put it in odd places.I have a photo of the Crosley chained to a power pole in front of the police station.

It is some trouble and will take some of your time but if you are that worried, dig a deep trench with the backhoe and leave the boom/dipper-stick/bucket in the hole. Get some buckets and drain the hydraulic fluid from the reservoir of the unit store it in a secure place and pour it back in when you need to use it.

In addition, park the thing with the front loader bucket on the ground against a large tree. Dig the trench at a 45 degree angle ( not straight behind ) the unit. Alter the electrical starting wiring as others suggested. Add flashing lights and siren.
Set up a hidden video camera and get it all on video and put it on you tube when the thief comes calling and tries to figure out how the heck he's going to get the thing on his trailer!