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Preventing Tractor theft - ideas?

gears

gears

Member
So I'm brainstorming ideas on how to keep my tractor from being stolen, it's an orange diesel with a cab. Back in the 90s I kept my Buick Regal from being stolen by installing a fake coil wire when parking. They smashed my drivers window and peeled the column but since it wouldn't start I still had the car.

Thinking about the tractor, the cab is too big for "The Club" to work. Diesel means I can't put a fake coil wire on it..... I thought maybe a lock on the draglink keeping the wheels turned and then I thought, why not a removable draglink!? Yank two pins and take it with me from the property......

Anyone got any feedback on that?
 
The local police told me after I had a theft, thieves are like cockroaches; they hate the bright lights.
Install bright security lights, first thing. Go from there, with noise, alarms sounds, etc. Second thing, no
log chain or steel object is immune from a battery-power sawz-all. THieves can cut right thru anything!
 
Electric or manual shut down?? If electric rig it up so it stays in the shut down position with a hidden switch or some such thing. Or pull the batteries
 
So, you got something stolen 30 years ago.

You need to post more information, what kind of tractor, remote or urban location, are there people living there? Having a tractor stolen is a pretty rare thing, having things stolen off it like batteries and other things much more common. I leave the keys in mine, which is probably not a smart thing, but it is a shuttle shift Diesel with manual fuel shutoff, so the common thief probably could not figure it out.
 
Manual shift cars have natural theft deterrent now, as most people can not drive them, not so much in the 30s.
 
Full disclosure, I'm brainstorming to help my Brother-in-law. My old Ford stuff is not going anywhere. He's got some property where the new tractor is parked and he's going to be working the land - while the house was being built, all the ladders & tools were stolen one night and he's worried about this tractor being taken as well. I haven't even been told what model he got other than it has a cab.

My son's 83 charger is safe from theft as it has different door and ignition keys, is carbureted, and a manual to boot! He's not worried about it disappearing while he's in class.
 
I would just take the keys out, much more chance of it being vandalized. Is there a neighbor where he can store it? I did that before I built house here.
 
I put one of those battery disconnect terminals on my J/D 5203
negative post. Unscrew the knob when I leave, disables the tractor.
Unless they have a knob in their pocket I don’t think it’s going
anywhere. Available at any NAPA or TSC. Works for me.
 
I installed a battery cutoff switch on a
friend's JD 4430. Located the handle on
the floor next to the seat. Then toss an
old glove and a pop bottle or two and
over the handle to hide it.
 
not too much you can do . they know what they are looking for and can just load it on a trailer and be gone. dont need a running tractor for
that. they want something they will get it.
 
I would go with something to prevent it from starting. How much damage can they do with a running non-steering tractor?
 
Good theft insurance and lighting.Also a fence around the property with a dog to raise cain would help, several game cameras might help depending on the situation.Is there a neighbor around where he can park the tractor at their place?
 
Had a beautiful Farmall BN and grill from
my 806 stolen from the property here.

Challenge is, most older tractors, with a
couple guys, can have anything gone pretty
quick no matter what you do - unless you
remove a wheel or something so it doesn't
roll.

When you come up with the idea, let me
know! 😀


On an aside - I can tell you what we used
to do for boat trailers etc - had a long
rod that fed through the wheel (think club
but for wheel, not steering) in shape of
U...

Feed it through so the long "u" ends are
sticking out way beyond the tire - then
lock across the tire front with cross bar.

Can someone cut through it? With a torch
yeah - but nothing handy.

Can they roll it? Nope, the long ends
prevent any rolling.
 
park it with a BIG tree between the front and back tire so it has to be wiggled out while running. then hook up a disconnect somewhere out of site. I find batteries should be bolted down under a cover where they need good wrenches to pull the batteries.
 
Agree with below... Locked doors and gates are a good start. Motion sensor (solar if no power) lights are wise (there
are some great LED options these days). Game cameras can catch photos of who did it. Electrical and fuel shut
offs keep most from bothering.
 
In addition to other good ideas already listed I often put things in a "won't start" mode such as pto engaged, neutral switch wire pulled, etc. Some thieves won't
take the time or have the know how to figure those things out.
 
I test drove a New Holland T4.90 this week, took me 10 minutes to figure out how to start and move. That was during the day with no pressure.

For something simple, I would just pull the wire off the fuel solenoid.
 
A few years ago I put my gas tractor in a prominent spot along a highway for the 4th of July and left it there for a couple of weeks. About
one week into the display the 2 brothers that own the "corner" saw me and said that the tractor looked good and had thought about turning it
around just to mess with me. I told them that they would need a log chain to move the tractor. The older one said they could move it because
they knew how to hook up the battery and turn on the gas. I told them that wouldn't make it run, they still needed a chain. They asked me why
I was so sure they couldn't start it. We all had a good laugh when I told them that the rotor for the distributer was in the console of my
pickup!
 
It is difficult to advise not knowing what brand, year, and model you have.

If it has blade fuses you can put blown ones in critical sockets or install them (in series) in hidden places. If you blow them right they are difficult to visually discover. Some also have electric relays. Creating about three safeties makes them nervous. Also have a hidden switch to trick the neutral transmission start system to that it thinks it is always in gear. Having a couple of different system faults (easily corrected) like this along with the bright lights could help.

The one thing that is problematic is where there is direct access to the starter solenoid where a jumper can bypass everything. That is where you need a solenoid fuel shutoff that is hidden.

One last thing to do is to drain the fuel filter housing if this is possible, but you have to remember to fill it before starting or you will have to bleed the entire system before it will start. You can also do this on the input line to a rotary pump, but again you must remember to bleed it or you will have the same problem.

I would not recommend cracking open all of the injector pipe nuts at the injectors as there is too much of a fire hazard risk, but this would definitely keep it from starting.
 
Thinking about it a few years ago there were some thieves here in VA and NC stealing compact type tractors using a box trailer with a winch inside the trailer to drag them inside so any disabling wouldn't have been effective.A friend of mine had his tractor stolen from inside a barn that was a quarter mile off a back road,he got it back about a year later when the serial number showed up somewhere after the thieves were busted.
 
Hi, I have made two similar devices to fit to my MF 165 and 3060
steering rams. Both comprise of a semi-circular sleeve which fits over
the cylinder rod when at full lock. A second part of the sleeve
engages with the first and is then locked by a ‘C’ shaped padlock
enclosed in the main sleeve. If the steering is locked the tractor can
only go round in circles. With restricted access it would be difficult to
cut these off. It would be far easier for someone to jump wires etc if
the tractor has an electric stop solenoid or just a conventional pull
stop.
DavidP, South Wales
 
If a thief has unlimited time and access, they can steal anything. And don't forget about vandals who might do thousands of dollars worth of damage in a few minutes. Your best protection is to never park it where someone can mess with it without being seen, but that's often not practical. If you have to park your tractor in the boonies, a GPS tracker would be a good investment.
 
A GPS/3g tracker is probably the easiest and least problematic to impliment. I looked up the cost.

The only drawback is weighing the cost/benefit.

Most inexpensive trackers have a monthly service charge starting at about $13. The expensive ones ($200 on up) have free service.

If your tractor/wife is worth it it seems reasonable depending on your income or Scottish background.

If it is installed on a tractor how easy is it to hide and does it draw enough power to be obvious after 1-6 months sitting without the tractor battery being charged. Some may have their own battery, but I don't know whether they are quiescent when not in motion to conserve battery power.
 
You are only limited by your imagination and how quickly you want to be able to make the tractor usable when you need it.

Some things are simple deterrents others will keep a seasoned mechanic scratching his head for a while.

-Car horn wired to blow constant when ignition is on, toggle switch out of sight for you to turn it off.

-Install one of those Murphy switches that shut down the fuel if oil pressure drops too low, they have a momentary push button switch you need to hold in until the engine builds oil pressure.
You could add another hidden switch inline with it as well.

-If you have a portable air tank or compressor you could let the air out of one or more tires or remove a tire all together.

-Some machines have a tow haul valve or pump de-stroke valve that will prevent operation if engaged.

-Remove the steering wheel.

-Take the starter off.

-Remove a fuel fitting, insert a ground down to fit screw in the end of the line then reattach it.

-Rubber expansion plug in end of exhaust pipe.

-Plug or plate out of site inside air filter housing to block flow.

-Remove throttle arm or cable.

-Paint it pink :D
 
It would probably be a blessing if someone stole a couple of mine.

Reminds me of once when I was with a GM dealer. We had an old, beat up Chevy pickup for a service truck. It sat overnight wherever someone used it last. Nobody ever bothered to pull the key out of it.

Then we got a hot shot sales consultant who started pulling the key out of it. The boss asked him "How the hell do you expect someone to steal the dammed thing if you pull the key out of it?"
 
Forget the cops helping you recover something stolen. We tracked a brand new $30,000 air compressor from Kansas City to the Mexican border calling local PDs the entire way - not one lifted a finger to stop. They thought it was more of a civil matter.
 
If it won't start expect the potential thief to trash it for not being in running condition. Lock it in a shed - if you don't have one
paying some rent to a neighbor is a good alternative.
 
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