Houston- catalytic theft heads up

Thanks, guys. I'll probably end up throwing one on my truck just for peace of mind. This stuff is getting crazy around here. Last thing I need is to stop at Mod pizza or Home Depot in the Forum here in San Antonio and leave without cats...

 

I stand corrected on the security bolts!

 

Hopefully mine will be in soon. My RCI engine skid is due delivery on Monday. Once the DE is on, I am getting an extension made locally.

 

I have the RCI engine skid. From the bottom, the rear bolts (which mount to the same crossmember as the front of the DE cat skid, just through different holes) have smooth heads. You have to reach up and thread some locknuts onto the bolts from above the crossmember.

My plan is to cut notches out on the DE skid for the RCI bolts. That way the front part of the DE skid is sandwiched between the crossmember above and the RCI below. The bonus is that this makes the locknuts extremely difficult to thread onto the RCI bolts from above. It’ll be a pain to torque them down, but it’ll be that much harder for a thief to deal with.

I’ll use the included security bolts on the rear of the DE skid.

 

I'll have to look at the mounting points of the DE plate. I have the TRD Pro skid plate that goes back to the crossmember. I would assume it's using the same holes that the DE would.

 

I found this pic the other day but don't remember who did it that way as well.

 

I think that's @Vizsla's truck. Looks like he cut both plates to fit both sets of bolts.

 

I saw this today on our local newspapers Facebook page... Assholes. The action starts at about 1:35

 

Maybe they can buy pants that fit.

 

No kidding. I never understood that look.

 

I guess I will buy something like this:
https://www.usnetting.com/safety-netting/steel-netting/
there’s lots of this stainless steel netting available. A double wrap around the entire area and looped up at the ends with some cables and cable clamps would change a 30 second job into a 20 minute job. Most thieves would not stick around

 

That stuff looks awesome. But boy is it expensive. A 4’ square of 3/16” steel with 4” spacing is $955! I’m not sure a single 4’ square would be enough.

 

I have not priced any, yet. A quick search was all I did to confirm availability. There’s 100’s of products that came up and I intentionally ignored those from China. Willing to bet something adequate for the job is economically available. All you need is something to slow down the thieves and they are going elsewhere

 

Why not get the skid plate instead of some cables or wire that looks like crap?

 

Maybe because it’s likely to cost a lot less money. And who are you to say it would look like crap?

 

I would think the only people that would see it would be a mechanic and a thief.

 

That’s what I was thinking!

 

a few years ago someone drilled a hole in my gas tank for the 4 gallons of gas it contained. $1,200 later ...

 

I called the dealership in Katy Tx, and ordered one of the desert eagle skid plates. Having it shipped to my dealer to install. Should have it by Friday or Monday.

In speaking to my parts guy at the dealership I use, they were at a meeting and everyone was talking about the cats being stolen, and these skid plates were brought up. The dealer I use might start stocking them soon. Mine will be the first for them to get their hands on.

Guys at the dealership in Katy were very helpful.

Will post pics when I get it in.

 

Curious, what is the cost?

 

Shipped to my dealer, $364, includes all hardware.

 

Where/Who did you get it from and how much was the install going to cost? I am SOL w/o my truck for the next 2 months after I got mine stolen, but want to stop it from happening again, I don't see this slowing down anytime soon.

 

It is 4 bolts that hold it on. $364 is dealer markup. It can be shipped to your house for $315.

 

How do you contact DE for direct ship, their FB page/phone number?

 

He is on Facebook but when I called him a month ago he was out of stock but gave me a list of Toyota dealerships in my city that he shipped to.

 

FYI

 

Don Mcgill toyota, Katy Texas is where I got it from, they were mentioned either in this thread or another thread. I called and they said they had around 20 of them.

Its shipping to my dealer here in Oklahoma. I also do not have fb, and as others have said the guy that makes these is out, so I paid what I paid, if I had a issue with the price after shipping I would not have ordered it. My dealer said install around $20.

With the increasing reports of cats being stolen, I decided to run some defense, rather pay a small amount now than a larger amount and 2 months of down time later.

 

The theives pay the scapper and he pays the police...