Securing the Generator from theft
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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10450
Printed Date: 01 Jul 2025 at 7:47am
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Topic: Securing the Generator from theft
Posted By: spydie
Subject: Securing the Generator from theft
Date Posted: 04 Aug 2017 at 12:19am
I devised what I think is a good way to deter most "casual" thefts of my generator... you know the kind where your gen gets up and walks away? There is no way to deter a determined thief with the proper tools, but I read someplace that generators are a big theft item in campgrounds . So I'll be carrying mine in the back of my pickup and I wanted to lock it down so it's not easy to just walk away with. I was going to put a bicycle lock between the Gen handles and the corner tie-downs in the truck, but cable locks are the easiest bicycle lock there is to cut. U-Locks are very hard to cut. Also the truck tie-downs are not very thick metal and could be cut with a bolt cutter easier than the cable lock. I wanted to use a U-bolt lock but couldn't find any way to attach it to the truck until tonight. My truck has holes in the bed to attach a bed extender. You'll notice the hole has a notch in one side. So I took a piece of heavy 7/8" pipe I had laying around (with 90/1000 wall thickness), drilled a hole in it near the end, threaded it and screwed in a bolt. Then I cut the bolt head off so I just had a pin sticking out of the end to go in the keyway of the hole in the truck. Then I welded a 1" thick-walled pipe on the end of it with a 3/4" hole in it for the U-lock to go through and I then welded a heavy plate over the end of the 1" pipe. Most bolt cutters can't even open far enough to engage the heavy-wall pipe. When I put the U-lock through it and through the handle of my Gen, you can't turn the pipe to line-up the keyway on it and thus can't remove the pipe, which requires you to cut through the U-lock to get the gen. It's not fool-proof because anyone with the right tools can cut it off with a hack saw or really LARGE bolt cutters (most LEO carry the 2' bolt cutters in our squad cars, and that's what most bike thieves carry because you can conceal them in your jacket, but you'd need the 3-4' ones to cut through my stuff and you'd look really suspicious carrying one of those around in a campground!). I think this will keep the semi-honest folks honest and foil the "casual" thief.   ------------- 2018 R-pod 176 2017 RAM 1500 5.7L Hemi 
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