gone2mtns

It has happened again! I posted about two years ago about our 1986 4Runner. That rig was stolen from a park-n-ride. We were able to recover it and a member on this board was able to rebuild it! -- That truck was totally stripped!

We purchased another one.....and someone walked straight up into our driveway this time and stole the second truck! Sometime between 4:30AM and 7:00AM Friday December 10, our truck was taken!

I doubt there is anything anybody can do...but if you could keep your eyes out that would be GREAT! We live in the local Auburn, WA area but I'm sure it's out in the woods at this point being parted out! (SO SAD!!) -- Grey 1986 4Runner, grey interior, small dent in the rear door, windshield cracked, and the passenger air vent cover is missing! Center console has damage but has been covered with "flower quilted material" (the gal we purchased it from installed it! -- we never removed it!) Single CD-player (though it doesn't work...CD is stuck inside). We didn't have any second hand parts....just standard stuff!

If I find the basterd(s)....Who knows what I'll do!!!

Thanks for listening!!

chunderboy

ISHT, dude that is awful.. about a year or so ago, my mothers Acura was stolen out of my driveway as well. The worst part about it was that it was running as my mother went into the house to get some gum or something. Then to make matters worse her purse was in the car as well, along with some papers from her co. Mind you we live in a upper middle class town in NJ. But luckily for us they actually recovered the car, eventhough it was totalled. But the best part was that the purse was still in the car with all the credit cards minus the cash, along with the papers.

Keep ya chin up dude, hopefully you'll get her back

gone2mtns

Well whether we recover it or not....next time we are chaining it to the house and the ground.....posting a MEAN and nasty dog inside the truck and having a guard posted 24X7!

We didn't have it running...it was locked up. We have a brake lock, but who would have thought we needed it in our driveway! (perhaps that’s where we went wrong!)

I would love to see them recover it, but with the experience of last time.......these things are worth a lot of money to the drug-dealers out there! They part them out and sell the parts! And with our law enforcement agencies cut to the bone.......there isn't enough people out there to patrol the wooded areas!

Perhaps we'll get a yugo...nobody wants those!

chunderboy

Yugos are the best bet, but as you say nobody would want one. I am sure that includes you as well. They even cute the brake lock, damn those a-holes really wanted your yota. I wonder if they knew that the cd player didn't work. Anywho, good luck brudda.

94yotarunner

I'm sorry about that, hopefully you'll be able to recover it.

That's what I like about the 2nd Gen I guess, well at least my 2nd Gen. It's not nice enough for people to steal for what its worth because they'll have to break into it and bypass the alarm (probably learn how to drive stick if they're morons) to steal it. Older cars are easier to steal because often they don't have alarms (well, even around 2nd gens too, just alarms were more standard by then) and newer cars are well worth stealing because you're making 30-40,000. I'm right in the middle.

gone2mtns

Well when/if we replace this last one, it will have an alarm! Just didn't think it was necessary in front of the house! (but another expensive lesson to learn!). At least this time we have insurance so will be able to collect something -- though not what it's worth!

shazaam

While this isn't bullet proof .. out of all the fancy alarms and things out there, I've found this one to be effective:



A friend of mine got this with me, he took it a step further and put a metal casing around the lock, and had a padlock on it as well.

sorry for your loss... hope you had full coverage insurance

gone2mtns

WOW.....besides that lock...when our truck was stolen last time we thought about creating a system that when someone tries to start the truck without the key, a HUGE metal bar skewers them in the seat! Ahhhh my wicked mind working!

Thank god we had full coverage this time!! But the insurance NEVER pays you what it's really worth....Ahhh Oh Well!

On to the next vehicle!! We need something to get in the mountains and haul stuff from the hardware store!!

gone2mtns

They recovered the truck over the weekend, and it's in drivable shape! The bastards only took the CD player (and it didn't even work!)


The ignition switch needs to be replaced but other than a good wash and vacumn...it's good to go!!

Happy Holidays!!

bamachem

now for ROUND 3...

better luck this time...

SLC Punk

Glad they found it!

GRNTACO

Wow! Just seen this thread. I'm in Auburn and know 6 people that have had ther car stolen from here now...........My 89 was broken into 4 years ago and all they took was the face plate to my stereo

I'm glad you were able to get it back, again.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Glad you got it recovered.
Head on up to Cartoy's in Federal Way, or Sounds On Wheels in Auburn, and get a good alarm with a pager.

That is what they put in for me, and the pager will work for more than a mile.
I sleep with the pager next to my headboard.

If they open any door, or knock into the vehicle, the pager goes off, Corey gets out of bed fast

My Phython (by DEI) also has the starter kill on it.

Print this out too, and put it in plain view on your seat.

dlbrunner

congrads on getting her back, My exploder was stolen about 6 months ago, all a sequence of funny events, the thiefs only got 2 miles from where they stole the truck because it ran out of gas( i was going to get some the next am). The guage when really low moved back up to show 1/4 of a tank. So Idiots try to keep starting the truck, the batterey was taken and replaced, and they must have given up. When I got the truck back I asked what kind of shape it was in, the cops told me SEVERELY vandalized. I was thinking the worst, no windows etc. When I went to pick the truck up, all the damage was pinstriping and dents from wheeling trips! Imagine my relief. Plus the theifs left a bunch of tools in the car score! Take a guess on the only item the did not take, the chess set. Great to see you got the truck back

gone2mtns

Well we are off to get a NEW stereo (one that works )...and we plan on getting an alarm system installed -- good time to do it when they have the steering column off! I don't plan on sparing ANY expense on the alarm system...not going through this AGAIN!! Hell, while we are at it (and spending the $$$ on an alarm, perhaps we'll go all out and get a new paint job and other equipment we didn't want to purchase before!!) -- Before it was stolen, there was always something else we needed to purchase first....now this is our top priority!!

We are installing security lights on the outside of the house and possible a MEAN dog posted inside the truck (we'll kick it every day to insure that it doesn't like people! -- joking!) Maybe a guard turret with armed guards outside the house!!

shazaam

glad you got it back ... don't go to crazy with the alarm cost ... I have an expensive one, while it is cool, I dont feel extra secure having it. It can be ripped right out without making a peep. If the theives in your area are after radios just get one that is removable, or has a removal face plate.

good luck

gone2mtns

The old stereo had a removable faceplate, I actually think these guys were a bunch of young kids just looking for a joy ride! We had a good pair of jumper cables in the truck that they didn't take!.....We don't plan on spending tons of money! (that was a bit of an exaggeration)....we will probably get a medium priced alarm (~$100.00 to $200.00) and call it a day.

I think with that in combination with the exterior motion lights and a brake lock...we are probably fairly safe. If we had an alarm this last time, our dogs would have woken up and alerted us to something going on!

Flamedx4

Alarms are funny things, and so are thieves. We had an RX7 with a very expensive alarm to protect some very expensive stereo stuff. Parked on the curb 20 feet from the front porch of a very exclusive restaraunt (the kind that is a remodeled Victorian house, reservations 6 months in advance sort of thing.) When the went to leave, the stereo head unit was all they didn't take, (that and interestingly the CD case and the alarm box...) A thief who knows what he is doing has little trouble with most alarms, and they go off so commonly these days that no one pays any attention to them either. All they did was slim jim the door, pop the hood and cut the main battery cable, probably only took 3 seconds. Pagers are definitely worth the money - then YOU know it's YOUR car when yet another random annoying alarm goes off.

Flamedx4

Nuther alarm story, this one funny. We found an alarm system installed in a trade in, and no information on it whatsover. While messing with it, we set it off... Also note that this was about the loudest alarm I have EVER heard!! I stuffed a rag in it and started cutting wires. It would not shut off. Completely removed from the RV, alarm siren in my hand, walking around with this alarm going off. We put in in a bucket, stuffed some shop towels in it, covered it with a piece of plywood and left it. The damn thing went off for THREE DAYS!

X-AWDriver

Install a hidden switch for the fuel pump;that'll stop 'em short of flat bedding your truck.