Taco Tailgate Theft Deterance

I have an 09 Taco I just bought. Apparently Pop and Lock will not have a lock available for a few months because of the backup camera Toyota puts on all 09's. I read the idea of putting hose clamps around the pivot point. That was posted last year and was wondering if anyone knew of any newer tricks I can use until the Pop and Lock part is available? I have seen the Jimmijammer.

Looking at the tailgate I was looking at the cable end on the tailgate with the "keyhole" the you turn and slip off the bolt. I was wondering if you could take that bolt out and put a flat washer on the screw bigger than the hole in the cable eye?

Any ideas would help.

Thanks,

Rick

 

do the hose clamp method.......cheap and easy, and it works pretty good too man.

cant find the link......but basically all you do is open the tailgate and use a small hose clamp that will fit onto the part where the tailgate hinges/comes apart from the truck. alot of people have done it and had great results. if i can find the link soon......i'll post it for you.

 

I have had a tailgate stolen and it sucks. I have been driving a truck since '95 and never needed to remove my tailgate so, as an extra measure, I put jb weld over the worm drive of the clamp.

 

JB Weld...You weren't kidding around. That's awesome.

 

well mines a little less hardcore than the JB weld but you get the idea

 

Good ideas with the clamp and the JB weld. I had thoughts of putting the clamp on then disabling the hex and the slot. Epoxy was one idea. After seeing the pics I will take and look and see if I have room to cut off the head of the screw drive with a Dremel tool.

Thanks for the input dudes.

 

stupid question...why so many tailgate thefts? just crackheads selling scrap metal?

 

Linky and go out and see how long it takes to take off your tailgate.

Rick

http://www.jimmijammer.com/Product, GK.htm

 

Hey dudes can we keep the replies on topic? I didn't post this to discuss general tailgate theft, I am looking for some fixes for my Taco.

 

I belong to many forums of different interests and am a moderator on one. Threads can go off on a tangent in no time. Many of the posters who do this don't realize they are steering the thread in a wrong direction.

 

use the new hose clamps that use the triangle key. once the key is removed there is just a solid triangle. thats what i have one mine in combination with the pop and lock.

oh and if you don't want to scratch the paint with the hose clamp, do what i did and use one of those cheap rubber wristbands and put that on before the hose clamp

 

I have never seen the triangle head hose clamps. I will have to look for some today. Thanks to all for the help.

 

I don't know if this is new or even a good remedy for theft deterence; but, I use 2 of those gun cable locks on each side of the tailgate pivot areas and connect them (2 locks) through the available openings in the steel in the tailgate frame and underneath the truck, kind of inside the bumper. Of course, the locks could rust and create problems in removal if I need to take the tailgate off.
I do use the cable locks with plastic coating on the cable so that the metal from the cables does not contact the steel of the truck.

 

I really wouldnt grind the heads off or fill in the torx area of the bolt. this will make removing your tailgate next to impossible for you or anyone else that needs to work on the rear end

 

I think making it difficult to remove is the idea.

I couldn't find anything today locally except the standard hex head/slot type clamps and didn't get a chance to tinker with it today. I will test fit a clamp and see how much room I have to get a Dremel tool little cut off wheel in if I do disable the clamp head and might need to cut if off. Another thought I had was to put a piece of heat shrink tubing over the hex head after installation and a small piece of metal inside over the screw faceto keep a screw driver out and make it too big for a hex driver. This would make it bit more difficult for a person to remove the clamps in the dark or in a hurry.

Also, thanks Terrier for the gun lock idea. I will check that out.

Rick

Oh, BTW. I have the I4 Taco and have put 54 miles on it. The fuel gauge hasn't moved off of Full. I wonder if the fuel gauge is broken.

 

Pretty neat. What size hose clamp? Still no scratches?

 

I couldn't find hose clamps like the ones above so I used some regular hex head ones that also have the flat screw driver slot. I filled the slots in with JB Weld then installed them on the tailgate with a hex driver. I then put some heat shrink over the hex head and shrunk it with a heat gun. So now the hex driver and screw driver won't fit and someone would have to take time to cut off the heat shrink and then have a hex driver to remove the clamp. I hope this is time consuming enough to deter a thief. BTW the clamp moves with the tailgate and I have not noted any scratches when clamped without padding.

Rick

 

Dyno Lock sells an electric lock that works with the tailgate camera.