Tailgate theft....How to prevent it....

And if your a procrastinator like me, and "haven't found time" to pick up the clamps, just do what i do and keep it locked until ya do. Pretty soon the sorry ass thieves will know this trick, and be able to remove these clamps as quickly as they can the tailgate itself! It is and good mod though and i plan to do it in case i forget to lock it back...........once i get those clamps!! Give me a break, I just haven't found the time!! JEEZ!!!

 

I apologize to everyone who had already mentioned locking the tailgate. I (obviously) did look back at the previous posts. I just saw this issue that i had concerns with and prematurely posted my immediate solution. Nevertheless, i am amazed at the ingenuity and dedication that apparently we as a "community" have when it comes to our trucks!!

 

Take a look at this. The Torx screw is a security screw.

 

There's no pic to take a look at, but that's what I used, a torx security screw,

 

I always just put a pipe clamp on the release side with the screw pointed to where you have to lay down under the truck to loosen. Not completely theft proof but will slow the lazy guys down.

 

I had the same but got tired of looking at the hose clamp

 

Had to fix a hose that bursted and had an extra clamp laying around so used it for this.

 

Clamps are not very secure and are a false sense of security, they have been defeated and left on the floor while the tailgate goes missing. There are options:

@scleaf machines them for the 2005 thru 2015, 2016 and newer:
3rd Gen:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-2016-tacoma-tailgate-lock.513023/#post-16153406
2nd Gen:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2005-2015-tacoma-tailgate-lock.428094/#post-12288027


@christian06 makes a thicker gate keeper like device
3rd Gen:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/anti-theft-device.612331/#post-20751023
2nd Gen:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/anti-tweaker-device.603258/#post-20308620

 

Hey fellas. I already have that set up for the tailgate theft prevention many years back. I just want to add to this the other target rich item for thieves in a Tacoma SR5 PreRunner: the reserve tire. Let me know if you want this info. For me, my spare tire was stolen 3 times from where it was hanging from: in front of the hospital ER where I worked at and in broad daylight! I couldn't help but feel contempt as I watched the video footage of how those thieves easily took down my spare and walked away as if nothing happened, from the hospital security office. So I made a resolve that there will never be a 4th time. I did my research and stumbled into a product that Toyota actually makes to install a key lock on the cable that lifts the spare tire; easy to install. To secure this, I bought a bicycle chain lock that wrapped around the tire and secured it to the frame. No 4th spare tire stolen since then. Let me know if you are interested in that product and I'll post it here.

 

Thanks everyone just installed mine. Took about 5 minutes & Amazon even shipped 1 day free.

Kolt45

 

I had the same thing for awhile but got tired of looking at that hose clamp, you should've gotten the black one or some other color, just my .02

 

I was thinking of getting these! in Red of course~

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2005-2015-tacoma-tailgate-lock.428094/

 

I'm confused. Did you replace the screw that came with the hose clamp with a Torx screw?

 

I will be sure to lock the tailgate from now on. just under 1 week with it so far. thanks for the tip/mod. I'll get this clamp on there later today. PS are the other 'guard clamps'(as listed below thread) a muck better/safer option? for 40$ or so, for more piece of mind? or is it just more expensive
thanks

 

There's the Anti theft devise for 15 bucks

 

is said device pictured here? not sure what to look at here. thanks.

 

It's the piece that's bolted to the hinge

 

is there another angle of it on truck? directly above looking down? sorry, maybe its just looking too OEM and color matched? still not seeing . but now i see how it's made and looks like it will do the job.
thanks

 

Search the Anti theft devise thread, there's a lot of installed pics