Well it happened, drivers side secondary cat got swiped

Jacking cats is the hot new thing apparently. They snatch em off of Prius, Elements, Tacomas and older Civics. I work in insurance and write a good bit of these types if incidents

 

recommendations for hardening the target?

 

There are some commercial cages and cable nets made to help secure them (you can google imagines of them) but it's easy enough to cut on either side of the device. A skid plate with round head hex bolts would probably be your best bet; not many thieves are carrying around a set of Allen wrenches- yet.

Here, I'll make it easy:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=catalytic+converter+cage&t=newext&atb=v250-1&iax=images&ia=images

 

I broke down and bought the cat security plate since there's been a bunch of catalytic converter thefts in my area. I don't want to be on a road trip and get jacked so I'll spend the $500.

https://getcatsecurity.com/purchase-online/ols/products/toyota-tacoma-gen-2-2005-2015

 

That is wrong on so many levels.

 

How long did it take to ship? Do you have any pictures of it installed? Im thinking about buying one of these or maybe some skids.

 

I installed one of these 2 weeks ago. It took me an hour or so. I had to be careful because it mounts very close to my TRD front skid plate, so I needed to take extra time to make sure it would clear it and the front skid has to be off when installing it. You have to drill and install 4 Rivnuts. They finally have instructions up on the site if you want to look at the process. I didn’t take pics. I am a little concerned that the CA smog check technician will need it removed for a visual check when it comes time for that.

It shipped within a day or two of ordering it.

Steve

 

I just got it installed today. The local shop took 1.5 hours to install and despite the cost, it's worth it if I am out of town or parked at a trailhead. They offer a black powder coat for $79 and if I had to do it again, I would probably buy it because the side plates do stand out a bit. However, I don't want to get jacked so I'm happy with it considering all the crackheads sawing these things off.

 

The visual inspection is a good point. I think they have to verify the cat is OE or a CA approved replacement via the number on it. I seem to remember the tech running the number on the cat on my last truck along with all the aftermarket CARB approved things I had.

I wonder if you could create an inspection port or removable plate to view the number?

 

Instead of the name, they should have just burned a middle finger into it or maybe a "FU thief". I guess they could call it Crackhead Security.

 

Yeah i mean $500 is better than $800+ per cat so definitely a good preventative measure. I heard the price of the precious metals in the cats will not be going down anytime soon infact probably the opposite. Its also not a bad thing that you got the bare metal version since it might be a better deterrent for these cucks. The black might blend in to the point they wont see it until under the truck. And at that point they might get pissed off and cut a brake line or something as revenge. Maybe im overthinking it. Do you have any pictures of it from the bottom?

 

Hey all, I own a 2013 Tacoma 2wd Pre-Runner and 2020 Tundra Crew Max; just wanted to throw out an option for our Tacomas. I bought and installed this plate from Desert Eagle Off Road for my Tundra along with tamper resistant bolts. I have a "rear cat plate" from https://valhallasshields.com/ on the way since the Tundra has 4 cats and no one makes a single plate to cover all 4 cats.

Desert Eagle Off Road (Kent) now has plates for the 2nd gen. Tacomas and mine is scheduled to be delivered today so I'll post some pics after the install. Speaking to him Wednesday, he is supposed to have plates for for 2016+ Tacomas available sometime at the end of May. My plate was $325 which was the total price including shipping and powder coating. Desert Eagle Offroad and Valhallashields are solid guys, but super swamped with orders as you can imagine so just be patient if you decide to order; they are not huge companies more like small businesses that started out of their garage.

I'm not getting anything for vouching for either one of these guys, but I want to share the info. to get the info out there as I stumbled across these 2 vendors on the Tundra forums and I'm sick of all the Cat thefts. I live near Corpus Christi, Tx. and from dealerships to driveways and parking lots, vehicles are getting hit on a regular basis....