Catalytic Convertor - from Texas Police

About a million years ago I worked in Bridgeport CT (not the nicest zip code to say the least). I remember the local barber shop (old school elderly Italian owner - you got one style haircut regardless what you asked for) got robbed overnight. The cops caught the (under 18) burglars in the act.

Instead of being arrested and booked, the burglars somehow ended up with broken right hands. It must’ve been a very unusual accident, but the chances are pretty good neither teenager committed another burglary for at least 2 months or more.

I’m not saying what happened back then was right or correct, but sometimes people need to know poor decisions result in negative consequences.

 

alot of crime in TX so nobody needs to move here from other states......its scary people

 

I'm lifetime banned, on a federal level. Grrrrr....let's just say Massachusetts sucks and we get crappy weather too.

I worked in retail long ago and my manager once told me if someone is trying to shoplift I should lock the door from the inside.

After I got done laughing in her face, I told her that I'm not risking my life and health over that especially since we don't sell expensive stuff, and she can just try to fire me for it.

 

Is that shit for COVID?

 

I forgot to mention this, one of my tenants is a mechanic at a Toyota dealership, recently I was asking how bad the cat thefts were...he said "Every single morning, you hear them pulling up to the dealership". He confirmed several of the cats are on backorder and can take months to arrive. And since they are in short supply, he also said the thieves will come up to the garage and ask the dealership if they want to buy catalytic converters "that aren't stolen".

Its bad and only getting worse.

 

I took my truck to Family Toyota in Arlington for its last free oil change and they have about 50 Tundras on their back lot waiting for cats. When I was there one of the service advisors was on the phone with an insurance adjuster who was trying to get him to find aftermarket or used cats and he wasn't having it. Apparently the parts are on mega backorder.

When I first got my Tacoma (2.7 with everything super exposed) I was a little nervous about this and set my deductible to $100 but hadn't accounted for parts shortages. Luckily it looks like the 2.7 cats are available but I still might look into the Miller one to avoid a bunch of drama.

It is garaged at night and I part it near the security folks at work but still find myself thinking about it more lately.

 

Yeap, got my cat shield about 6 months ago.

 

I work Downtown San Antonio, and park at a company surface lot and they are stealing them during the day! From highly visible spots. We have security guards, but like most employees these days, they are not allowed to intervene, and they are only there to protect company property and not employee property.

 

That’s infuriates me to no end. We have just rolled over as a society and decided theft isn’t okay. We will just pay more is the new motto!!

 

I called around to two local dealers today looking for a bed mat, one was Family Toyota and the other was Vandergriff. When I asked the parts guy "Hey, I want to see if you have a certain part in stock", he immediately replied "We won't have any cat's in stock for 2 months."

It's gotten so bad, it's a programmed response. I wasn't even calling about that, I was looking for a bed mat, which I found (not there), for $81 with free shipping.

 

I friggin' hate paperwork. Not to mention my precious time dealing with the replacement. I care. Would also like more data if these shield actually deter. Not likely to get good info.

 

Wow! There is a shortage of “Cats” . Anyone knows anyone that just weld in a straight pipe? For temporary?
Any lights on the dash? How is the performance? Does it run a bit rough? I imagined the MPGs will go up?

 

Literally any exhaust shop can do this in 15 minutes

 

Thank you.

 

Obligatory Statement: I'm on the fence... ~$600 for the URD bypass mid pipe [https://urdusa.com/urd-mark-2-y-pipe-tacoma-2016-v6/ } (That would also raise the low point of the underbelly) Or, ear mark $500 for the deductible?

 

Or just go to any auto parts store and get a piece of pipe and sone exhaust clamps. Why would you leave your truck parked at the dealer for months waiting for parts?

 

I dont think you are going to find any data. But I have yet to see or hear about someone with a cat shield that had it removed and their cat converters stolen. I am sure it may have happened, but it is not widespread...so these devices work. They make you a hard target, and thieves will just move on to something easy and quick. Even if they had the security key for the bolts it would still take them a long & difficult time to remove them all (You have to hold the top nut in a very confined space).

I would like to see these cat security companies post some professional thief videos. Give some criminals all the tools they want, and time them to see how & how long it would take them to remove one. I would imagine even with a good reciprocating saw, it would go through a whole battery and/or overheat your saw with that much cutting before you even got one side off (Even on an aluminum cat shield). I bought my gun safe from a company that does this.

Ebay is big problem, not matter how strict your local laws are on re-selling cats, they can always offload them on ebays, I would image there are some enterprising youngsters that the methheads off load them for quick cash and they take the time to sell them on ebay. I don't know why this is not a restricted item on ebay.

 

https://www.summitracing.com/search...s/in-stock?SortBy=Default&SortOrder=Ascending

Summit has universal ones in stock for $90 each as well if you're feeling guilty about running straight pipes in place of the secondaries.

 

$600 for installing a straight pipe? That sounds like a “rip off”. I would try calling a few muffler shops.
Or order parts on line and DIY.
Supply and demand. Everyone is taking advantage of the situation.

Still it may be worth it if you can use the truck? Rather then sit waiting for parts to arrive (one-six months).

I had a exhaust leak they weld in a piece in front of the muffler was $127 I think. I could have wrap it. But I want it done right and permanent.