Catalytic Converter

Sort of. That's been argued here but the common conclusion is there's still plenty of room to come in from the sides of the skid to finger the cat.

Cat Security completely eliminates that access....as do the others.

It makes no difference what neighborhood you live in. It's become an insanely common issue and only getting worse. They're bagging them while your parked at stores, home, work. No one is immune and making it harder to grab is likely the best deterant as time on target is the biggest issue for these cartel sponsored assholes.

 

Installed the catshield today
Pretty easy took me a little over an hour

 

True that.

Perhaps one of our cool Moderators @ColoradoTJ can just move this because it doesn't belong in here.

 

come on we were having a good time in here lol

 

SEE!! That was painless! Here we are now in the 3rd Gen Forum.

 

You'll need to drill a few holes in the frame for the rivet nuts to go into. There's a trick to getting the long hex bolt attached towards the front of the plate with a pair of vice grips. It's not fun to take on or off, but that's kinda the point. I installed mine 6 months ago and needed to take it off to service the transmission. Not the end of the world but a PITA. I like the quality of the Cat Security plate and the fact that it's aluminum, which makes it fairly light and heat resistant (it rests right against one of the cats).

 

This is exactly the trick I need! Is this described somewhere? Which pair of vice grips works well?

 

I had Toyota install some sort of shield on my truck a few weeks back. Looks like some metal like rope like wire like things.

 

1. Insert the bolt through the hole with the hex wrench
2. Reach your arm around the whole plate to place the washer and start hand threading the nylon nut. I lay on my back to do this without the vehicle lifted up.
3. Let the bolt drop down, held on by the slighly threaded nylon nut
4. Get a pair of small locking pliers/vice grips and attach it to the nylon nut
5. Tighten the hex head slowly and let the vice grips hit/leverage against the sump (oil drain pan) as you tighten things down
Works for me every time.

 

I wonder if this pain would be lessened by omitting the center-front bolt that requires this special vice grip business. Not sure how much of a reduction in stability (or theft-deterrence) it would result in...

 

Once you do it once it's pretty simple to do it again. It'd be pretty hard for someone not familiar with how it was installed to figure out how to take it off. You can't see what you need to take off, it's all feel. Very effective from an anti-theft POV - probably the most effective part of the shield. Someone trying to take it off to steal something is going to mess around on their back for 10+ minutes trying to figure out how to take it off. They're going to move on to the next one.

 

I don't think this is worth worrying about. I'll put this in the same category as thiefs scanning your keys through your front door to spoof them and steal you vehicle.

Can it happen? Yes. Has it happened yes. Will it happen to you? Very very unlikely.

 

Clever!

Do you manage to reach in and grab the vice grips after you're done, or do you just leave them in there?

 

This is a great point. Anyone can go and pick up the right Torx Security bit at Home Depot for under $5, so Torx Security isn't all that secure. But this is a much more secure bolt (although a sawzall will also make it through the shield, wouldn't it? Just delays the process, which is the entire point).

I was thinking of replacing some of the bolts with the "Tripple Square" heads that are found on German cars. The tools for that are much harder to find, but I bought them because I had to. I'm glad I didn't buy another German vehicle, because I like to tinker with my cars, and the Germans make their cars obscure and hard-to-service. Heck they won't even give you the fusebox layout.

 

I beg to differ: I think it depends strongly on where you live. In the bay area, it is absolutely routine to see posts about Prius catalytic converter thefts in every apartment complex community. I think the frequency is about one every couple months in each apartment complex. Prii are easier targets, but as many have pointed out, the Tacoma is the second top target. Tacomas are not as common here, or we would be hearing of Tacoma converter thefts too. A $330 shield that doubles up as a skid plate sounds a lot better than a $10000 cat replacement and/or wrestling with insurance, even if it reduces the already low odds by maybe 50%.

 

I installed the Talon on my 2021.
Talons Garage | Catalytic converter protection |
I'm not into drilling holes in my frame so that was a plus.
Did it myself in my driveway after watching this guy's YouTube video...took me all of 20 minutes.
Toyota Tacoma V6 TRD Off Road 4x4 talons garage anti theft catalytic converter protection plate - YouTube

 

With the Talon shield, it’s thicker and you don’t have to drill holes in your frame. I ordered stainless security bolts off the internet for a lot less money than what their set of security bolts cost, though.

 

Very bad right now here on long island Seems to be a nightly thing

 

Read a story the cops busted a guy and found his shed full of cats. He told police hell keep stealing em when he gets out because theres too much $$$$ in it