Just curious if anyone knows exactly how easy these trucks are to steal? I've got a 99scsb that ls for sale and someone tried to steal it! I go to get it in one day to start it and noticed metal shavings in the floorboard. Long story short, somebody popped the door lock from under the drivers side door handle (messed the sheet metal up) and drilled through the bottom of the ignition (where the key goes in). Luckily they got off the center on the ignition and didn't drill in the right spot! I was thinking these trucks had some sort of anti-theft ****, with the key too, but they don't! It took me 1min to find a video on YouTube showing just how easy these trucks are to steal! It can literally be done in 30 seconds! Was everyone else aware of this? Seems like the only real anti-theft precautions is to go
lo-tech! Put a kill switch on, pull some relays, or something else along those lines! I really had no idea these trucks were that easy to steal!

 

get jimmy jammers and a good alarm system.
Considering no steering wheel lock, a old school steering wheel bar would stop them.

 

Funny, I cant ever seem to get into the truck when I lock my keys in it haha.

Maybe I need to spend some time in El Paso to learn a few things bahaha

 

They were drilling to defeat the part that keeps you from turning the tumbler without the key in it. It's hard for a cop to notice that they drilled it in case they get pulled over; a lot less obvious than a busted up column. It's not the only way to force the tumbler to turn which is really not that difficult.

The antitheft is built into the tumbler. There's a resistor that makes contact and is read by the PCM, the resistance must match what it's expecting to see. This is similar in operation to the old VATS system you used to see in the late 80's/early 90's where the "chip" (resistor) was visible right there on the key; for the newer system they just moved the resistor to inside the tumbler so you have a plain key.

It's not a very effective antitheft. It just keeps the really weak amateurs away.

Getting into the truck is as easy as going in under the handle as they did on yours. It sucks because it screws up the door. What they're going for is to push the lock pawl to force an unlock. On both my trucks I deleted the outside door lock tumbler and removed the lock rod. I'm hoping it will keep them from even trying to screw my door up, because even if they do, there's nothing for them to push to make it unlock.

Even so, with some simple break-in tools it's pretty easy to unlock these (and most other vehicles out there, really.) And then there's the good old brick method.

Richard

 

Actually that's the Ghetto way of doing the door.

If you punch the lock through the center of the handle you can twist it with out damaging the sheetmetal on the door. Where the clip goes, the handle will break away real easy.

Jimmy jammers help with that.

Lok-itt column lock is the way to protect the column or at least slow them down... model P250

Really hard to defeat a tow truck though...

 

BTW you don't need a brick... Just the porcelain from an old spark plug...

 

[QUOTE=1FastBrick;5390119]Actually that's the Ghetto way of doing the door.

If you punch the lock through the center of the handle you can twist it with out damaging the sheetmetal on the door. Where the clip goes, the handle will break away real easy.

^^^My truck was busted into this way. They took off with my stereo I just finished. Years later the dog locked himself in the truck with the keys in the ignition while I was filling with gas. I asked the station attendant for a screwdriver and a hammer......pretty easy.

 

Indeed, but ghetto way is the way I see the most often.

My ISS had the lock punched when I bought it, which is what prompted me to go ahead and say F it and delete the outside lock entirely and why I did that to the silver SS I got from you as well. (By the way that whole thing with moving the tab in the sheetmetal for the keyless Escalade handle, as I'm sure you probably figured out, was because that handle ended up being for a rear door. Either way no biggie since the ISS door needed repair in that area already.)

That's no lie. And while you have little to worry about from actual legit, licensed tow truck drivers, it's not uncommon for car thieves to steal a wrecker and then go snatching up rides with it, then dump the wrecker. Happens a lot, especially with...you guessed it, older GM wreckers that are easy to steal...and the older Fords, too.

Richard

 

I really had no idea they were that easy to steal! I'm pulling relays each night and putting a kill switch on my tahoe! Apparently the gmt900 are harder to steal, but I'm sure there's ways around that as well!

 

Probably true.

the12volt.com has some good article on antitheft solutions utilizing relays and what not.