Now everyone talks about armor for the outside but what about the inside. As some of you know I just got my baby back after some a..hole took her. BUt my question in has anyone made there stearing colum more beefer. Sense mine is all screwed up I was thinking about just making one out of some sheet metal. Any thoughts?

 

Maby we can come up with something to keep these ****** to make it wasy to hard to steal our XJs. I will be pulling mine apart when I can (insurance) and taking pics

 

i look forward to see where this goes

 

Sorry to hear about your rig man that really sucks...to bad you didn't catch them. Something about watching/hearing about thieves and rats get beat, just makes me feel all warm

Ive give this some thought myself. Part of my long term goal is to have a custom center console made out of 12ga thats heavily bolted down. On the console I'd have a new keyed ignition switch and also a kill switch. Then I'd clean-up the steering colum or see about a YJ colum maybe(haven't given it that much thought). Idea being, I'd have a clean steering colum with nothing but the turn signal wand, and my ignition switch is armored in a steel center console with a kill switch backup.

Everyone has their own opinion, but it seems to me most people ignore car alarms, because people are almost used to hearing them and have the mind set "not my problem, shut off your *&%^ alarm". So this got me thinking what would get peoples attention....

Thought about wiring up the siren alarm wires to seal bomb under the rig and a smoke distress signal.. Then I started to figure a HUGE(I mean BIG) cloud of orange smoke and an explosion might be a little much. Up side is that the blast would set off all the car alarms around your rig, but the down side is possible collateral damage(broken glass or worse). DHS and/or the ATF might get involved too. Probably give a car theif a heart attack though..

Maybe instead of a siren you could use a game blaster. A recording of an injured rabbit playing over and over, most people have never heard a rabbit scream and are horrifically curious the first time they do....cats in heat usually get attention too. I like to get creative..

 

lol evcherokee, when you do the big cloud of smoke with alarm please film it lmao dude you killed me i lost it laughing. but will give it too you very cleaver...

how you know what an injured rabbit sounds like?

and on the key topic im pretty sure there would be a way to run like a hid a key in, lets say the the arm rest, then run a couple toggels near the radio or down where the ashtray is (i.e killswitch, fuel, ignition with a push button for start). then some how make your column beefier, with sheet metal.. but you wouldnt want to make it too big got to remember your gonna be climbin in and out of it.. im 5'11 and i smack my knees every time i get in mine...

anything is possable with a little imagination.... i feel like ***** wonka with that last line ha, sorry im drunk haha but on a serious not its is possible.. wouldnt see why not

 

LOL....yeah I'll film it.., but you'd probably see it on the news first because I willn't be able to post the video till I'm out of the clink...LOL

Sometimes when your rabbit hunting, mostly with light shot (#7 1/2 #6), you'll hit a rabbit, but only with a few pellets...and sometimes...old yeller speech coming on...they don't die right away and they scream. That's why I like to use BB shot or bigger, you either hit them or not and when you do, they go down and the BB size shot has enough energy to go all the way through. No chewing on shot during dinner and a humane kill. Once you've heard a rabbit scream you'll never forget it..imagine a new born screaming bloody murder, but with more of a shrill to it and a higher pitch. Rabbits also growl too!

on a lighter note..
A buddy of mine uses an VZ24 8mm mauser for deer and as a joke I got him a bayonet for it so if he ran empty, he could fix and charge. Funny thing is I beat him to the punch when I bayoneted a squirrel that was in my attic with a russian 91/30 mosin nagant, not a deer, but I won

Sorry got the thread off topic, a plain-sight switch would work too. A switch thats in plain view, but doesn't look like a switch at all. BMW used a piece of trim on top of the head light on their older R75 motorcycles as their ignition on switch. Just looked like part of the chrome, till you pulled on it. I've seen kill switched that utulize a momentary magnetic switch too, just put a magnet in your key fob, wave it over the switch and start it up. BTW the magnetic switch is located behind some of the plastic trim, so its not even seen.

 

Why not do something as simple as a switch to the fuel pump. In the off position there is no power, in the on there is.

 

i did this with my civic... very effective but they still busted my steering column before they tried to start it and realized it wouldnt

 

I agree with the statement about alarms... pretty ineffective but the aftermarket alarm on both my astro and my jeep disable the ignition system when they are armed.... my jeep has no shock sensors on it that set the alarm off... its just to lock the doors, disarm ignition system, and panic feature if needed

 

I don't think there is really any way to stop certain damage. Like someone said earlier, people are used to alarms and tend to ignore them.

If someone wants a vehicle enough they are going to exhaust every option trying to get the thing started before moving on. I would rather replace a broken steering column or even a window before having to replace the entire thing. Or even all the parts that are on it.

On a side note, I rarely even lock my XJ's. Keeps people from breaking the little "wing windows" to get inside. If they want in bad enough they WILL get in.

 

thats funny because when they broke into my civic the doors were unlocked and they still busted my window.... stupid criminals

 

 

I will be doing a switch when I can start on it. IM just kinda looking for ideas on a custom column. I will soon be tearing into mine after the insurance guy come out.

 

I was thinking about making something similar. Butch's Speed(or offroad) Shop has a couple of column mounts (adjustable and not) that you can use tubing for the wheel to the linkage, then mount everything with sheetmetal how youd like. I might just start this up soon, but not 100% sure yet. (also in vegas, can give directions if needed)

 

just slip some 6 inch steel pipe over the steering column and put a latched door where the key is with a master lock lol. I dunno, when I park in sketchy areas I just take the plug wire from the coil to the cap. They are not going anywhere unless they have one in their back pocket. Most of the people who steal cars in urban areas are not really that smart to figure it out.

Or just put a Police or FBI hat in plain view (something along those lines) I doubt any criminal would want to mess with a cops car.