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Old 06-07-2007, 01:40 AM   #2
rickst29
yes, they hunt lions.
 
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 1,318
Talking Overall I'm very impressed, and LIKE IT.

(continued) This is gonna stop almost any thief (i.e., those less smart than me about welding and metalwork) absolutely dead in his tracks. Only someone who knows about metal working will be able to come up with a viable attack, and even he's gonna be stuck there with a noisy grinder for quite a while. Thieves want to get out fast, and they prefer to be quiet while they're breaking your lock. These good, smart ones are gonna HATE the risk of exposure which the noisy, slow attack on this lock requires.

Because YOUR wheel is stuck there and can't be removed, and can't be driven on, this is WAY more effective than merely removing your wheel: after he sees that you've got it up on blocks, he just brings a jack and a couple of compatible wheels (plus lug nuts) on his "second visit", then he drives it away on his own wheels. Note that HDWL clips the wheel on both sides, not the tire, and that deflating the tire (even COMPLETELY) won't help in removing the lock. (Not even a tiny bit. In contrast, the "Trailer Keeper", and even the $600 Denver Boot, can often be attacked by simply deflating the tire. But in the "Trailer Keeper" case, it's so much faster and easier to simply step on the gas and drive about foot in the TV to snap the clip at it's insertion pin-- there's no need to bother messing around with the tire at all.)

The HDWL is heavy, nearly 30 lbs. Women who aren't exceptionally strong (including for example, my DW) are gonna have a hard time holding the two ends up at an angle in order to get them connected and locked in place. (With just one hand on each, they gotta be STRONG hands. My DW absolutely can't hold up the under-the-TM piece with just one hand. Heck, she probably can't hold it in place using BOTH hands.) But if you're not strong enough to wrangle it by hand, you can use a big leveling block (or a bunch of small ones) to hold the rear piece up at the appropriate angle while you orient, insert, and then lock in the front piece, so this isn't a show stopper for a single woman to install. Removal is easier-- all you is unlock it is pull the outside piece away. The inside under-the-trailer piece will fall down on its own.

I highly recommend this lock. Unless you're gonna spend may more than $600, I don't think there's anything more effective to be found. (And of course, for $400 you can buy TWO of these, easily put one street side and another curb-side, giving you way MORE protection than the top-of-the-line $600 Denver Boot.) It's fairly easy to install, and it stores in the TV using VERY little space. (The big Boots take up quite a bit more space, partly because they don't break apart as nicely.) Only 3x the cost of the nearly worthless "Trailer Keeper", it provides vastly more security. Unless your thief is smart and knows to grind the weld or cut the THICK tubing, he'll have to raise your locked tires off the ground and onto a roadworthy, high capacity wheel dolly (or a big FLATBED type tow truck) in order to move it. Most of the dollies which cost less than $2000 are (1) only good for moving around slowly on smooth garage floors; and (2) only good for about 1500 lbs per wheel (look at the WHEEL rating, not the "total towed vehicle weight" in their ads.)

If you need to secure your TM against attack by a flatbed tow truck (equipped with all the necessary hydraulic equipment to load you up) you're looking for WAY more help than any wheel level product is gonna give you. Armed guards, maybe? I've looked REAL HARD, and the only thing I like better than one of these things is two of these things.
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BUT REMEMBER, 14" wheel models (standard 2619s and 2720s, also 4-wheel 3326s) will need to trim the outside wheel clip "corner" so that it can fit into the triangle-shaped cutouts in your smaller wheel. I don't like the look of this surgery, and encourage the first 14" wheel owner to send a fax of their wheel's cutouts and key dimensions (relative to both the wheel rim and the TM Torflex's cut-off "center cone"), ask them what they recommend. And report back here, of course.

This surgery could weaken the end of the HDWL's outside square tubing by quite a bit, because a cut that big WILL begin to separate the angled cut-off "side" segments of the tubing from from the long "bottom" segment. It's well protected from attack by the lug nut and insertion point "cover plate", and maybe the weak point is still the main welds at the right angles within each of the two big bars. But I'm not sure exactly what the damage and option(s) are, because I don't own one of the little wheels and can't see how badly it fits before the cutting. (My own "2619" was built like a 3023 underneath, and with the 15" wheel my similar "problem" maybe doesn't need to be addressed at all-- as I discussed in the first post.)
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TM='06 2619 w/5K axle, 15" Maxxis "E" tires. Plumbing protector. 630 watts solar. 450AH LiFePO4 batteries, 3500 watt inverter. CR-1110 E-F/S fridge (compressor).
TV = 2007 4runner sport, with a 36 volt "power boost".
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