Fuel tank locks

[HB of CJ]

Actually crooks aren't that dumb and my coach has a large, convenient drain plug hex nut right in the center bottom of the 100 gallon (US) diesel tank.  All they would have to do is provide some sort of drain pan and they could get it all over night.  Hummm.....maybe I better check my fuel level and.......AUUGHHHHHH!  Just kidding. 

[ktmossman]

Having worked in a high-risk job in a high-crime area, I would say just the opposite...  Most crooks do what they do because they are not smart enough to do much else.

[Dallas]

Many years ago I had a 1962 Chevrolet 1 ton with a really nice Redwood flatbed mounted on it.

In one short period of time, about 3 weeks, I lost nearly 125 gallons of fuel.

My fix for this was to mount a school bus tank on the right side that held nothing but water with about a gallon of gas mixed in. My second change was to put a factory aux tank behind the rear axle with the fuel inlet at the back of the truck instead of the side, like the factory did.

My last modification was to block off the incab fuel tank, which is what they always stole from, and proceeded to pee in that tank every chance I got. I also added a few doggy landmines from our local black and tan with a rich diet.

Funny thing, I never, ever had a problem with theft after the next week.

I'm not a big one for using locks to keep outlaws out, I would rather use behavior modification. It works much better and the word gets around much faster.

there was a time that I could get the gas out of my bosses fuel tank even though he had a locking cap, a spring, (remember those), and an alarm system. I could drain his tank in less than 20 minutes.

The problem with locks and springs and other such stuff is that they are just too easy to get into.

I just built a set of locks for Mike Hill on a Flex that actually are nothing more than a piece of 1 1/2" bar stock with a 1" 90° angle turned into them.
I then cut little holes to fit the rub rail and slid them in from the interstice between the bays. When any one bay is closed and locked, no other bay will open. this continues all the way along to the battery bay and the fuel tank.

To open the bays, open one bay door, slide the metal piece back and the next will open.

Dallas

[Len Silva]

Many years ago I had a 1962 Chevrolet 1 ton with a really nice Redwood flatbed mounted on it.

In one short period of time, about 3 weeks, I lost nearly 125 gallons of fuel.

My fix for this was to mount a school bus tank on the right side that held nothing but water with about a gallon of gas mixed in. My second change was to put a factory aux tank behind the rear axle with the fuel inlet at the back of the truck instead of the side, like the factory did.

Dallas

I had a similar problem years ago.  I added an aux tank for myself and filled the main tank with kerosene with just enough gas to smell OK.  I hope they had one hell of a time keeping their car running.  Never had another problem.

Len

[jjrbus]

Actually crooks aren't that dumb

You really need to watch some of the Cop shows on TV!!!!!   

[HighTechRedneck]

Actually crooks aren't that dumb

You really need to watch some of the Cop shows on TV!!!!!   

Some are, some aren't.  You have to remember, the TV shows pick the idiots because they are more entertaining.

As for the drain plug.  It might be worth seeing if there are any replacement plugs available that require a special tool to remove.  Of course depending on the tenacity of the crook, they can get your fuel one way or another.  If the setting is such that they aren't worried about a little noise, they could even make their own drain opening in your tank.

With my RTS, it airs down within 24 hours.  Once down, there is no way they could get at it from underneath.

[Lin]

There is very little that could be done to stop a truly determined, and reasonable intelligent thief.  The hope is to make it more worthwhile to move onto the next vehicle.  I am trying a simple lock system that took only a few minutes to install and cost about $2.00 not including the lock.  Since the gas cover is hinged, I removed one of the corner bolts, inserted one end of a 7 inch piece of small chain.  I tightened it down positioning the chain so a link folded over the bolt head, removed and did the same thing to the bottom bolt with about a 3 inch length of chain.  Now I take the upper chain, wrap it around the fork on the fuel cap and lock it to the bottom one.  Next, I will have to find a sewage sign to cover MCI's built in plaque the announces capacity and what fuel to use.  I will pretend that this will help, and add it to the long list of other things I am in denial about.