Cripes...

On my way out of the grocery store this morning, I noticed some assbag had taken my hitch cap.

Going to assume this happened at work since I'm parked there for 8 hours a day and we share a parking lot with a church that has, shall we say, a rather "interesting" crowd that's there on a regular basis that has previously caused issues with staff on multiple occasions.

Pisses me off. Nothing worse than a thief, with no respect for anyone's personal belongings and even less respect for the American flag. Granted, it was a $9.99 purchase from Amazon, but for fucks sake.

 

I coated my trailer hitch in asbestos. If you steal it, you will die slowly!

 

You can't trust anyone, anywhere it seems.

I had about $1000 worth of Milwaukee tools stolen from me at a church a few years ago. It wasn't in a locked room, unfortunately. But, it was in a construction area that was closed to the public.

 

Back when I had my 2006 Tundra, shortly before I sold it to get my T4R, some SOB stole one of the two license plate light fixtures out of my back bumper. They are just screwed on, and have a quick disconnect plug. As best as I can figure, it must have happened in the parking lot at a Home Depot store. Bassturds.

 

I need to install some sort of electric shock system on my 4Runner that can only be disarmed with the key fob. This is the second time (first time was when I had my Maverick) that someone stole my hitch cap!

 

Totally identify with this. Husband used to be a plumber and had to keep a strict vigil on his van whenever he worked in questionable neighborhoods.

 

I've had the same hitch for a few years now. It's only connected by the safety pin. I've thought about getting one of those key'd locks for $20 on Amazon, but I haven't....

I guess I'm just lucky?

 

I don't leave my hitch installed at all. One more thing for some cheap fucker to steal.

 

Yeah rule of thumb, if it’s not in use, remove it…every single furkalackin time
When I lived out west, I heard of/saw kids stealing bikes with portable torches, bolt cutters, etc.
I’d have my MTBike on the back of my Corolla(along with the rack straps there was bungees, ratchet straps, velcroed tires)
Go into a 7/11 for a pack of smokes…literally walking into everything n everyone cause my eyes were on that bike for the 83 seconds I was inside

 

I swear, there's no respect for anyone/anything these days.

Was driving around the back roads trying to get back to work during lunch (roads were blocked with crews picking up hurricane debris) and stumbled across this crackhead kicking someone's truck because the pit bull inside this truck was aggressively barking at him. Good doggie.

 

I've had the same Rubber Toyota plug since my 2008 FJ. Finally swapped it out for a CF/Red TRD. It has hole for pin. I use the lock for it. Someone stole my Round to 4flat pin wire harness @FRO. I used to remove that when we boated & I will now when riding ATV the bastards! Drove home W/no trailer light. Lucky it was still sunlight. Didn't notice till I was un hooking trailer.

 

Agreed. We're kind of getting to hate people. Period. (I know that's not good for me)
When my wife and I get fed up we go here...
https://www.privateislandsonline.com/
...and dream.

 

If my husband and I win the lottery, we'll call you. You can be our neighbors on this island. How does Costa Rica suit you?

 

Muy Bien.
It's a deal. And back at 'ya.

 

Just got back from Fiji, private resort 1.5 hours by boat off the coast. Great trip!

 

Now you've got me searching that website you attached! Real estate is my version of porn.

I see a lot of these islands have plans in place for development. Funk that. The idea is to have as few people around as possible. I don't want MORE development. I want the bare minimum of development but still have fresh water, flush toilets, electricity (or reliable solar) and Starlink. The cars can stay on the mainland and the mode of transport can be horses, bikes, or scooters.

 

Sounds great!
But I'll bet there were people there...

Us too.
My wife and I together - real estate
Just me - cars/trucks and how to fix/build shit
Just my wife - fabric/patterns and old salvage stuff

Oh, and tool porn. Can't forget about that.

 

We seem to be of the same mind. I like the freshwater lake Islands up in MN, ME, Canuckistan. But not sure I could take the winters. Or bugs.

 

Me - I'd be down for riding horses, having some dogs around (BIG ONES that don't take kindly to strangers), and maybe having a hobby marijuana farm.

Hubby would be good going boating and playing golf...okay, maybe we could spare 100 acres for a personal golf course. Oh...and video games. He's easy.

 

No more harsh winters for me, thank you.

There's bugs in Costa Rica. Which reminds me...I'll have to see if I can find the pics of when my daughter when there for her nursing program. The first or second day there, one of her friends got bitten by a spider (or something.) You should see the mark it left!

 

Hey guys and gals- In my previous reply above, I neglected to mention what I did for my factory provided TOYOTA hitch cover on my ‘22 T4R. I had an identical hitch cover for my ‘06 Tundra which some bassturd stole back around 2020. It had lasted me since 2006 when I bought the Tundra new, until way in to 2020.

Fearing the hitch cover would also eventually get stolen on my T4R, I beefed it up where it slides inside the receiver. I took a short length of thick-walled PVC pipe, whose outside diameter fits snuggly inside the square confines of the rubber hitch cover plug. I epoxied the heck out of it into the inside of the plug’s square hole- completely filled the circular area and square corner openings with epoxy, and let that set up and dry. Then I inserted the plug with pipe in to the receiver and marked the pipe where I would need to drill holes through the pipe for a bolt to go through the receiver and pipe. I secured the bolt in place on the other side of the receiver with a nylon lock nut. The bolt and nut require a 3/4” wrench and / or socket to remove the bolt in order to remove the hitch cover.

So now, any thief who thinks they are going to sashay up to my hitch cover and steal it in a split second will be in for a surprise. They would need a pair of wrenches or socket wrench to steal my hitch cover. I’ve tried pulling on the cover quite hard, to see if the epoxy is holding. It won’t budge unless you remove the bolt and nut out of the receiver. Lol!

In my attached pic. You can see the bolt and lock nut. It goes through the piece of PVC pipe inside the receiver, which in turn is epoxied to my hitch cover.

I bought my ‘22 T4R pre-owned certified in November of ‘23, just last year. Coming up on a year of ownership for me- late next month. It appears that the previous owner never used it for towing. The inside of the receiver is pristine, and likewise the paint on the chain hooks is unmarred.

But anyways, yeah- if anyone wants to secure their hitch cover with a bolt and lock nut, that may help a bit against theft. If your hitch cover length is not long enough to reach the holes in the receiver, add to its length with some PVC pipe as I’ve described above.

Sorry I didn’t unbolt mine to show the pipe- I was too lazy to remove it, plus I brush painted the bolt head and nut black as you can see and didn’t want to mar the black paint on them with my wrenches, but I think I explained it well enough. Cheers!

 

I have a Proven Industries lock on my Tundra hitch. On the cover, the wife's 4R has a Reese rubber cover. That damn thing slides out on its own all the time.

 

You know, here's another thing- Those slide in hitch covers that are not secured by the pin, or in my case- a bolt, may be getting pulled off by the car wash brushes, or perhaps blasted off by high pressure water or the drying air in certain drive-through car washes. In a car wash that I frequent, every once in a while I will see one of these slide in hitch covers laying on the floor inside the car wash "tunnel". The brushes, water blast, or air blast some how gets to those things and pulls or blows them off. Later, the owners probably think someone stole their hitch cover. Lol.

 

I'll retrace my steps on the way home to see if it's in the street somewhere. But given that this is the second one to disappear, I'm thinking someone did the ol' five finger discount.

 

Costa Rica also has crocodiles

 

I put Black RTV on the 4 ribs of the Toyota Rubber Plug. Never lost it in many years.

 

We have alligators in FL. No big deal.

 

Crocodiles are more aggressive and therefore more dangerous.

 

You'll just be posting about hitch cover theft in the Land Cruiser forum...