Recovery Gear Security

kf4zht

Member
While working on planning my jeep I noticed that a lot of the recovery gear is carried on the outside of the vehicle. It makes sense while wheeling to have have your ramps, shovel, axe, etc all where you can easily get to them even if a door is pinned shut.

Now what do you when you are not wheeling? Seems to me that anything on the outside of a vehicle is waiting for a crack/methhead who needs some quick cash. Do you:
Remove and leave in the garage (but then have to repack it every time)?
Have locks of some kind on everything?
Don't worry and be happy?
 

kf4zht

Member
As a note I DD my rig, so this is mostly for the non-expedition driving around the city times. At night I live far enough in the woods that anyone making the trek would not be stopped by a garage door, nor would they limit themselves to recovery gear.
 

1911

Expedition Leader
Seems foolish and silly to me to carry around a ton of recovery gear when you're not wheeling, but YMMV. My packable stuff goes in bags, tubs, and cases that are quick and easy to take in or out of the trucks as needed. The bigger outside stuff mounts on outside carriers in 5 minutes or less. Why carry around all that extra weight?
 

AFBronco235

Crew Chief
I currently live in an apartment, so no garage to speak of. I could get a storage locker, but that's too expensive for me at the moment. Based on the "Out of sight, out of mind" mindset that most opportunist thieves have, I keep most of my gear in my bronco in trunks and bags. If they can't see what there is to steel, the usually don't bother trying to steel it. I do plan on keeping a hi-lift jack and jerry can mount on a custom bumper I'm having fabbed up, but I also plan to incorporate locks on them as well, just for securing them to my rig if nothing else. The worst experience I've had along those lines was when some ************** kid decided to unlatch my spare tire carrier and it swung out when I tried pulling out in traffic. It swung back in and slammed shut, but it could have caused a major accident. That's part of the reason whey I'm not worried about locking stuff up. If I go on a trail or ride, I can just unlock the stuff before hand and lock it back when I'm done.

Plus, my rig is a bit of a sleeper right now. Looks shabby on the outside but has all I need on the inside. About the only external wheeling gear on the outside right now is the winch, and that is mounted secure behind the bumper and kept covered. Again, out of sight, out of mind.

When I move back to my home county, I won't have to worry about this sort of thing too much. My home county has a very short way with criminals and we don't forget just because you leave. Just ask the Reno Bros. (Google the name :D )
 
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mjmcdowell

Explorer
My truck lives in my garage (along with my wife's car and is not my DD so all can be kept unlocked and is safe with all my needed kit on/in it. My DD is a Jeep KJ that lives in the driveway and there is nothing to steal from it. I use it for light wheeling (straps, axe, shovel, bridging/traction ramps etc. are stored locked inside and out of sight) close to home kayaking, trips to the range and dirt road exploring. I feel very fortunate to have this set up and options, stay safe, mjmcdowell
 

JIMBO

Expedition Leader
:sombrero: My jeep is garaged and when out, there isn't any recovery equip kept externally--

It's all inside and secured !

:costumed-smiley-007:wings: JIMBO
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Most of the stuff is inside the cab but the stuff outside is either pad locked or isn't obvious. I sometimes park the truck in the garage but it's also my regular driver so it sits in parking lots and no one seems to be bother it. Although, it looks like heck right now, lots of dents and it turned 24 years old this year so it's starting to get pretty rough from rust. I doubt anyone really thinks it's worth much and it's not flashy. We don't have anywhere to store the gear so it's just got to stay in place and, you know, getting some insurance money if some of it was stolen wouldn't be the worst thing to happen.
 

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