http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc

Heres the vid of the flamethrower...

 

I remember a couple years back, reading an article I think in pop. science or mechanics, where the guy that wrote the story traveled around with the authorities in Johannasburg South Africa reporting on the unbelieveable amount of carjacked cars. If they chased you and you didn't pull over, they would just shoot you. People resorted to many anti carjacking methods to protect themselves and there cars. One was the flamethrower, very effective but hard on the paint. Another one was a 2/3 bottle of wine in the car laced with poison, so when the bad guy drank it he'd die before he got to where he was going. The last one I remember was a long piece of steel sharpened to a fine edge spring loaded under the car. When the bad guy tried to open the door the blade swang out and he was instantly 6-8" shorter. All these and more are illegal, but the bad guys usually weren't able to complain. Around here it isn't carjackings, the bad guys are stealing the catalytic converters off of cars in apartment complexes, car dealerships, store parking lots, stealing air conditioning units for the copper, cutting high power electrical lines for the copper, stealing the aluminum siding off of houses, and now stealing diesel fuel from farmers storage tanks, bus garages, even breaking into gas stations at night, turning on the pumps and stealing gas. Not to use, but reselling it. Sorry to rant, but I was on a roll........[:@]

 

I'm not sure about getting two keyed alike, some to ask the Rep about. No, I didn't intall it, it was included in the price and it took him only a few hours. He worked in 3 installs today, one this morning in Baton Rouge, then me in Covington, and then another this evening in New Orleans.

mytowrig, arn't you in Texas, this rep works the gulf coast and east Texas. His name is Tod Weber and his cell is: 214-507-6642 / email is: tod@not1stolen.com

 

Sounds like a good (pricey) idea.

 

only problem is mytowrig lives where the devil vacations, aka odessa.... useless trivia fact, there is more i-10 going through texas than from texas west to the pacific or from texas east to the atlantic...

bigriver, youre not gonna blow fuses if you try to start the truck with the key and not having the plug in are ya? that could make it pretty tricky till you make it a habbit..

so now your truck is safe to park in the magnolia housing projects, you may not be safe, but at least the truck is safe...

 

thanks bigriver. and yes, i am in texas, and as ramit said, in the midland/odessa area. this is the BFE of BFE's. that 214 number sounds like dallas, which is a good 5+ hours away. don't think hes gonna come out here. did you look at the install afterwords? can it be safely done on my own? also, if you don't mind, what did you pay all told?

 

RamItOne.........No, the only time fuses would be blown is if the shroud of wires were cut open and a thief tried to hot wire the circut. There are 16 plugs, that goes into 12 all black wires. The connection of the 16 to 12 is inside the female mounted plug, so you can't tell which goes to which. Of the 12 wires going into the engine bay (which has a steel casement around it), 8 of them are direct grounds. So if some yahoo tries to make a guess at the correct connection, he'll short out some systems. Also, if they try to trace some of the dead grounds out, they just go out to a few dead ends.
In the end, that's how the rep tested the system, with the plug out, and the key on, the dash lights come on, but the engine doesn't crank. He doesn't reccommend pulling the plug while the engine is running. Again, this device was tested by some Mexican governmental insurance agency in Mexicao City where there are on average 200 cars stolen per day. The test car had to deter the theives for at least 8 minutes. After 30 minutes they just gave up and left! This advertisement is on Ravelco's website.
I hope that I explained the basic's of this device accurately. I'm niether an electrician or mechcanic.

mytowrig.........Yes, the rep lives in Dallas. I'm not sure of his district. The install was very professional and everything cleaned up. On openning the hood, I really can't see any difference. He showed me the shroud of wires that he worked it into . It now looks like it was never touched. To add complication to a would be thief, I've got so many other wires and hose looms going everywhere from my Edge and also the Pac-Brake compressor, a thief wouldn't know where to start. Can you do it on you own? Perhaps, thats something you'll have to discuss with the rep.
The cost for me was $435.00 His price listed on his web site was $400.00, but he failed to show the increase of $70.00, so he decided to split the difference with me. I suppose it would officially be $470.00 if you asked him now, not sure.
Yup, $470.00 is alot of bucks, but I look at it this way. How much did it cost me to get where I am?
Around $43k for the truck and current upgrades are north of $26k at this time. Considering that I leave this truck in isolated areas along the Mississippi River and industrial sites, this is good insurance. I've been up since last night working, and up most of the day today.
I really believe that I'll sleep GOOD tonight!

 

also the most common comprehensive deductible is 500 dollars, so if your truck is stolen and even if it was bone stock you're still out the 500 ded so if the system prevents a theft it just paid for itself. Also bigriver I dont know who you have for insurance but please speak with them on how they value aftermarket upgrades, a lot of insurance really doesnt pay out much at all for modifications. Some will let you add on to your insurance so they can charge you an appropriate amount for the coverage. That's fair cause why should a person with a stock 3500 pay the same as ou when your veh is worth so much more. It may behove you to call around to other ins co's to see if they provide better coverage for aftermarket parts, it may be worth switching carriers even if its a lil bit more as you wild stand to lose 10s of thousands if you had a loss and they screw you on the mods. Even though your veh prolly won't get stolen it can get in a bad accident catch on firexand ruin your mods.

Just a thought, hey I've got to put all this INS knowledge to use right?

Btw do you know what your hurricane ded is on your HO insurance? Should be covered under wind/hail damage. Lots of insurers on the gulf states included it in their regular ded, but over the last 5 years theyre changed to a specific wind/hail ded, prolly just had a lil blurp on your renewal hoping you didn't notice LOL.

 

I've got full coverage (home, auto, umbrella) with State Farm. I've been with the since 1979 and I've got to say that besides uping my premiums, they've been there when I needed them.
That's a good point you made there, I'm going to have a sit down with the rep soon about my daughter's upcoming car, that'll be a good time to inquire about the upgrades.
If it's anything like the guns coverage, it's likely some **** poor amount unless you up the value amount. I went thru that years ago, and decided to put my money towards a large fire proof Fort Knox safe.

 

yeah most HO policies only offer theft for guns up to 2k. A separate policy for firearms is a must, the technical term for the policy is inland marine floater, but they prolly call it personal article floater. Or just rider or floater. Same thing for the wedding ring, make sure that's covered specifically. Whats nice with the gun policy is its all risk (same for jewelry), so even if you're out hunting and someone steals a firearm or you lose it its covered. If someone steals it out of your truck that still falls under ho not auto so you'd be out your ded vs with the inland marine pol theres no ded. Feel free to ask any ins questions, hold property and casualty licenses in over 40 states.

Firearms cvg is fairly exp, if they offer a sep pol that I'd better than if they let you increase whats on your current HO policy.