Torching a weld nut inside 2" hitch stinger

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by achop

Always worth mentioning again :-). The ravelco site informed me how pathetic they were :-)

I think several layers of protection are best, each of which slows down the thief a little, all while the alarm is going off. Nothing though, protects against a tow truck simply lifting the back of the van and towing it away, possibly done in under a minute. Backing in will help though since the rear wheels will be locked, making lifting just the front useless.

[achop]

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

I think several layers of protection are best, each of which slows down the thief a little, all while the alarm is going off. Nothing though, protects against a tow truck simply lifting the back of the van and towing it away, possibly done in under a minute. Backing in will help though since the rear wheels will be locked, making lifting just the front useless.

Good tip re backing in, thanks. Yes, defense in depth ... or in terms of protecting bikes/rack, defense in number of bolts and U-locks to contend with ;-)

If anyone's still interested (most likely interesting to the next non-SMB-forum person who buys a Thule hitch rack and googles for hitch-lock options):
- Thule hitch-mount bike racks' weld nut & hitch bolt size is M12 x 1.75 x 40mm.
- This M12 weld-nut won't work with even a 1/2" diameter hitch pin, which I tried, even though the etrailer.com rep said a 1/2" pin would work with the Thule Vertex (reading from their in-house notes for the rack, so someone else has obviously asked them).
- Almost nobody stocks "security" bolts or "tamper-resistant" bolts (like 6-lobe torx or socket-pin head) in a size to replace the Thule hinge-bolt; or if they do, there's a minimum order of 25 or 100. Even Tacoma Screw (in PNW) said they'd have to call around to order one and I haven't heard back.
- Accugroup (https://www.accu.co.uk) was the ONLY supplier I found online that let me order a single M12 stainless security bolt. It's 2.4" long, rather than the 1.5" Thule bolt, but I can work with it and put a nut on the end (to make thieves believe it's an easy undo ;-): "M12 X 60mm Security Socket Button Head Screws (ISO 7380) - A2 Stainless Steel." Accugroup had a 40mm, and they also had it in A4 stainless, but those had a large minimum order. Although this supplier appears to be in the UK, they could get an order to me in a few days, so that's cool.
- I lied: an ebay supplier in China can provide a single M12 torx-head bolt, but I didn't feel like ordering/waiting weeks on such a thing from a random supplier in China.