New V10 EB Owner

[BrianW]

The side and back door locks are only worthwhile if you also have a lockable bulkhead/partition installed behind the front seats, as many work vans do. Otherwise they can just break in via the front doors and gain access to your whole van that way.

[Kibo]

A very good point. I was looking at these as a solution for the front doors:

The Autobolt SS

Not particularly cheap, but probably a lot cheaper than returning to a ransacked vehicle.

Sorry, didn't intend to derail this thread! Looking forward to checking out the van.

[86Scotty]

The best security solution for a Ford van is to not park it where it will be bothered. Pretty easy for a camper van for a majority of us, not so easy for city dwelling tradesmen. I really hate that they put one of those on your van, Kibo, but no telling what the van was used for in it's first life.

Look in to Ravelco for keeping the van from theft (as a whole) and just be careful where you park it.

One or two of us here have had vans stolen but the Ravelco is the answer for the van itself.

All of this advice is out the window if you live in Seattle or any other big west coast city.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by Kibo

A very good point. I was looking at these as a solution for the front doors:

The Autobolt SS

Not particularly cheap, but probably a lot cheaper than returning to a ransacked vehicle.

Sorry, didn't intend to derail this thread! Looking forward to checking out the van.

Derailments are our specialty here---accidentally of course! Conversations evolve often and for the most part no one gets too upset.

I'd strongly advise againt the Auto Bolt---I had a set of them my own self. They worked perfectly keeping unwanted elements from entering the van BUT when they fail if they're in the locked position you have no way to open those doors.

I used this type: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Electronic-...53.m1438.l2649 (Disregard the seller is in the UK---I bought from a USA seller that was far less than a good seller so I don't recommend or mention them.)

Much like the Auto Bolt they're simply solenoid bolts that extend into an adjacent door preventing it being opened when engaged. I have them tied into the alarm system so they can't be engaged accidentally any other way.

Knowing these too potentially fail I concocted a mostly hidden manual cable release in case that happened. I'm by no means a security expert but as built the van where these are installed add enough alarm warning and time to discover most thieves would abandon trying to enter without disabling the alarm.

Access to my rear area is severely limited so that it prevents most adult-sized people from from entry. The manual release is easily accessed from the passenger side front door. Its not a perfect set up but it does slow the average crook down enough it tends to discourage them from lingering.

[b. rock]

Took a few days off grid - yes, those are puck style tradesman locks on the rear and side doors. The PO was an independent rep for some medical supplies and when he went to trade shows he'd use them as the equipment was expensive, but also large enough that they wouldn't fit through the front doors without removing the seats.

We keep our mtb's inside the van so extra security in the rear is actually kind of nice. No real need for it on the side unless we also add something to the front doors as others have mentioned, but since the holes are already drilled I'm leaving them on for the time being. The solenoid deadbolts sound pretty interesting, although seem like a bad time when they fail.

Side note, bumping around Moab for a couple days we did manage to get the van through Long Canyon with some rock stacking/line choice at the one rock section - definitely ready to get it converted to 4x4 and go back for more. I've been wheeling Toyotas since ~2006, so the adjustment to the extra size will take some time. Was pretty stoked to have 100% internal gear storage, a place to sleep, window vents, and be able to hold 80-85mph when speed limits allowed. V10 pulled nicely up the passes, other traffic was what slowed us down, not the van itself. Lowest tank was 11, one tank at 12, one tank at 12.5. Not bad really.