Quote:
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.
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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.