Nice little lock project! Should be a good deterrent, and also hold up to quite a bit of punishment. I agree that the WarLok’s should be adequate for pick resistance... especially when you’re using two. Also, thanks for the kind words about my channel, and good luck finishing up your travel trailer. 👍
LockPickingLawyer oh man, so sorry I missed this comment! I appreciate the kind words and also really appreciate your videos which were incredibly helpful in my lockselection and decision to build this lock! Such an awesome channel you and have kept me watching you defeat locks in so many ways! 😀🙏 Best regards! Joe
Im a welder and metal fabricator and im very impressed with that design. Nice work. Not to many people will spend the time trying to defeat that set up. Im one who believes in overkill and you have mastered that.
Putting in place security measures like this will deter 95% of casual thieves which is what they are designed to do. If someone wants your trailer bad enough they'll take it but that type of determined thief is a lot more rare. Good work Joe. Looks stout as hell. 👍👍👍
Main thing is the professional thief is well prepared before hand and is only keeping an eye out for those valuable, accessible and easy opportunities - this project is a deterrence to that.
thanks Jess! very true... if someone really wants it, they can certainly get it. Just a matter of time and noise.... but I'll have a couple more things that might make that kind of thief sad if they do get it (video/pic/gps ;)
As a retiree from the shipyard I thought I was the only one around that preps welds. Our welds are inspected so presentation is important. Nuclear submarines. Beautiful work. You are talented!
@@icemanhunter1 Proven Industries have a well design coupler and safety chain secure solution. Check it out. This home made one does not allow for the safety chains to be secured, someone can simply backup, hook the safety chains up to their two vehicle and away the go.
Its not over kill, its actually a great prevention tool. Most thieves are looking for "easy pickin's" and will just move on when they see something like that.
Agreed. The second thing i have seen a lot of is trailers being skull dragged by chain only. Most traipers have the chain eyes right next to the hitch, however this has them far back. Whats more, the cover has no real point you could easily connet a chain too. Its a pretty secure solution, but I'd still go a gps sender for $15/month for peace of mind.
Yup, they are super lazy so anything you can do to make their process of thieving take longer is a boon for you. I lock ALL my doors and windows when leaving for a period of time. If the break into a room, they are essentially stuck in that room, we do not have flimsy doors so trying to break them by kicking will only result in hopefully long term pain for the criminal. Even the inside of my roof is protected against entry from the outside. Hopefully with the perimeter alarm, roof alarm and 64 zone house alarm, each blaring at 150 decibels with strobe lights, the criminals will not like that. The things we have to do to protect the things we love and bought against those that are to darn lazy and a blight on society...sigh.
@@JohanlastZa Hey Johan, do you have a link for the 150 decibels alarm? I am only seeing cheap one on ebay that claim 105, but only measure 80. Thank you.
Smart choice for the lock. The LPL has mad skills and if it took him a while, that’s a good lock. Very nice design and craftsmanship btw. I likely would have welded the hinge to the inside to both hide it and protect it from potential cutting attacks. It would be difficult to knock the pin out if it’s blocked by the outer shell as well. The thief would probably still have to do a lot of cutting and/or defeat those puck locks anyway, so...pretty secure as it is.
Beautiful craftsmanship. As they say, locks keep honest people honest. These days, with cordless angle grinders that have tons of power and a long run time, I’m a bit more paranoid and I think hiding from plain view goes a long way.
thank you Steve! yes, I agree... and don't worry about being paranoid.... I just spent a few days making a lock for my trailer....haha... I've got even more measure that will be added but not videoed... (gps/camera monitoring )
You do good work! This would stop a opportunistic thief. Like you said, if someone really wants they will get it. You done enough to make most find an easier target.
What a fantastic design and execution, Joe. Your trailer is a work of love and art and totally worth protecting as much as practical. Thanks for posting! Best regards, Lloyd C.
b3877896 thank you Lloyd! It’s has certainly been a super involved project that has pushed me a lot! But totally worth it for the memories with my girls:)
That's a great locking setup. There really is nothing you can do to stop a thief if they are determined to take something. My strategy is to make it inconvenient, laborious, time-consuming, difficult, noisy, well lit and videotaped.
RedHotFiat yes very true! They can get it if they absolutely want to. And in that case I will be more than eager to lead the police to them ....not all the aspects of the trailer are shown 😉
Brother Joe, your designs are above and beyond anyone else's and that is what draws me to your channel my friend!!! You keep being Joe and keep building Joe things. Btw, a lock ONLY keeps an honest man honest. PERIOD! Take care and God Bless my friend. Jay. 👍👍
I have been thinking about some sort of better solution for locking a trailer hitch and you just defeated my thought process! So I say to you Great job,
One thing I learned on this video is that I don't have to be the best welder and have the perfect bead. Just a very, very good grinder. Thanks for that. It gives me confidence to try my own welding projects in the future. 💜🌞🌵
Thanks John! I was really happy they were open to sending some locks too! They are pricey but seem to be really well made and strong. I asked if they'd be willing to give a discount and they said they'd be just send some out as long as I put a link in there. So no official sponsorship or anything... just some free locks! but I'll take it... as building things can get expensive for a firefighter who likes to build things in his spare time :D
Actually, the trailer companies wouldn't buy it, because they would have to admit that this product has value, therefore their trailers are easy to steal.
I love it! Yeah, if someone wants to steal it they will. But if it is setting there next to another trailer, you know it won't be the one that's gonna be taken. That hitch lock would make criminals look for an easier choice.
Nothing is unstealable, but you sir have created one heck of a deterrent!! There aren’t too many thieves running around with a torch rig in the back of a truck to combat something like that.
Gerald Richardson yep, that’s her goal...it could still be taken. But hopefully it is more hassle than it would be worth....especially considering the gps tracker would lead LE straight to them. 😉
Great looking lock box. Really like the hitch ball with you locking the coupler before installing the lock box. If you are going to leave the trailer long term somewhere pull off one of the wheels. That makes it a little bit harder to drag away.
Fantastic work as always! Have you considered adding a hidden GPS device to the trailer, in the event that some very determined thief was able to steal it? That way you could track it and hopefully get it back.
GPS and a pin hole cam at front catching a license plate then when they reach a communication tower you could retrieve the video via the so called " CLOUD "
Henrik and Claude are right and if it’s the you’re standing in there would be several places to install it! I’ll add safety chains….. can really help stopping your trailer from leaving! Safety chains….. myself I crank the tongue to maximum height, I then wrap the safety chains around the crank so crank can’t rotate! It’s easy to pickup the tongue of the trailer and low it on another trailer hitch ball…. Even the wrong size it can be done but with tongue at the top of lift it’s impossible to lower until the lock on safety chains are defeated! Just another step to slow someone down! I crank the tongue to maximum height, I then wrap the safety chains around the crank so it can’t rotate! It’s easy to pickup the tongue of the trailer and low it on another trailer hitch ball…. Even the wrong size ball can be done but with tongue at the top of lift it’s impossible to lower tongue until the lock on safety chains are defeated! This would also slow down the use of the safety chains against you! Just another step to slow someone down! Also as a wrecker/tow truck operator I did bank Re-pulls and found way of defending everyone one of these efforts to stop thieves so make sure you make your payments!
Good idea! If a person has the time and skills, they will get your trailer somehow. BUT, you can make them work a lot harder and longer so that they may search for an easier target.
I like how you answer all of the questions I have in my head at the end. Great job and AWESOME build. I’m a 28 year vet welder by trade and thought I was a carpenter before that, but you could definitely teach me a couple of things! This is fascinating.
Great video! I plan to attach my bulldog hitch to the tongue using a two inch receiver tube with the hitch itself welded to two inch square tube. Just park it and take the hitch and chains with me...
Jan Duke now that is a great idea and totally solves the situation in a more simple way. I can’t imagine a thief carrying around a bunch of extra couplers attached to tuning thstnwould fit your trailer receiver 😀👍
Nice job, only I would have turned the hinge barrel inward. The strength is still on the barrel locks, but being on the inside would stop stupid people from trying to open the clam shell.
Steve 1961P. That would be an option for sure. But I think I’d prefer to add guards outside the pin instead. But I think it will still be good...at least I’m pretty sure 🤔😀👍
@@homesteadonomics Maybe be more of a deterrent with hinge inside. And could also weld some random steel pieces under your angle so if grinder was used it would explode the cutting wheel. Also would put it underside as well. Overkill is best. Nice job.
haha... yes, it'd be nice to have a patent on that but I think I'd have to rework the design to be able to fit multiple types of hitches... so one design could fit multiple styles
@@homesteadonomics well keep up the great work, these videos have helped resparked a desire to get out there and just "do". I mean, you built a camper dude...broke it down super easy and used common sense to show us nothin is impossible. Ive been digging your videos for a long time now and always find myself waiting on the next project. THANKS, truly.
Joe, added security is never overkill!. The lock looks great and the red colour really makes it stand out. If it deters someone from yours they will go to an easier target, leaving yours alone. With the time and effort you have put into this it would be heartbreaking to lose it. Great video as always and a HUGE thumbs up from across the pond.
UK Tony thanks tony! That’s my aim...mostly to deter. Anything can be thwarted given enough time....but I think it will make me feel a bit better when we leave camp for the day😀👍
@Ken Howard You gotta weigh the price of a stolen or damaged trailer to the price of the GPS device. Better safe than sorry. Especially if all of your belongings are inside.
Very nice lock setup ! Not that any of us are surprised by the quality and beauty. And you're right, it's all about deterrence and delay and this should do the trick. Worth every bit of sweat you put into it for the peace of mind in that regard, and as you said the hours spent on the trailer pretty much demanded a fair shake at protecting it too. Here's hoping just the sight of it is enough to have anyone with criminal intent keep moving along.
thank you! I'm sure am hoping that no criminal would be dumb enough to try it... not that they wouldn't be able to defeat it, given enough time... but for the simple fact that the other measures I'm taking would really not benefit them in the long run ;) (pic/video/gps... but no video on those)
Great video and very good information on how to build a good lock for a trailer. I am for sure going to make one of these off your design that you have shared. As you said nothing is 100%, but something like this would take a lot of time and make a lot of noise to get around. As for the chains that was a question and glad you answered, but I did notice in the video I saw you have them removable, so figured that is what you did.
That is a great design/idea! Wish we had one on our 16' trailer that was stolen several years ago when I was working for a local landscape company. It was locked up and chained, they still got it.
Love your device and Henrik and Claude are right and if it’s the you’re standing in there would be several places to install it! I’ll add safety chains….. can really help stopping your trailer from leaving! Safety chains….. myself I crank the tongue to maximum height, I then wrap the safety chains around the crank so crank can’t rotate! It’s easy to pickup the tongue of the trailer and low it on another trailer hitch ball…. Even the wrong size it can be done but with tongue at the top of lift it’s impossible to lower until the lock on safety chains are defeated! Just another step to slow someone down! I crank the tongue to maximum height, I then wrap the safety chains around the crank so it can’t rotate! It’s easy to pickup the tongue of the trailer and low it on another trailer hitch ball…. Even the wrong size ball can be done but with tongue at the top of lift it’s impossible to lower tongue until the lock on safety chains are defeated! This would also slow down the use of the safety chains against you! Just another step to slow someone down! Also as a wrecker/tow truck operator I did bank Re-pulls and found way of defending everyone one of these efforts to stop thieves so make sure you make your payments!
That's one beautiful lock! I was going to suggest to remove the chains, but you addressed that in your Q&A at the end. Kudos on the great craftsmanship!
Awesome build, I need to build something similar. As you kinda mentioned, thieves now days are just chaining the trailer tongue to the bumper and driving away. They don't care if it comes off at some point or worry about damage, the trucks are usually stollen too. So a good solution to go along with hitch lock would be a wheel boot or chain and lock through the wheel spokes to prevent them from rolling.
Great job, nothing is "unstealable" (if thats even a word LOL) the trick is to slow them down or discourage them to move on. I will be making a couple of these for the ATV's trailer.
I really respect the way you approach the whole process. You have the dignity to acknowledge and say to everyone that not the entire process was your creation. There is nothing wrong in admitting that this is a hybrid product, you got the good parts and made a better product. I find interesting that you actually pointed out that cordless angle grinders exist and criminals aren't obeying by some international convention not to use them. Whatever it takes to make the attack faster is the tool of choice. One of the ways to slow down the process is to have more " meat" in the design, it is a simple equation, the larger the cross area the longer it takes ( there are several types and quality of cutting wheels out there, but that is another story), I'm personally finishing off on a sea container lock that weighs about 90 lbs and it is made of 1" thick plate, it will take some time to cut it with a minimum of a 7" diameter grinder in a single pass, if they know what they are doing. Portable oxy-fuel sets also exists. That will do the job quietly and very fast, assuming someone that knows how to handle the torch. I had people working for me that couldn't cut because they pressed the cutting lever before base metal reached the right temperature. I find your design far superior to many of the commercial ones out there. The chain not being locked is somewhat irrelevant, because if someone just brings a piece of chain, it can be tied to the frame to have the trailer moved. Develop something that you can put on the wheels and that fruit gets to be higher and not the lowest hanging fruit anymore and thieves will likely pass on it. Congratulations, beautiful lock.
