stolen lightforce lights

Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 02, 2006 at 23:50
ThreadID: 36402 Views:6455 Replies:12 FollowUps:14
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Hi all my mate came over tonight and was so angry, when came out of a presentation night at the local club to find out his lights were ripped off his hilux the lights just a few weeks ,old never heard so much bad lingo as he is a verry quiet person i was shocked, so here is the question can you buy some sort of locking nut or device to stop these people ripping off our lights as i pick up mine tomorrow and now bit worried about them getting pinched regards stan
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Reply By: ro-dah-o (WA) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 00:06

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 00:06
Someone else may be able to confirm this, but a friend in my club I was talking to on the weekend, when asked 'what happened to your lightforce mate?' muttered 'rattled off, damn lock nut couldnt put it back on, bloody kangaroo....'

Hope it helps. I would ask when you pick them up. I have seen them sold for cibies, unsure as to whether they would fit. If all else fails, take to them with the mig!!
AnswerID: 186841

Follow Up By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:47

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:47
I have a lock for my cibies. Used to use them when they were on the front of the mini & VW I used to rally, and the lights were easy to get to. Now the cibies are on the pajero, reaching up under the bullbar to get to the nut is a real pain and fiddly, so I don't bother any more.
Basically they are just a threaded locking collar.
You could use a normal locking collar I suppose, but the grub screw may damage the thread of the light. Or buy a locking collar and run a tap through it.
Just need a small allen key to get them off.
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FollowupID: 443904

Follow Up By: Stiphodon - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:04

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:04
I have locking nuts on my LF170's. They came in a package deal from outbackproven.com.au/ $360 for lights, LF wiring loom and lock nuts. $400 for the same deal with LF240s.

I doubt that the locking nuts will stop a determined theif. HOwever, they will certainly mack their job a lot harder
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Follow Up By: ro-dah-o (WA) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 12:49

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 12:49
" doubt that the locking nuts will stop a determined theif"

Dead right, it will only stop the honest ones!!

Thank god my spotlights are mounted in the bullbar, you need to have the arms of a 3 foot midget to be able to reach thru the gap to get to the nuts.
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FollowupID: 444009

Reply By: madcow - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:21

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:21
I'm not sure but IPF lights have a locknut setup available and depending on the thread size they may suit. Or use nylock nuts instead, they are a bit of a pain to put on but if they do come loose they will not rattle off.
AnswerID: 186848

Follow Up By: Member No 1- Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:37

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:37
but nylocks wont stop a thief!
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FollowupID: 443898

Follow Up By: madcow - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:02

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:02
no your right but then again nothing will it will only delay their efforts!
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Reply By: Turist (The Original One) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:40

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:40
This is a system that I have employed.
Will only stop them if you or an honest person are in hearing range of the vehicle.
Most car alarm systems have a bonnet switch circuit that is "normally open"
Run a fine figure 8 cable, small speaker wire is ok, parallel to the driving light cables, take it right to the inside of the lamp housings and arrange it to form a continious circuit back to a normally open relay connected to the bonnet switch circuit that will trigger your alarms when the lights are removed.

Nobody has tried to pinh mine so I don't know how well it will work but it will make a lot of noise as soon as the wires are cut.

Bob
AnswerID: 186850

Follow Up By: Trevor R (QLD) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:14

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:14
Yeah but then the thieves get smart and cut the wire just as they are loading the lights into a getaway car, siren can go all night and they won't give a hoot. Was up at Calliope River and a couple in a caravan were distraught, they had their gennie running, watching TV and all was good until the TV and Lights went out.....what happened there the old man said.....Turns out the generator was put in a car while still running and then the thieves just drove off, ripping the power cord to the van and all, old couple new nothing until it was too late.

Hard to stop determined thieves, but my black dog has saved a bit of gear from being knocked off on more than one occasion.
Regards, Trevor.
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FollowupID: 443917

Follow Up By: Member - andrew B (Kununurra) - Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:14

Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:14
I have heard, could be an urban myth (or rural) that people are ripping off good generators and replacing them with $99.00 jobs. they aparently sneak up slowly to the Honda (or other), especially when people run a fairly long lead so the gennie is out of earshot, with the cheapie running - you don't notice the gradual increase in noise, and do a quick change of the plugs. People camping get a quick flicker in the lights etc, but think nothing of it, until they go out in the morning and find the generator has depreciated significantly overnight! Sneaky bathplugs!

Cheers Andrew
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FollowupID: 444185

Reply By: Member - MUZBRY VIC) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:42

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:42
Gday
The last set that i fitted , was drilled and a roll pin inserted through the nut and bolt.....nothing will stop a good thief- but you can slow them down
Muzbry
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AnswerID: 186851

Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:27

Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:27
I did the same MUZBRY, drilled and roll pinned through a locking nut below the other nut. They would have to go armed with a full tool kit and make some noise to tap out the pins.
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FollowupID: 444188

Reply By: Member - Mike DID - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:44

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 07:44
Put a plastic mouldable epoxy (PlastiBond) over the nuts. This can be removed using a soldering iron, but the average thief won't take that time.
AnswerID: 186852

Reply By: Member - Sam (NSW) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:06

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:06
Yes you can get lock nuts. I got a set for my XGT's.

Any 4wd store or locksmith should be able to provide them.

There was a post on here a while back about further thief proofing Lightforce lights.
AnswerID: 186860

Follow Up By: Member - Coyote (SA) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:10

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:10
I recon it;s probably the guy who nocked by covers of last week.. I parked next toa 4B at the pub and when I came out he was gone and so were my Lightforce covers.. annoyingthing is he didn't have lightforce spotties, so maybe now he does... #$^&&##$%^$^ bastards.. I just can't comprehend the idea that someone can think" Oooh they look nice, I think I deserve them more than the guy that paid for them" Scum sucking low life thieves...
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FollowupID: 443913

Follow Up By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:37

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:37
XGT's are different, you can't just pull them apart like the 170's and rip them off. It's a known problem with the lightforce that they can be dismantled very quickly and stolen eve if a lock nut is used. There are a couple of ways around it on perth4x4.net forums, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:30

Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:30
Jeff, I have shielded sides and bolts on mine so they would be difficult to dismantle with the exception of the reflectors which aren't any good without the mounts anyway.
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FollowupID: 444189

Reply By: Waynepd (NSW) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:16

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:16
Thieving, I am afraid its the 2nd oldest profession in the human race.
Whatever we have, some other bastard thinks they need it more than we do.

I haven't secured my LF 170's but I will be looking at them now, i have just been lucky I guess...
AnswerID: 186880

Reply By: Member - Brian H (QLD) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:31

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:31
Just a thought ........... I have not seen how they are fitted yet to get mine but would a lock nut then heat shrink placed over the remaining thread? Same sort of stuff used over wires to waterproof them

I would assume it would be a bitch to get a nut off with this tuff on unless you heat it up and remove it?

Interested if you think this would work?

Brian

AnswerID: 186883

Reply By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:55

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 10:55
Yep I know how ya mate feels. I had my Blitz 240's knocked off at Narrandera last Year (june.......a sunday night while my mum was drawing her last breaths at the Wagga hospital....she passed away at 6am). When my brother called from the hospital to let us know the bad news, we drove the hour to Wagga and I didn't notice till later on (on the way home) that the friggin lights were'nt there.

I bought a new set and have drilled a hole through the bolt and put a small padlock on each one. It wouldn't take much to cut the padlock, but would be bloody hard to get a pair of bolt cutters or angle grinder in to reach the lock.

Also, with the 240's (and some other types of lights too, including the XGTs), there is a horizontal bolt that holds the light's body onto the base bracket. If the @rseholes want to, they can just undo that bolt too. In the case of the Blitz and the 170's and 140's, they can also just unscrew the whole light body (not much use to them without the rest though).

I'm still angry about my lights going missing and would happily strangle the pr!ck that grabbed 'em!!!
AnswerID: 186889

Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:32

Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:32
Roachie, I have vertical pieces of steel shielding the bolts you describe so you can hardly get a spanner on, let alone get it out. Quite easy to have a thick piece of steel under neath and shielding up the sides.
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FollowupID: 444190

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 10:10

Friday, Aug 04, 2006 at 10:10
Cheers for that John,
I'll organise a couple asap.....then I've only gotta figgure out a way to stop the main body being unwound and removed....maybe drill a shallow hole through the threaded area about 1 or 2mm and whack a bit of wire in there really tight.

Thanks for that

Roachie
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FollowupID: 444203

Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Saturday, Aug 05, 2006 at 19:10

Saturday, Aug 05, 2006 at 19:10
Mate, this is a pic of what I have done. Any priÇk who takes the reflector off should be forced to look into the glare. The pic below is the mounting I made to keep the light higher than the bullbar. It is a bit of RHS closed off one end and the shrouds at the side of the mount are apparent from the picture, that stop the bolts being undone.

The RHS is hiding the actual mounting bolts of the lights and there bigger bolts through the bar that are pinned.


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FollowupID: 444565

Reply By: stans truck - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 12:26

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 12:26
Thanks to all for your comments will ask tjm about locking nuts when pick my lights today many thanks regards Stan
AnswerID: 186907

Reply By: blown4by - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 14:42

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 14:42
When you fit your lights fit a piece of 50 x 6 flat bar under the nut (like a big washer). Get another piece of flat bar with a hole drilled in it that just fits snug over the flats on the nut so you can't get a socket or ring spanner on the nut when the flat bar is slipped over it. You can then fit two cup head bolts to the pre- (stack) drilled pieces of flat bar with the cup heads facing down or if you think the thief will be persistent enough to still flog them (if he has two different size spanners with him) you can make the second flat bar hinged to the first so after the nut is done up you hinge the flat bar shut over the nut and put a big enough padlock on it. Chances are he won't have brought bolt cutters as well. If the two lamps are mounted such that no obstructions are between them as is often the case under a 4x4 bullbar then you can use one long flat bar and one lock. There are plenty of variations to this system such as if you don't like the hinge idea you could devise other means to secure the opposite end of the flat bar that is not locked and if you don't like the cup bolt idea you could fit socket head cap screws from the top flat bar tapped into the second so at night the thief is unable to see how the flat bar covering the nut is held in place. All sounds complicated but is really very simple and I have done it myself and am surprised no one has marketed such a thing but volumes are probably too low and scungy bastards like me would copy it and make it at home anyway. 240 volts is the best prevention but there are laws against that (apparently)
AnswerID: 186928

Reply By: SPIKE - Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 18:50

Thursday, Aug 03, 2006 at 18:50
I to have LF 170 my solution is to drill and tap 6mm hole in nutand fit s/s crub screw this is what l have done so far so good.
hope this helps
AnswerID: 186967

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