i was just looking at the gate keeper on jimmi jammers page and ive got to say, if i was a thief that wouldnt do much to stop me from getting the tailgate off. their page says it is a simple 5 minute installation and that you need their special installation tool to install it. i can only reason that it would be a simple 5 minute removal as well. seeing as how their "special installation tool" is nothing but a torx bit.

 

If you assume thieves carry torx bits and other tools with them, then yes, it will only take 5 mins. It's a good point you make. Most thieves do the smash, grab and dash routine or at least 2 of the 3.

 

there are some dumb thieves out there thats for sure. and theres the kinds that do the grab and dash routine. but a good thief is always going to have the proper tools with him. we have some pretty good thieves around here too. people around here have gotten to where they will steal a cat off your car in the middle of a shopping center parking lot in broad day light. the meth capitol of the US is about 25 minutes west of here and when a junkie wants a fix, you would be amazed at what they will steal and where they will steal it from.

 

phillips...where do you live???? Sounds like it's a tough place.

 

where i live is really nice. kingsport, tennessee. if you know much about nascar then im sure you know where bristol is. im about 15 minutes west of there. the rough area is in hawkins county. every time you open the paper theres 3 or 4 articles about someone blowing their trailer up making meth, someone killing someone over meth, etc. the best one yet was in the paper from a few days ago. a man and his wife were arrested because the man let his 14 year old son "do stuff" to his wife. so yeah, the dad and son teamed up on the dads wife. i can think of better ways for some father/son bonding time lol.

 

Bristol is the only Nascar race I'll try to watch. Been thru your area a few times. Beautiful country, and friendly people. Anyways, not trying to hijack this thread.

Back to the topic. I'll try to keep the tailgate locked.

 

you get a big ole boy like me and the tailgate isn't really that big a deal

I'm 6'3" @ 275-280 lbs



but yeah, a crack fiend looking for an easy score is like Superman. Guys are freaking strong

 

honestly, even a lock wont do much good. i dont know if theyve changed the set up on the 09 or not, but all the older models ive seen have had the lock set in plastic. break the plastic and the lock comes out with it. buy a 20 dollar handle and sell the gate for several hundred and still turn a profit. its like the chevy extended cab truck. easiest truck in the world to break into. the latch on the extended cab window is held in place by a piece of plastic thats about 1/8th inch in diameter. you can break it with nothing more than a stick/screwdriver and their windows are big enough that you can climb through them. replace the 5 dollar part and it beats paying 70 bucks for a lock smith or standing there trying to slim jim it for an hour. and no, im not a thief lol. where we own the junk yard sometimes we have to do that kind of stuff to get parts off to sell them.

on all of our company equipment and trucks we just leave them unlocked when they have to be left on the job site over night. we do a lot of work in west virginia and people are really bad about stealing metal and batteries for scrap up there. if we locked up what we didnt want to get stolen they would beat the s**t out of the rig or truck to get in it. that meant not only did we lose a 100 dollar battery, but we also had to have down time getting the rig fixed, insurance had to pay to fix about 5k dollars worth of damage, and then our rates went up. if we left it unlocked then we just lost the battery, popped a new one in the next day and kept working.

 

Dodge Power Wagons have power locking tail gates from the factory now, you would think that a tailgate with power to it for a camera would be power lockable as well.

 

as a note the 09 tailgate can pop off if something is pushing it on the right side. i loaded up some fire wood and it started to push it off when i try closing it with wood againts the gate. but i knew better since i almost droped the gate on my 05 and got it just before it hit the ground

i have seen cars rip up before..they'll take time as needed best one i seen is they riped off the door panels to get the speakers, took the wire in the doors and powers wires for the sub.

they don't care about nothing

 

Security is all about "layers".

1. Lock the tailgate lock
2. Park in good well lighted areas
3. Install an alarm
4. Install Gate Keeper or something similar
5. Install Jimmi Jammers on tailgate and doors

What is wrong with Ford for not increasing basic security on their vehicles? Why do they add an extra cost security package that gets us an insurance discount? Whay mount locks into plastic handles?

Did I miss something?

 

When i was in UK having a thatchcam approved alarm would get me a great discount on my insurance a year, but over here i couldnt find one insurance company to offer discount with better security. I fitted a high end alarm to my truck and it made sod all difference and was the same as not having an alarm. I was amazed to say the least. Even having lojack made zero difference with my current company so i didnt even bother with that. You could even get better rate by having that glass break film fited to the windows in the UK.

 

I agree most insurance companies don't discount for anti-theft features but some do.

 

I like the idea of the 'Gate Keeper'. Is it only available via web purchase? Has anyone found one of these in a Auto Parts store? Advance? Napa?, etc...

 

Had the tailgate stolen off my 94 F-150...Fiesta parking lot. When I asked if I could have the police look at the video the manager said the cameras hadn't been working for weeks. I would have locked my tailgate if it had a lock at the time.