Trailer Security - hitch lock or wheel lock

[Furry_footed_TB]

What have people found the most effective method for securing and protecting their trailers? Hitch lock or wheel lock, a combination of both or something completely different?

Thanks in advance

 

[Fransurrey]

I have both.

 

[McFluff]

I have a wheel lock - fitted to one of the rear wheels. It is what my insurance policy expects me to have in place.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

Both!

 

[Britestar]

Both if not hitched up. Otherwise wheel clamp and hitched.

 

[Nudibranch]

Have a look at Datatag. I've done my trailer...I don't know whether it's entirely true but their own marketing claims there has been only 1 Datatagged trailer ever reported stolen, which was quickly recovered.
I do wheel and hitch as well btw.

 

[Annagain]

Both, plus it's parked up with a big grass bank behind it and a removable post in front - like you get in reserved parking spaces. It's also datatagged. I'm married to a security obsessed policeman!

 

[PeterNatt]

Also get the roof post coded in very large letters and the glass windows etched with your postcode.

 

[tda]

My trailer is data-tagged and I use a wheel clamp.

 

[Rowreach]

Hitch lock and two wheel locks, postcode on the roof and write it with permanent marker on loads of different places in and out of the trailer, some visible, some not, so that it acts as a deterrent because the thieves will never be able to find all of them and it will therefore be identifiable as yours. Also, check with your local police to see if they have a trailer marking scheme. We have one here and since it was introduced several years ago, no marked trailers have been nicked, only unmarked ones. So long as you don't mind having large yellow letters spray painted on your trailer, and little ones etched into the ramps and hitch, it's a brilliant scheme.

 

[AandK]

Wheel clamp and hitch lock (both bulldog) and I have also data-tagged it.

 

[Esmae]

Both and anything else you can think of. I had both plus a huge chain sunk into half a ton of concrete that locked around mine as well as the postcode on the roof. Smartwater is useful too. Ask your local police crime prevention person what they recommend these days. It's a pity that one can't wire them up to the mains. It would be so satisfying to find a would be thief fried to the thing.

 

[Leo Walker]

Be careful what type you use. I cut one of the mid-range wheel clamps off in under a minute when my YO lost her keys...

 

[dixie]

Both. My insurers insist on the wheel clamp.

 

[Rowreach]

Be careful what type you use. I cut one of the mid-range wheel clamps off in under a minute when my YO lost her keys...

Deadly with a power tool

 

[Leo Walker]

Deadly with a power tool

mainly to myself to be fair!

 

[Orangehorse]

My trailer came with a hitch lock, which I use but a thief can just tie it to the back of a vehicle, so I have a Bulldog wheel clamp on the rear wheel. If on the front wheel a thief can life the front wheels off the ground and let the trailer run on the rear wheel.

 

[Farmer Chalk]

There’s a great little tracking device called Can Track which is a totally sealed battery powered device which is also a great insurance against theft....you can mount them out of sight underneath...brilliant piece of kit!

 

[lizandreggie]

I had bulldog insurance grade hitch and wheel locks on mine. They got both off with a mobile blow torch in 5 minutes (had a CCTV camera overlooking my trailer) Was a 511 2 year old trailer. Never found. Was stolen last July. In hindsight, paint your telephone number on the roof and add a tracker on it! Anything you can lock on a trailer, can be taken off if they want it bad enough!

 

[Southern]

Have a look at Datatag. I've done my trailer...I don't know whether it's entirely true but their own marketing claims there has been only 1 Datatagged trailer ever reported stolen, which was quickly recovered.
I do wheel and hitch as well btw.

I thought Ifor Williams had Datatag as standard. Plenty of them go missing!

 

[lizandreggie]

They do but apparently data tag is only any good if the people buying or selling have scanners, which no one bothers with! ?

 

[lizandreggie]

Mine was stolen in June 2019 and never found! That was data tagged and registered from new in 2017

 

[Farmer Chalk]

Ifor Williams only microchip the wall of the trailers with no visible marking...unfortunately whilst useful to Police to help identify it doesn’t help the average person check it...

A Datatag trailer kit is a different beast and comes with a security registration plate which is made of secure sticky vinyl marking, a number of radio frequency identification tags and a phial of Security micro dots which are painted over a number of items....

when securing a trailer I would use a number of layers of security... Make sure you record the trailer vin number... use something like a Datatag trailer kit, hitch locks, wheel locks and a tracker....

it’s the old adage though...if they want it bad enough then they’ll take it...with the caveat....if it’s parked alongside another one at the yard that doesn’t have those measures then you know which one the thieves will take!

The biggest advice I can give everyone though is shut the gate! The thieves will scope sites during the daylight to see what is about that’s worth nicking! Hence an open gate is an open invitation to drive around the site for a look see!
if confronted they will come up with a cock and bull story asking where Pond Farm is? Or got any scrap metal ?. Etc etc...

thieves don’t like opening gates and being found on land behind a closed gate!
Don’t give them the opportunity for a lookie likie!

 

[Suechoccy]

Some years ago I parked at a riding/livery yard (with their permission) to go for a hack with a friend. It was a busy yard, a Saturday morning, plenty of people about (there's also another business run there with customers in and out). i left my trailer with a wheel clamp on a rear wheel and hitched to the car. When I returned to it 2 hours later, the trailer's rear wheel on other side and 4 nuts that held it on were stolen, so trailer was at a funny angle hitched to car and missing a back wheel. I keep the spare inside the car so fitted it by removing 1 nut from the 3 remaining wheels so 3 nuts on each wheel, loaded horse and drove home (not far) carefully. Dunno why they nicked one wheel and 4 nuts, possibly to see if it would mean I left the trailer there overnight when they might return and have it away? My security now is locking nuts on all wheels, wheel clamp rear wheel (you can drive out of most wheel clamps I've seen people do over the years), hitch lock front (you can tow a trailer without using hitch lock), smart water, postcode huge letters on roof and all panels, giant sized cartoon multi coloured horses painted on every panel, spare wheel continues to live in car. When not in use at home or if on holiday in it, electric cable and breast/breechbars and jockey wheel are removed and kept separately from trailer too.

 

[cyrus799]

As the name implies, a hitch coupler lock is a U-shaped locking device that fits over the tongue coupler. It helps prevent another vehicle from attaching to your trailer.
You can find different hitch coupler lock designs on the market. But make sure that the unit you get will fit your tow vehicle and trailer’s hitch for it to work effectively.

 

[Sealine]

I have a hitch lock and wheel clamp on my trailer. But if thieves want them they'll take them. There are half a dozen trailers at the farm and recently one was stolen. It was the newest trailer there and it had a wheel clamp and the owner's postcode in huge stickers on the back. It hasn't been recovered. At the same time they stole two caravans which I believe also had wheel clamps and hitch locks. The thieves waited until the hay crop was in and took them across two fields onto a remote lane having moved a gate, an old plough and tractor tyres that were attempting to prevent the gateway being used. Another friend has CCTV of her caravan being stolen off her drive. It didn't have a wheel clamp but it did have a hitch lock. It wasn't properly hitched up to steal it, they just used a chain. When they got it away from the house they ground off the hitch lock (this is on someone else's CCTV).

 

[Farmer Chalk]

Battery power tools are a huge benefit to the thief nowadays.. this is why you have to do security in layers… if they peel one off then there is another layer to depend on…

the last layer is a tracking device… I thoroughly thoroughly recommend the small battery Cantrack units… which are incredibly robust … you can mount them under the chassis out of sight in all the mud and muck… very difficult for the thieves to find!

 

[splashgirl45]

its so sad that you have to go through so much security precautions these days. my trailer was parked at the yard i kept my horse on in the early 70's and could have easily been stolen as we didnt have anything to protect it. however, they got through a security alarmed tackroom and stole all of our tack it had taken me ages to find a saddle to fit my horse i ended up riding on a sponge with a surcingle for ages until i managed to get another saddle, when young you can do anything

 

[alsxx]

I had a lockable hitching bollard, it was concreted into the ground and could be removed when needed. Trailer hitched on to that and then bulldog hitch lock over the top, and a wheel lock too.

Trailer also had unique decals on each side, so it was easy to recognise. I've now upgraded to a 3.5t and tbh wondering how else to secure that! ?

 

[L&M]

Have a look at Datatag. I've done my trailer...I don't know whether it's entirely true but their own marketing claims there has been only 1 Datatagged trailer ever reported stolen, which was quickly recovered.
I do wheel and hitch as well btw.

Well that is bollox as mine was data tagged and never recovered!!!!!