Do you still use a crooklock.

Do you still use a crooklock.

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Spare tyre

9,586 posts

131 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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not on my boring car used for work

but on my older toy cars yes, they are more likely to get pinched and used for offroad fun

I do however keep the key to the crook lock key under the mat in the car, so if some oik gets hold of the ignition keys, they still cant drive it off easily

SEE YA

3,522 posts

246 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Maybe but you have to do the best, you can on Security for your car, house, and your family.
Most people only think about Security after the event WHY?

People want easy targets, less chance of being caught.
The more you can do to put them off the better.

JohnoVR6

690 posts

213 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Captain Muppet said:
Taking off the hub adapter and screwing on another steering wheel takes about a minute.

Not a good deterant for anything other than casual skumbags.

I used one of these for years, and if you don't have a separate lockable boot it means carrying the bloody thing with you all the time. Plus it failed it's MOT when the pins got worn and allowed movement of the wheel.

I got a different quick release to replace it, which was better, but it now sits in the garage looking shiny and technical.
Really? Oh that's depressing, I was always under the impression they were quite secure.

Still, visual deterrent is better than nothing as far as I'm concerned...and I'm using this as a thinly veiled excuse for a Personal steering wheel cloud9

CaptainSensib1e

1,434 posts

222 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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I use one of these which I've had for years:
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/...
It takes 5 seconds to put on/take off, takes up very little room in the passenger footwell, so I figure why not? I've always taken the view that I should make my car as unattractive to theives as possible and this does just the job.

P-Jay

10,577 posts

192 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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V8KSN said:
OLD myth that I am not sure is true......its most probably made up!

An old man was scared of all the local kids stealing cars in his area and he has a classic car which he did not want stolen so he put it in his garage with a crooklock, disclok and gearshift lock on overnight.

The next morning he awoke to hear his car was running in the garage with all the 'loks neatly piled on the passenger seat.

There was a note on the windcreen that said 'If we want it, we will take it, dont take the piss'

Urban myth I'd say - thieves aren't that literate. A bit like the one that goes around the motorbike 'community' about a bloke locking his Fireblade / R1 / GSXR1000 in his garage and putting his E-Type / MG / MX5 in front of it only to find the thieves cut the lock and lift it over the (handily low) car without setting off the alarm - in truth thieves are stupid and reckless.



P-Jay

10,577 posts

192 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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I haven't seen a crooklock in years, if I had something from the era that spawned them or older I'd seriously consider one, but compared to a Cat1 immobiliser and deadlocks they're a bit pointless on modern cars.

Sadly as far as I know when to comes to anything modern - BMW issue aside they'll break into your house looking for the keys these days, even threatening people in their beds in extreme cases rather than spend 20 mins trying to re-wire the ignition of something.

Hybrids

838 posts

244 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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This thread was a great blast from the past for me. I quit the spanners in the late eighties and moved to a car spares shop in a lovely area of Manchester.
Selling these locks was money for old rope.
The handbrake Autolock was popular, but the local scallies soon worked out that yanking up the handbrake lever further usually defeated the lock, but not before seeing if the owner had bothered to fit the gear stick collar ( many didn't). The steering wheel locks varied greatly in quality and effectiveness, most were used as additional leverage to break the steering lock, before cutting the wheel rim to remove. The Stoplock was popular and claimed to reduce the chance of airbag theft ( very common in the US at the time), my personal favourite at the time was the Rotorylock that another poster has shown earlier in the thread, it locked across the top of the dash and stopped it doubling as leverage. The Disclok came along around 92 I think, what every good drug dealer had on his Cossie, around the same time the Longarm lock came along, ( also listed earlier) it's main feature being it looped around the wheel spoke so needed 3 cuts to the wheel to remove.

To bring the thread back on topic, I up until recently still had a Longarm lock, occasionally used.

Mave

8,208 posts

216 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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This thread reminded me of a shunt I was in in the late 90s.
Stationary in queing traffic on my side of the road, I noticed a car set off from the bank opposite, and look like the driver wasn't paying atention.
She started veering over the white lines, I beeped, she hit my front wing, both doors, rear wing, then piled into some parked cars behind me.
Turned out she had a crook lock fitted, around the brake instead of the clutch, and she had set off without removing it!

Krikkit

26,535 posts

182 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Mave said:
This thread reminded me of a shunt I was in in the late 90s.
Stationary in queing traffic on my side of the road, I noticed a car set off from the bank opposite, and look like the driver wasn't paying atention.
She started veering over the white lines, I beeped, she hit my front wing, both doors, rear wing, then piled into some parked cars behind me.
Turned out she had a crook lock fitted, around the brake instead of the clutch, and she had set off without removing it!
What a tit, surely the steering wheel still worked? Probably a bit distracting to have no brakes, but even so!

MagneticMeerkat

1,763 posts

206 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Krikkit said:
Billyray911 said:
Zelda Pinwheel said:
I used to have a pedal lock that hooked under the brake pedal and over the steering wheel, used it on my MG Midget. Very solid stuff with a massive lock. I never had a problem with it, although probably 'cos nobody wanted to pinch the manky thing anyway.

On the Landrovers, we use these, which are great, and also mean that in theory they can't be pushed or towed, as it presses on the brake pedal as well.


http://foundry4x4.co.uk/index.php?route=product/pr...
What a great idea,especially with all the keyless thefts of Landrovers at the moment.Ive a BMW,so we have the same issue and use a disclock at all times.Takes less than five seconds to put into place and if it puts someone off,I'm happy.
Seems like a good idea in principle, but it wouldn't stop them making off with it imo - snip a brake line to release the brake pressure (especially easy on a Landy), release the handbrake lever and she's rolling.
Forgive me for being stupid here, but doesn't the risk of damaging the brakes using that device rather outweigh the chances of the car being stolen?

Whilst the thingy is closed the hydraulic system is pressurised. I know it happens hundreds of times each journey, but the rubber seals aren't designed for constant duty. I'd guess you'd significantly shorten the life of the master cylinder and related bits.

ch108

1,127 posts

134 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Used to have a stoplock. It fitted over and through the steering wheel.Stopped using it years ago when the lock got a bit dodgy and I realised it probably wasn't that strong. Either that I would end up being the one that wouldn't be able to drive away in the car if the lock jammed instead.


BFG TERRANO

2,172 posts

149 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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I will be on my next car. An S4 hopefully. On the theory that today's car thieves are OBD experts and some old School tech might deter them.

PlayersNo6

1,102 posts

157 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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My dad used both a Krooklok (between steering wheel and clutch) and an Autolock (between handbrake and gear lever) on his 85B Sierra.

He was pretty paranoid after his previous Capri got nicked in Edinburgh.

Mave

8,208 posts

216 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Krikkit said:
What a tit, surely the steering wheel still worked? Probably a bit distracting to have no brakes, but even so!
Nope, because the krookloc goes through the steering wheel as well....:-)

M4cruiser

3,651 posts

151 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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I still have them. They cost quite a bit .. so ..

when I had the Skoda Favorit I always had to lock the crooklock to the car to make sure it was secure - if I left it in the car someone might nick it (and leave the car behind). biggrin




JimmyConwayNW

3,065 posts

126 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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I saw one of these in a little car spares shop in longsight Manchester recently.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/BASEBALL-STEERING-WHEEL-SE...