Lock suggestions for an expensive zero turn mower

[jezbeliverson]

Hey,

How is everyone? I need some help

My parents just purchased a nice, expensive, zero turn lawn mower for their home.

Do you know if there are any security measures that can be taken to secure the mower? e.g. I read about GPS tracking, can they put an alarm on it when it is not in use, etc.

Are there any locking mechanisms that can be attached to the mower when not in use? e.g. like bikes have a bike lock, but I presume something more secure...

does anyone know of a reasonably priced GPS tracker?

Tks,

xx

Jez

[Silverado]

You could get a length of high quality chain and chain it to a structure when not in use. Use a good quality lock as well so a would-be thief can't just pop the chain or the shackle on the lock with bolt cutters.
Not leaving the key in the mower would be a great first step since it's not exactly a lightweight piece of equipment.
Record the serial numbers and keep them in a safe place.
If you're still overly concerned that someone will steal it take the sparkplugs out when you park it, close the fuel valve, do something that will render the machine unable to start and run.
Again it's heavy and I doubt a thief is going to carry it away, unless they happen to be The Incredible Hulk; in which case you're efforts are futile because Hulk will take it.

[Razor2016]

Most ride on mowers have seat safety switches, a hidden on off switch in series with it would mean the mower wouldn't start even with the key. Most mowers are reasonably noisy things to move is the neighborhood that bad?
I store mine in one of my garages with a battery minder attached (I hate flat batteries)

Ray

[Jacob Morgan]

Is there an enclosure it is to be stored in? If so kind of security does it have?

If it is not going into an enclosure and there is nothing handy to chain it to, you could take a good chain or a wire rope and pass it through both rear wheels and padlock the chain. That would mean that one could not even roll the mower off somewhere else, or drive it more than a foot if they got it started.

[Squelchtone]

I was gonna ask, is this machine just gonna sit outside all the time or is there a shed or garage? Is there history there of theft from neighbors?

When I had a nice Airens snowblower in Boston, I used an 6 foot Abus flexible cable bike lock, which had eyelets on each end, those eyelets would meet up at a metal eyelet I screwed into the side of the house, and a Medeco or Abloy PL350 padlock went on that to lock it up. Enough to keep someone busy without just walking off with it, I'm sure someone with some equipment could have sawed the eyelet off but I slept well knowing it would be there in the morning.

For basic protection from casual theft this might work for your needs:


https://www.amazon.com/Abus-Locks-Cobra ... 002WN91Q2/

link to the screw eye bolt http://www.homedepot.com/p/National-Har ... /204722005

and buy a good padlock, and I don't mean a $15 dollar Master Lock from home depot..


Squelchtone
PS. Jacob Morgan types faster than I do. =)

[jezbeliverson]

Thank you kind friends.

This will be in my parents house, in a garage. The garage door is just the regular run of the mill door. It has a latch, so can someone suggest a good lock padlock for that latch (indoors), the eye for the shackle is not that thick.

So, should I get them a bicycle chain like moderator @squelchtone has suggested, or something more heavy duty?

The area is not bad, and I doubt someone will just walk away with it. It would have to be a break in, where someone with a pickup or a trailer drives off with it.

I was wondering, do you all know about GPS trackers and stuff? Some way to find it if it gets stolen?

Any other hidden tricks to help post theft recovery? I know the chances are slim, but still.

Tks,
xx

Jez

[Squelchtone]

Thank you kind friends.

This will be in my parents house, in a garage. The garage door is just the regular run of the mill door. It has a latch, so can someone suggest a good lock padlock for that latch (indoors), the eye for the shackle is not that thick.

So, should I get them a bicycle chain like moderator @squelchtone has suggested, or something more heavy duty?

The area is not bad, and I doubt someone will just walk away with it. It would have to be a break in, where someone with a pickup or a trailer drives off with it.

I was wondering, do you all know about GPS trackers and stuff? Some way to find it if it gets stolen?

Any other hidden tricks to help post theft recovery? I know the chances are slim, but still.

Tks,
xx
Jez

The issue with GPS trackers is that the batteries will probably die sometime in a month or so, so your folks would have to remember to keep the unit charged all the time, which would probably get old quickly.
You can buy a motorcycle, boat, rv, lawn mower tracker that hardwires into the 12 volt power for $175.00 and it uses a monitoring service for $19.99 a month to see where your equipment is at all times: http://www.queclink.com/GMT100

A good basic trick for recovery is taking pictures of the mower from all sides so you have something to show the police, as well as photos of the Serial number plate. You could always engrave the serial number on several other locations on the mower in case it is stolen and they remove the factory serial number plate, but don't engrave painted surfaces or they might start rusting prematurely.

Squelchtone

[Silverado]

In line with what squelchtone said about engraving the serial number on various other locations on the equipment:
You could also get a small piece of metal or some other substantial object and personalize it with a name/address/serial number and hide it on the equipment somewhere. Take an end cap off of a tube frame and stash a tag or something. Tuck it under the seat. That way if it is stolen and the factory tags are removed, you could instruct the police to remove said end cap, look in here or there and find that piece of personalized media as proof of ownership.
I'm just throwing ideas out there.

[Razor2016]

http://www.datadotdna.com/au/

Datadot is another way of identifying an item.

Ray

[Jacob Morgan]

Your best bet would be to harden the garage. Someone will finish using the mower right as it turns dark or whatever and will skip chaining it up just that one time. That wil be the time someone steals it.

If there is a man door then reinforce the door jam, clad the door itself if it is not robust. If there is more than one door out then put bars on the windows (could put them on the inside). What kind of garage door does it have? Roll up metal? Swing out? Fold up wood? Electric or manual? Automatic lights would be good. Any doors or windows to the garage that are out of sight? Anything else worth protecting in the garage? If there is a padlock on the garage door but someone could get in through a window or a man door then do not leave out hacksaws, torch tips, bolt cutters, etc. in the garage--do not provide burglar tools.

If you have a good for nothing neighborhood petty thief who likes to haul stuff to pawn shops while people are at work then a DVR would be good.

[billdeserthills]

Thank you kind friends.

This will be in my parents house, in a garage. The garage door is just the regular run of the mill door. It has a latch, so can someone suggest a good lock padlock for that latch (indoors), the eye for the shackle is not that thick.

So, should I get them a bicycle chain like moderator @squelchtone has suggested, or something more heavy duty?

The area is not bad, and I doubt someone will just walk away with it. It would have to be a break in, where someone with a pickup or a trailer drives off with it.

I was wondering, do you all know about GPS trackers and stuff? Some way to find it if it gets stolen?

Any other hidden tricks to help post theft recovery? I know the chances are slim, but still.

Tks,
xx

Jez

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it's an app for an Iphone, you can see it here http://www.thetileapp.com/sale
just click on Products at the top, they'll tell you all about it

[trebor129]

My 7-year-old 42-lb daughter could literally cut a cable lock on her own. I wouldn't even feel comfortable securing the front wheel of my bicycle with one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVCqGMIz_iU

I would get a 25 foot Grade-70 3/8 Transport chain from Amazon for $46. That is pretty tough. You can sawz-all it in 4 minutes or so, or a hand-saw in maybe 16. If you want to spend more money for something that is much harder to cut, then Pewag 11.7mm chain, but that is $16 a foot (8x more expensive).

Here is Grade-70 on my Waverunner:

[gumptrick]

In my opinion it's important to ask: what kind of mower is it?

If the mower uses hydrostatic drive, which is typical for higher-end ZTRs, then it is virtually impossible to move it without the engine running. You cannot "push" that kind of mower; you must either drive it or lift it (no easy task). If that is the case then Razor2016 is right on the money. Install a hidden switch somewhere that it's in series with the safety switch under the seat, or that would disable power to the ignition. If a crook can't start the engine then they aren't moving it anywhere.

If the mower has a more traditional type of transmission then those can be pushed, in which case chaining it up or hardening the garage makes more sense.

[demux]

If the mower uses hydrostatic drive, which is typical for higher-end ZTRs, then it is virtually impossible to move it without the engine running. You cannot "push" that kind of mower; you must either drive it or lift it (no easy task).

Some hydrostatic mowers/tractors (mine, for instance) do also have an override though, which will allow the unit to be pushed for short distances. It's not recommended to push them very far/fast this way, but it'd be enough to at least get it up onto a trailer (with help from a few friends - my tractor with the belly mower on weighs ~1200 pounds, I wouldn't want to attempt loading that manually on my own).

Another trick I've used a few times, if I have to leave the tractor unattended for an extended time not in the shed, is to crank the steering wheel all the way in one direction or the other and then chain it to something solid on the tractor (e.g. the rear axle). Feel free to joy ride in small circles on my land all you want. Of course, this wouldn't work quite so well on a zero turn.

[gumptrick]

Some hydrostatic mowers/tractors (mine, for instance) do also have an override though, which will allow the unit to be pushed for short distances.

Yes, my SCAG has that feature. However, I'm not sure that the average crook would know about that. At least on my mower it's not an obvious switch or lever; you have to access the internals of the mower & it requires tools. Even then, once you get override enabled, it takes an awful lot of effort to push the mower even on level ground; pushing it up a ramp would be very challenging. It's not something that is going to be done quickly by a single crook.

Another trick I've used a few times, if I have to leave the tractor unattended for an extended time not in the shed, is to crank the steering wheel all the way in one direction or the other and then chain it to something solid on the tractor (e.g. the rear axle). Feel free to joy ride in small circles on my land all you want. Of course, this wouldn't work quite so well on a zero turn.

Yeah, that's a good idea too. On a ZTR you could always lock the control handles to the "outside" position. That would prevent you from driving it, and would also prevent the engine from being started on many models. (It's common for there to be a safety switch so you can't start the engine unless the control levers are "outside"). You could also lock the parking brake if the mower was thus equipped.