Increasing the security of my LR

[Wheely]

Hi All,

I want to increase the security of my doors to make it tougher to get in. I am also working on a solution for the windows/glass but I will keep this separate.

For this I have been roaming for potential solutions and the one that I think is best is to put YALE P400S at the doors - this is a big lock designed for delivery tracks (DHL, etc....) back doors.

 See attached the measures of the lock and where I intend to put it on my Landy (the orange bits) - don't see any other places where this could fit given the size of the lock

Would appreciate your thoughts on:

1) the idea in general
2) the best location where the lock can be fitted to ensure these are well anchored but don't damage any critical part of the car

Thanks a lot!

Simone

Edited June 17, 2017 by Wheely

[ballcock]

They look a little ugly. I would consider building dead bolts into the door structure rather than those.

[jeremy996]

I'm not convinced that this will achieve more than just making it harder for you to get in. The front lock will do very little - the door will act as a lever against it. Do you have the one piece steel doors or the older alloy skin and steel frame doors?

If you have the newer doors, then they may be stiff enough to make the additional locks something of a deterrent. If you have the older doors, forget it; you can bend the tops down to get access, so all you will achieve is daily annoyance for yourself and little barrier to the local scrotes. 

If you want to keep your stuff, get a dog guard, interior window grills, a steel safari door and a better rear door lock. For the front, a lockable cubby box, an underseat lockable box and consider everything else to be at risk. 

If someone just nicks the truck, then all bets are off; whatever you've done was pointless.

I have a number of items fitted to keep the truck and assume that the stuff inside is likely to get nicked. I am a fan of the X-Eng stuff, so have chosen from the catalogue, have an FIA battery isolator, tracker and some other small electrical surprises in a 200Tdi 110 CSW. 

Here's a previous thread that may be relevant; 

 

Edited June 19, 2017 by jeremy996
Remembered the thread in January

[Wheely]

Great thanks for your feedback and link to previous discussion.

It's a 1995 Defender, guess these the one piece doors?

The lock wouldn't be fitted at all times, just when there is stuff inside I don't want to be easily nicked so this can be some sort of deterrent - is the same type of lock used by delivery vans.

Would you attach it to the thick bit of the Defender frame (only I wouldn't have access to the bolt from the inside) or rather have it attached to the thinner bit to avoid damaging the thicker frame as it'd compromise safety in some way?

 

 

 

 

 

[miketomcat]

With the best will in the world by putting great big locks on the outside you may as well have a flashing lights say stuff worth nicking inside. If original or like for like swapped your door are aluminium and steel. A locked steel box bolted down inside or creating a box with window guards etc is better in my opinion. But leaving anything in a land rover is brave but if you must then hide it or disguise it.

Mike

[reb78]

I only leave important stuff in the car when the dogs are also with with me! Good luck getting past the jack russell in the first place and the hope is he will wake the lab enough to do his job

ETA, dont dismiss ballcocks idea about building the locks into the door. I have these fitted on my garage door http://www.loktonic.co.uk/product.php/5976701/ and i can see how they could be discreetly worked into a defender door and B/C post and back door.

[Beardy Face]

The setup proposed for the front doors won't resist the leverage of the door against what's effectively a hasp and staple anyway, regardless of the issues regarding breaking down the door-top or simply breaking glass.. the proposed type of lock needs to bridge the opening edge of the door and the door post to resist entry.. not be fitted on the hinge edge.  The suggestion of fitting deadlocks is absolutely superior, even though it's more work.

[Tanuki]

Given how easy it is to unscrew the hinges from the bulkhead I can see the attractiveness of putting *something* at the leading-edges of doors.

[Do it the easy way: get some suitably-sized ball bearings and glue them into the 'heads' of the Torx-bolts on the hinges using quick-set epoxy]

[Snagger]

I can't remember where I saw it, possibly something SimonR designed (it is his kind of simple but ingenious solution), but you can buy (or make) Z section steel plates that sit inside the front edge of the doors, secured against the frame by the hinge nuts, with the other end behind the door seal flange when the doors are closed.  That prevents the doors and hinges being undone from the bulkhead, as Tanuki highlights, which is the thieves preferred method of getting at the doors.  The hinge bolts that run through the door are harder to defeat as the nyloc nuts inside will spin with the bolt, unlike the captive nuts in the door pillar...

 

The other weakness is the rear windows, so any other work is a waste of effort unless you do something about them.

[Wheely]

Thanks everyone for contributing ideas and suggestions.

I have heard multiple times that the rear windows are a big weak spot: what are the solutions to that? 

[Snagger]

Security grilles (like Mantek) or the bonded windows like Masai.  You could bond larger glass to the inside of the panel and cut down the original seals to fit the outer  half for cosmetic purposes if you prefer the original look.  SII and late Defender commercial tops are available without rear windows, if you are willing to spend a bit more and have some painting done.

[ballcock]

13 minutes ago, Wheely said:

Thanks everyone for contributing ideas and suggestions.

I have heard multiple times that the rear windows are a big weak spot: what are the solutions to that? 

Internal grills, blank out the windows, bedding the rubber seals with a sealant. beat me to it.

 

[Wheely]

Cool, so by rear windows we mean the 2 little ones at the back of the truck rather than the one of the passenger door (the side window that doesn't come down).

Is there any guide on how to do the 'bedding the rubber seals'?

[ballcock]

11 hours ago, Wheely said:

Cool, so by rear windows we mean the 2 little ones at the back of the truck rather than the one of the passenger door (the side window that doesn't come down).

Is there any guide on how to do the 'bedding the rubber seals'?

Just use a silcone or mastic when fitting the rubber seals it just makes it a little more difficult to pop them out.

[Wheely]

So basically i need to remove the glass, put the silicone and put it back in?

[cackshifter]

YRM have some hinge protection plates

[reb78]

20 hours ago, Wheely said:

So basically i need to remove the glass, put the silicone and put it back in?

I'd have thought that if you are putting deadlocks or similar on the doors, you want to rely on a bit more than mastic on the rear windows and look at the window grilles. 

[Snagger]

PU adhesive might just do the job of securing those rear windows, but silicone sealant won't.

[Wheely]

Sorry I meant PU sealant!

My rear is separated from the front with a section/partition of aluminium - for sure I would look anyway at putting a grill to make it as safe as possible as in the rear eventually is where I will camperize Wheely! But for the meanwhile the PU sealant is a good call - is there a guide with pictures on how to do that?

Nice the hinge protection plates from YRM!  A more expensive alternative (GBP28 each) to the idea of @Tanuki of putting suitably-sized ball bearings and glue them into the 'heads' of the Torx-bolts on the hinges using quick-set epoxy

[Snagger]

One of the magazine advertisers, TMD I think, does those hinge plates for 30GBP for two doors, and 45GPB for four doors.  They don't do the rear door, but the nuts are not captive on that, and only the lower hinge nuts are external, so they can't be got at on the top hinge (or middle, if fitted).

I'd do this rather than put a ball bearing into the Torx or cap headed bolts (post Series era) because that ball bearing will make hinge replacement an utter bitch in the future - you won't be able to drill it, grind it or anything else.  You may be able to get it out with a rod welded to it, but that'd probably weld the ball to the bolt head too...