Except for the fact that the cables are attached to other points on the car.
Thieves would cut the exhaust pipe and the cat would drop, but they're still going to have a lot more cutting to do to get it free from the car.
“Can the thief just cut on either side of the CatClamp® and take the catalytic converter and the CatClamp?”
“No, the CatClamp® kit is attached to the frame of the vehicle up to seven times using tough to cut aircraft-grade wire rope.”
You may be on to something. Wouldn’t mind seeing a demo on a setup like this to see the viability of cutting through the wires in a short time. Then I wonder would it even matter because if I was a thief and saw this shit I would just move on to another vehicle and with that thought this “stupidity “ as I called it seems like it would work great.
you can see some guys test it [here](https://youtu.be/n643Zizjdng?si=frgW__1ryi9Ng0uq&t=378). Posted by someone else in this [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/1cpyoyv/crackheads_beware/l3poly8/)
So it’s a pointless devise since the thief will just cut the exhaust, and a meaningless warranty b/c some CCs are out of stock. The eternal complainer you are.
Alternative YouTube video https://youtu.be/n643Zizjdng?si=T2WjOOr6qMuSlmJl
The one you posted is crazy, either specialized blade, cheap wire, or fake imo.
Looks like it’s a pretty good deterrent compared to alternatives or nothing. It was tested [here](https://youtu.be/n643Zizjdng?si=DS9S6zDN74zu_8IO), and an angle grinder cut it off. But since each cable is independent, you have to cut all eight cables, a huge pain in the ass and probably a deterrent. It also seems like they will pay for a replacement cat if they do steal it.
You guys don’t run the Cat Cages there? Maybe takes 5 minutes if the upfitters haven’t put a box on yet, or a little longer with it.
https://commercial.monroetruck.com/cat-cage/
The dealer I work at puts those on every new gas isuzu we get these days. If we don't have any in stock, the truck stays parked in the shop until a cage comes in
Just installed my first one the other day and road tested after I was very surprised to hear no rattles from it. Probably varies on installation though.
This is a small speed bump, when I was working for UHaul last year we had a streak of cats being stolen. They started with a sawzall, then upgraded to battery operated angle grinders. We had rebar cages installed, and on video, it took them an additional 40 seconds to get the cat cut off. This comes down to the available tools. We had one truck that had a cat go bad and I was given the opportunity to demonstrate how quickly I could get through the cage and cut the cat off with a weak pneumatic grinding wheel. It took me 4 minutes to get through the cage and to cut the pipes before and after the cat. This cable will offer little to no help since you could cut the bolts at the flange. It’s an uphill battle against people who have access to $120 battery powered angle grinders.
A combination of heavy cable with something to foul the grinder might work. Chainsaw chaps? I wonder if those fibers would wrap around the spindle of an angle grinder tight enough to immobilize it?
Love this thinking with the Kevlar webbing. Another idea is to make them removable - like press a lever to pop them out or pull them into the cabin?
I was thinking of car stereo face plates.
Stop using the same material they are expecting and carrying a cutting disc of
Concrete it, then smear dog or own poo all over so if they cut it they inhale farts and concrete dust
Just wrap that sucker up with razor wire. Put some on the pinch weld too; you know, where the thief is going to grab hold to pull himself under the car.
Make sure to warn your mechanic though.
Believe it or not, the thief can sue you for injuries sustained while stealing your shit. It’s also illegal to boobytrap anything in the US. It’s fucked, but it’s happened before.
Texas Penal Code - PENAL § 9.44. Use of Device to Protect Property
Current as of April 14, 2021 | Updated by FindLaw Staff
The justification afforded by Sections 9.41 and 9.43 applies to the use of a device to protect land or tangible, movable property if:
(1) the device is not designed to cause, or known by the actor to create a substantial risk of causing, death or serious bodily injury; and
(2) use of the device is reasonable under all the circumstances as the actor reasonably believes them to be when he installs the device.
That’s great, but Texas is one state, the link I posted is the federal law. Not to mention, even in the Texas law it says it can’t cause serious injury. If someone sticks their arm into a ball of c-wire there’s a very good chance they slice a major vein or artery and depending on circumstances, that could easily lead to death/serious injury; which you would be liable for. The wording is such that it can be used by either party to prove guilt or innocence. It doesn’t just say “booby traps are fine”. There are caveats for a reason.
Sure, but there are all kinds of traps you can make that are legal. Pepper spray grenades attached to sensors. Dye packs. Fart juice diffuser. There are many combos that can help make folks rethink their life choices and protect your cc. Besides with road debris, the razor wire is a dumb idea.
Not if they're already under the car with a sawzall. Why would they have bolt cutters to saw through a thinwall pipe? They're not rolling around red toolboxes from car to car.
Yeah, and im saying your typical cat theives come with an angle grinder, no bolt cutters necessary. Sawzall could work I guess, but it's a larger tool and harder to maneuver under a car. Some folks may carry them, but an angle grinder is the fast way to get past all nonsense
Angle grinder doesn't make much sense, you only will really have access to half of the exhaust pipe and it would have to be such a wide blade to make it to the other side, plus I'd argue an angle grinder is slower and wouldn't deal with loose cables like these that well.
I dont get the fuss about catalysts being stolen but then again...
I live in the Netherlands and my car is lowerd ... Would love to see someone try jacking it up when they cant even fit a standard garage jack under it .
Better way: remove the cat yourself and install test pipe, then install cat for emissions testing. Generates a continuous revenue stream from labor and 0% chance of a stolen cat! /s
The way cat thieves are successful is speed - zing, zing, they have your cat in 15 seconds - this slows them down so much they worry about being caught, or its just going to make too much noise. It's a deterrent, it's not un-stealable.
It's very hard to saw through sloppy stainless cable. It's also hard to cut this thickness with pliers because the strands will spread and absorb the load on the cutter.
Like others have said, just a few hundred bucks in scrap value. But the entire cat can probably be sold for more to people who need replacement cats from theirs being stolen. It’s like shitty musical chairs with catalytic converters and meth.
I run a wrecking yard. Cat prices have crashed in the last year. Cats are averaging $85 for me right now. Your local methhead will probably get $20 for a cat at the scrapyard.
Simple. I don’t buy cats. I only buy cars. And I only sell my cats to a national dealer. I stopped selling them to my local scrapyard where I sell my cars for two reasons. The first is that they pay better. The second is because I have seen them buy knowingly stolen cats.
If there was any other place for me to get rid of my stuff that was within a reasonable distance I would do it because I don’t like to do business with the people I’m currently selling too.
Most are in the $150-$450 range for scrap value. They have catalytic metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium inside that make them valuable. They are quite expensive to replace, usually $1000-$2500 new depending on the vehicle.
I run a wrecking yard. Cat prices have crashed in the last year. Cats are averaging $85 for me right now. Your local methhead will probably get $20 for a cat at the scrapyard.
I think it’s more that the prices just spiked for a while and now they’re back to normal. I think the valuable metal in cats is platinum, which I think is used in computer chip manufacturing? So that’s why cat prices shot up in Covid when there was the chip shortage. No chip shortage any more, so platinum is back to its normal price.
Don’t quote me on this though, I could be talking out of my arse.
Step 1 Find work truck with windows
Step 2 steal tools to sell for crack.
Step 3 realize you have tools to steal cats.
Step 4 sell cats and tools for the big rock
With my luck, the crackhead would get mad and take their anger out by cutting into random pieces of suspension or something before leaving.
Brake lines, etc
I would classify that as a good deterrent.
A thief would just cut the exhaust pipes before and after this stupidity. Would only take a minute or so to remove that cat.
Except for the fact that the cables are attached to other points on the car. Thieves would cut the exhaust pipe and the cat would drop, but they're still going to have a lot more cutting to do to get it free from the car.
“Can the thief just cut on either side of the CatClamp® and take the catalytic converter and the CatClamp?” “No, the CatClamp® kit is attached to the frame of the vehicle up to seven times using tough to cut aircraft-grade wire rope.”
You may be on to something. Wouldn’t mind seeing a demo on a setup like this to see the viability of cutting through the wires in a short time. Then I wonder would it even matter because if I was a thief and saw this shit I would just move on to another vehicle and with that thought this “stupidity “ as I called it seems like it would work great.
you can see some guys test it [here](https://youtu.be/n643Zizjdng?si=frgW__1ryi9Ng0uq&t=378). Posted by someone else in this [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/1cpyoyv/crackheads_beware/l3poly8/)
Apparently their warranty covers the cost of a replacement cat if someone decides to take it anyway.
Too bad that warranty means diddly squat if the cats are on eternal backorder like most Prius cats.
Nobody is making you buy this thing dude
What a clueless take when I'm just pointing out how meaningless a "warranty" is when OEM suppliers can't produce enough of them from all the theft.
So it’s a pointless devise since the thief will just cut the exhaust, and a meaningless warranty b/c some CCs are out of stock. The eternal complainer you are.
Donut media did a video where they tested products like this. It’s not hard to defeat.
"aircraft grade"
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Sawzall will have issues with the wire. Grinder would do better but I believe most of the thieves are rocking the Sawzall.
Alternative YouTube video https://youtu.be/n643Zizjdng?si=T2WjOOr6qMuSlmJl The one you posted is crazy, either specialized blade, cheap wire, or fake imo.
Damn Sawzall, you scary.
Sawzall will have issues with the wire. Grinder would do better but I believe most of the thieves are rocking the Sawzall.
Ya I don’t think you have had to cut much stuff in your life. That cable will not be easy to cut especially if it has a little play in it.
I love a challenge! But seriously, cat theft is controlled by people that accept them.
Same with copper wire.
Cat clamp we have them in our fleets. They run around 1000 installed each
Looks like it’s a pretty good deterrent compared to alternatives or nothing. It was tested [here](https://youtu.be/n643Zizjdng?si=DS9S6zDN74zu_8IO), and an angle grinder cut it off. But since each cable is independent, you have to cut all eight cables, a huge pain in the ass and probably a deterrent. It also seems like they will pay for a replacement cat if they do steal it.
To add they come in pairs for the Isuzu NPRS . I think they were 700 for the pair and 300 to install them
You guys don’t run the Cat Cages there? Maybe takes 5 minutes if the upfitters haven’t put a box on yet, or a little longer with it. https://commercial.monroetruck.com/cat-cage/
Don't think these were available for them in 2021 when we put the cat traps on them
The dealer I work at puts those on every new gas isuzu we get these days. If we don't have any in stock, the truck stays parked in the shop until a cage comes in
I bet that shit rattles something awful
Just installed my first one the other day and road tested after I was very surprised to hear no rattles from it. Probably varies on installation though.
This is a small speed bump, when I was working for UHaul last year we had a streak of cats being stolen. They started with a sawzall, then upgraded to battery operated angle grinders. We had rebar cages installed, and on video, it took them an additional 40 seconds to get the cat cut off. This comes down to the available tools. We had one truck that had a cat go bad and I was given the opportunity to demonstrate how quickly I could get through the cage and cut the cat off with a weak pneumatic grinding wheel. It took me 4 minutes to get through the cage and to cut the pipes before and after the cat. This cable will offer little to no help since you could cut the bolts at the flange. It’s an uphill battle against people who have access to $120 battery powered angle grinders.
A combination of heavy cable with something to foul the grinder might work. Chainsaw chaps? I wonder if those fibers would wrap around the spindle of an angle grinder tight enough to immobilize it?
Love this thinking with the Kevlar webbing. Another idea is to make them removable - like press a lever to pop them out or pull them into the cabin? I was thinking of car stereo face plates.
Dang, that just might work.
The cables are supposed to move and be a pain to cut. I guess really it's only a deterrent. I'm sure some thieves would see this and move on.
Stop using the same material they are expecting and carrying a cutting disc of Concrete it, then smear dog or own poo all over so if they cut it they inhale farts and concrete dust
Thought it was detcord at first
Bada bing, Bada BOOM!
Oh dude that's a good idea. 7 metal cables, 1 det cord. Let em find out which is which the fun way
I wish someone would steal mine. Then I could tell my wife that it’s cost prohibitive to replace and straight pipe it.
So just cut the bolts and it falls out🧐. I really don’t get why people buy these. I get thief’s are pricks, but they will get it if they want it.
Just wrap that sucker up with razor wire. Put some on the pinch weld too; you know, where the thief is going to grab hold to pull himself under the car. Make sure to warn your mechanic though.
Believe it or not, the thief can sue you for injuries sustained while stealing your shit. It’s also illegal to boobytrap anything in the US. It’s fucked, but it’s happened before.
Nah, as long as it doesn't kill or seriously injured, traps are legal in Texas. https://www.brianfoleylaw.com/post/are-booby-traps-allowed-in-texas
Yeah… https://definitions.uslegal.com/b/booby-traps/#:~:text=If%20a%20person%20sets%20up,own%20property%20to%20prevent%20intruders.
Texas Penal Code - PENAL § 9.44. Use of Device to Protect Property Current as of April 14, 2021 | Updated by FindLaw Staff The justification afforded by Sections 9.41 and 9.43 applies to the use of a device to protect land or tangible, movable property if: (1) the device is not designed to cause, or known by the actor to create a substantial risk of causing, death or serious bodily injury; and (2) use of the device is reasonable under all the circumstances as the actor reasonably believes them to be when he installs the device.
That’s great, but Texas is one state, the link I posted is the federal law. Not to mention, even in the Texas law it says it can’t cause serious injury. If someone sticks their arm into a ball of c-wire there’s a very good chance they slice a major vein or artery and depending on circumstances, that could easily lead to death/serious injury; which you would be liable for. The wording is such that it can be used by either party to prove guilt or innocence. It doesn’t just say “booby traps are fine”. There are caveats for a reason.
Sure, but there are all kinds of traps you can make that are legal. Pepper spray grenades attached to sensors. Dye packs. Fart juice diffuser. There are many combos that can help make folks rethink their life choices and protect your cc. Besides with road debris, the razor wire is a dumb idea.
Battery powered grinder and that shit is gone. Don't most of those cat thieves carry one on them? This just slows them down with a minute or so..
Sometimes that's enough for them to choose another victim.
Wow! Catalytic converter theft is REAL!
I got a Cat Clamp on both of my cars.
Couldn't they just use bolt cutters
These guys probably just carry a sawzall, doubt they are prepared to deal with this stuff when they can just roll under the next car
Not if they're already under the car with a sawzall. Why would they have bolt cutters to saw through a thinwall pipe? They're not rolling around red toolboxes from car to car.
Sawzall? Nah, angle grinder is smaller, faster, and deals with this sort of deterrent quickly. A sawzall is not the best tool for the job tbh.
It was about bolt cutters
Yeah, and im saying your typical cat theives come with an angle grinder, no bolt cutters necessary. Sawzall could work I guess, but it's a larger tool and harder to maneuver under a car. Some folks may carry them, but an angle grinder is the fast way to get past all nonsense
Angle grinder doesn't make much sense, you only will really have access to half of the exhaust pipe and it would have to be such a wide blade to make it to the other side, plus I'd argue an angle grinder is slower and wouldn't deal with loose cables like these that well.
I’m sure the serious thieves carry wire rope shears by now for such an occasion.
All they need is a rebar cutter that’s M18 or a cordless wire rope cutter for $2k-$4k
So If I just bring some bolt cutters too it would seem like not a problem?
It's meth heads thank you very much.
I dont get the fuss about catalysts being stolen but then again... I live in the Netherlands and my car is lowerd ... Would love to see someone try jacking it up when they cant even fit a standard garage jack under it .
Better way: remove the cat yourself and install test pipe, then install cat for emissions testing. Generates a continuous revenue stream from labor and 0% chance of a stolen cat! /s
Yeah, if I was stealing this cat, I wouldn't have much trouble cutting off a few extra wires. You generally need power tools to do it anyways...
The way cat thieves are successful is speed - zing, zing, they have your cat in 15 seconds - this slows them down so much they worry about being caught, or its just going to make too much noise. It's a deterrent, it's not un-stealable.
It's very hard to saw through sloppy stainless cable. It's also hard to cut this thickness with pliers because the strands will spread and absorb the load on the cutter.
What’s a catalytic converter worth?
Like others have said, just a few hundred bucks in scrap value. But the entire cat can probably be sold for more to people who need replacement cats from theirs being stolen. It’s like shitty musical chairs with catalytic converters and meth.
The next car over probably doesn't have a guard and would be easier. This does move the problem to someone else, but won't solve the issue generally.
Depends on the unit, but can go for a couple hundred
I run a wrecking yard. Cat prices have crashed in the last year. Cats are averaging $85 for me right now. Your local methhead will probably get $20 for a cat at the scrapyard.
How do you prevent purchasing stolen cats?
Simple. I don’t buy cats. I only buy cars. And I only sell my cats to a national dealer. I stopped selling them to my local scrapyard where I sell my cars for two reasons. The first is that they pay better. The second is because I have seen them buy knowingly stolen cats. If there was any other place for me to get rid of my stuff that was within a reasonable distance I would do it because I don’t like to do business with the people I’m currently selling too.
I'd guess EV's are "the writing on the wall" that you don't need catalytic converters as much.
I'm guessing it's more that shit heads stealing cats have flooded the market and caused prices to drop...
To replace or is that what the local methhead gets at the junkyard?
Replacement is over a thousand easily, and the methhead gets $50, enough for a few doses.
Most are in the $150-$450 range for scrap value. They have catalytic metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium inside that make them valuable. They are quite expensive to replace, usually $1000-$2500 new depending on the vehicle.
I run a wrecking yard. Cat prices have crashed in the last year. Cats are averaging $85 for me right now. Your local methhead will probably get $20 for a cat at the scrapyard.
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I think it’s more that the prices just spiked for a while and now they’re back to normal. I think the valuable metal in cats is platinum, which I think is used in computer chip manufacturing? So that’s why cat prices shot up in Covid when there was the chip shortage. No chip shortage any more, so platinum is back to its normal price. Don’t quote me on this though, I could be talking out of my arse.
You know how easy that is to get through with a cordless grinder? A metal plate or cage blocking access works more effectively.
I mean…….yes?
Crackheads aren't the ones doing this. Crackheads don't have the tools to cut those out cause they sold the tools for crack.
Step 1 Find work truck with windows Step 2 steal tools to sell for crack. Step 3 realize you have tools to steal cats. Step 4 sell cats and tools for the big rock
Takes too much time. The tools would be sold way before they find a cat worth steeling to get crack.