Hitch lock

[E T]

Got myself a bit bigger trailer two weeks ago.
I could have bought a hitch lock, but where's the fun in that? So I made one.

Turned a 50mm ball with the crude ball turner I made a long time ago.

Turned a 30mm pin.

Milled a recess for the disc lock.

Turned a concave bit on the other end for looks and hand grip. I thought about knurling it as well, but haven't decided yet.
I had to support the tool because of the stick out. Didn't realy think about doing concave stuff when throwing this simple ball turner together.

Side plates.

Covered the top with some 60mm dom tubing so they can't get to the pin and lock directly with a grinder.

Did I overdo it a bit?

 

[zzr1200]

Yep, but it kept you away from getting into trouble with beer and wimmen......

 

[8ob]

Not trying to pi55 on your fireworks @E T but hitch locks wont stop that being taken.The sctrotes use a wrap of chain they attach and just drive off. Need to get a bit more creative with incendiary devices and the like A locking post in the ground through the a frame at the front would be a start.

Bob

 

[E T]

Yep, but it kept you away from getting into trouble with beer and wimmen......

I stopped drinking alcohol 3 years ago and have been single for 19 years and I love it.

 

[E T]

Not trying to pi55 on your fireworks @E T but hitch locks wont stop that being taken.The sctrotes use a wrap of chain they attach and just drive off. Need to get a bit more creative with incendiary devices and the like A locking post in the ground through the a frame at the front would be a start.

Bob

That's true, but I live in a small village in a very low crime area. Even without a lock it probably wouldn't get knicked.
It was a nice project and will stop the opportunistic scrotes.
I can also park it round the back out of sight, but the single axle trailer is already there and some other stuff, so I would have to clear some space for it first.

 

[Erie Fred]

Here is a standard one:

https://www.harborfreight.com/universal-coupler-receiver-lock-58826.html

Yours has added the cover over the pin to preclude a cut-off wheel better.

 

[bricol]

Straight down the side with a grinder/saw and it's off. Stihl saw on full welly - seconds . . .

I use a proprietary hitch lock, but I'm under no illusions as to how long it would take someone to get off.

I'm lucky in that I don't need to use my trailer all the time - so I remove the wheels, leaving it stood on it's rear stabilisers and the folded neck. Keeps the tyres out of sunlight too, so they last rather better.

 

[Melvyn Best]

That's true, but I live in a small village in a very low crime area. Even without a lock it probably wouldn't get knicked.
It was a nice project and will stop the opportunistic scrotes.
I can also park it round the back out of sight, but the single axle trailer is already there and some other stuff, so I would have to clear some space for it first.

My sister lived in a small village, that didn’t stop the Scrooge’s stealing a twin axle caravan after pushing an immobilised XJ6 out of the way to get to it. All just outside her bedroom window! A few weeks later my BIL trailer was stolen along with a load of tools etc and my nephews motorcross bike that he had saved for years for. A few weeks after that theft the bike was recovered from a caravan site, it had damage consistent with someone having done a wheelie and coming off the back, there was a guy with 2 broken arms at the site when the police recovered the bike

 

[Agroshield]

I had to support the tool because of the stick out...

If you can dedicate that tool to the ball turner, you could drill and tap the underside of it for a jack screw (or even a fixed length threaded spacer). Drill and tap the ball turner itself so you can store the spacer with it when it is not needed.

 

[Migmac]

Don’t you believe where things won’t get stolen from. My son’s trailer got stolen from an airbase with one road in and one road out and security cameras!

 

[brightspark]

Don’t you believe where things won’t get stolen from. My son’s trailer got stolen from an airbase with one road in and one road out and security cameras!

cameras are good when folk wear a balaclava and have false number plates on the vehicle

 

[bourbon]

been told that, get a wheel lock, fill the tubes with broken fireworks, then stand well back, allegedly

 

[addjunkie]

Not trying to pi55 on your fireworks @E T but hitch locks wont stop that being taken.The sctrotes use a wrap of chain they attach and just drive off. Need to get a bit more creative with incendiary devices and the like A locking post in the ground through the a frame at the front would be a start.

Bob

A few round this way have left like that, grinder makes a noise.

Take a wheel off!

 

[E T]

If you can dedicate that tool to the ball turner, you could drill and tap the underside of it for a jack screw (or even a fixed length threaded spacer). Drill and tap the ball turner itself so you can store the spacer with it when it is not needed.

Yes, good idea. I made this thing quickly long time ago for a job. This is the second time I used it.
I thought about making a better one someday with the toolpost adjustable but never came around to it.
Macking a jack screw is a nice and easy fix seeing I don't need a ball turner a lot.

 

[E T]

Here is a standard one:

https://www.harborfreight.com/universal-coupler-receiver-lock-58826.html

Yours has added the cover over the pin to preclude a cut-off wheel better.

That link doesn't work on this site of the pond Fred.

 

[E T]

Everybody thanks for all the concerns, but I'll take my chances.
If the scrotes want to take something they'll take it whatever you do.
And I know that where I live the chance that somebody drives of with this is very slim. You really can't compare it to the UK or the western and southern parts of the Netherlands. That's why I love living here.

 

[magnet]

Not saying its rough around here, but my trailer is locked in a garage, i have a removable box section beam inside that spans the full width of the doors locked at either end and a loop of heavy chain locked round the trailer front and back and a hitchlock. I also have a car horn wired through a homemade switch and a floodlight working off a wheelchair battery ( this garage has no power). I had even thought of a car windsreen washer filled with some kind of identifying fluid that would also be deployed. Thats on the to do list however. It is disabled by a bathroom ceiling switch attatched to a rusty nail that looks like part of the fabric of the building and blends in with all the rest
Its loud enough and bright enough to wake the dead.

 

[sg66]

The folk who take these things you know the ones with strange accents, they just throw a big chain around the hitch assy, they don't look twice at a hitch lock, and away they go, I would start making a wheel lock too

I've worked in and around trailers along time, friends ifor trailer went the same way, I did tell him too, there wasn't so much as a flake of paint to be seen from where it was taken, broadband daylight too, never seen again

 

[Erie Fred]

That link doesn't work on this site of the pond Fred.

try a VPN
I have no way of knowing what does and doesn't work on the other end.

 

[Turbo]

Permanently attach a towball to a wall and lock your trailer onto that.