Ranger got stolen :(((((((((((((((((

Warpig Racing · Post by **Warpig Racing** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:26 am

So i got home last night from my brothers shop and about 10 and went to bed about 12. I woke up and walked outside to go to work and i thought something was unusual. Then it hit me. My ranger and F150 were stolen. I dont really car about the old F150 but the ranger gone is the worst feeling in the world. So unless it is recovered in the next day or so, it will prolly be gone forever. And the racing dreams will prolly be gone with it.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:44 pm

OMG, that would devistate me if my Ranger got stolen. That's sad to hear. Hopefully the authorities will find it before it gets turned over in a ditch somewhere.

That is one of the beauties of having an EFI tuner. With it, I can write a nonfunctional tune to one of the tune locations. With the tune selector hidden away, a thief won't see it to know that a bad tune is why it isn't starting. Although I have to admit, I don't set that every time I park the truck. Perhaps I should start...

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:45 pm

That's got to be a really sick feeling after all the work you have done. Must have used a tow truck or just a chain to haul them both away? Hope they find at least the Ranger.
Dave

Ontariov8 · Post by **Ontariov8** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:10 pm

sorry to hear man hope they find them both for you and still together

Warpig Racing · Post by **Warpig Racing** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:36 pm

I got them both back tonight. Cops found the F150 about a mile away.. They stole maybe $100 worth of tools. They also stole the ashtray that may have had a set of keys to my new Camry. The ignition was not jacked so I donâ€™t think it was driven but there was no gas in it. I think they siphoned the gas out and left the truck.

So the cops called me and I went to pick it up and it had no gas. So i was driving through the neighborhood and my brother spots the ranger on a side street. So sure enough there it was... in tack, only thing they got was my helmet (about $200). Upon inspection, they found the main battery cutoff but not my other 2 kill switches. Itâ€™s bizarre. They had to tow the truck out of the drive but dropped it off a few blocks away. Doesnâ€™t make any sense. The steering column was in tack on the ranger as well.

Cops show up and take a report and i towed it home. So all and all, maybe a $300 loss and a huge headache. Iâ€™m just glad to have my baby back. I might be investing in a lojack or something like that.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:24 am

I'm just curious as to what the hell was going through their mind. If it wasn't for the tools and helmet missing, I'd think this was just some kind of prank.

And being that they were towed, how do you protect yourself against that?

Warpig Racing · Post by **Warpig Racing** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:55 am

cgrey8 wrote:I'm just curious as to what the hell was going through their mind. If it wasn't for the tools and helmet missing, I'd think this was just some kind of prank.

And being that they were towed, how do you protect yourself against that?

Yeah.. all very starnge. they siphoned all the gas out of the F150. I doubt there was more than 10 gal. I dont think they started it cause the ignition was not busted. Sad thing is the tools that i know are missing are not high dollar items. $20 2 ton floor jack that was so low on oil, it wouldnt even lift the F 150, portable air tank ($30), other small misc stuff, and my ash tray ( I think this had keys to the camry and house).

As far as protecting yourself from being towed, I guess an alarm system. Not really much else you can do. If a theif wants it bad enough they will get it if they know what they are doing.

MalcolmV8 · Post by **MalcolmV8** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:46 am

Might be a good time to re-evaluate your insurance.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:55 pm

MalcolmV8 wrote:Might be a good time to re-evaluate your insurance.

That's discouraging too. If I converted from liability to full coverage as a performance/modified vehicle, I'd have everything I have in the truck repaid for in a matter of about 5 years. Since I don't have THAT much in the truck, I can't justify the cost of full coverage. The sad part is if someone were to hit me and it be their fault, their insurance would surely just total my vehicle and write me a nice $500 check. I'd have to challenge and rechallenge that it is a performance vehicle with lots of receipts and such to get just the parts-cost out of it. That's the crappy side of driving a modified vehicle. BUT it's still better than a car payment and insurance associated with that.

Warpig Racing · Post by **Warpig Racing** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:36 pm

cgrey8 wrote:The sad part is if someone were to hit me and it be their fault, their insurance would surely just total my vehicle and write me a nice $500 check. I'd have to challenge and rechallenge that it is a performance vehicle with lots of receipts and such to get just the parts-cost out of it. That's the crappy side of driving a modified vehicle. BUT it's still better than a car payment and insurance associated with that.

Similar thing happend to me w/ my old F150. Old man hit me and his insurance wanted to write me a check ($1200). I said no. I showed the adjustor a fat stack or receipts and told him what I thought fair market value was $4500. When they got back to me, the gave me $4500. I asked how they came up with the figure and the said, its what I said it was worth. I guess I should have gone hirer, but if there was someone willing to pay me $4500 for the truck (not the best shape F150), i would have sold it to them and not thought twice about it. I then bought it back from insurance for $100 and fixed the front end and never fixed the sheet metal. Now its just a old junker that i dont car too much about.

As for full covereage, I dont drive it on the street. Just trailer to the track. Its very hard to justify $80 a month for full covereage when it sees zero miles on the street. For that matter its hard to justify the liability only since it never goes on the street.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:50 pm

It sounds like you came out of that deal smelling like roses.

dm89-5.0 · Post by **dm89-5.0** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:19 pm

hey man. great to hear u got everything back. on your f150, if it is carbed, all they need is a wire to go from the positive post on the battery to the (pos) on the coil, and that has ur spark, and they need a screw driver or something to jump the started cylinoid. Haha just so u know how they could have done it

Warpig Racing · Post by **Warpig Racing** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:40 pm

dm89-5.0 wrote:hey man. great to hear u got everything back. on your f150, if it is carbed, all they need is a wire to go from the positive post on the battery to the (pos) on the coil, and that has ur spark, and they need a screw driver or something to jump the started cylinoid. Haha just so u know how they could have done it

I know.. I have a one wire aftermarket HEI style distributor in it. But they never unplugged the wire to the distributor. I seriously doubt if they stole it, drove it out of gas and then hooked up the existing wiring before leaving it be. just doesnt make sense but neither does stealing a 31 year old truck and leaving the aftermarket stero and taking a air tank and 2 ton floor jack just to siphon out 5-10 gal of gas. Good thing these theifs were stupid. Granted i must give them some credit as they boosted 2 trucks from my driveway in same night while i was home without me or any neighbor knowing. Maybe it was a repo man in training that did it to brush up on his skills and kept a few things for trophies. Who knows??? but atleast i got the ranger back w/ motor, tranny and rearend complete.