So who buys used (stolen) catalytic convertors these days? Two simple cuts and both cats on our 100 series were gone. Happened last night while the Cruiser was parked on the street in front of our house under a streetlight. Seems way too easy to steal and then sell to someone who may well know the cats are stolen. It's rampant in our neighborhood just up the hill from Sloan's Lake. File an online report with the police and that is the end of their involvement. Sucks.
-
ColoYota Expo: swap meet + show and shine. Saturday, May 11 from 10 am - 2 pm
Get Details & Register Now!. Only $5 to attend (no additional charge to participate in the swap meet).
Hey Guest, we need volunteers to help run the event. Please sign up here.
Stolen Catalytic Convertor
- Thread starter Crash
- Start date
maxpowerzz
Trail Ready
That sucks. I know someone in Denver Police who said car thefts are up 400%, and crooks don't care because they're not being arrested because of covid. He said that should be changing soon now that they can lock them up again, but it's out of control. We had a guy arrested in our neighbourhood recently breaking in cars and he had a bullet proof vest and semi automatic rifle on him
No idea who buys them..... My bosses Subaru got hit the other day in the parking garage at work!
The part that really sucks now is you have to buy CARB compliant cats now. They are at least double the price of a regular cat.
I'm gonna start holding my breath right now.
J1000
Rising Sun Member
Colorado law changed January 1st this year now all catalytic converters installed in Colorado must be OEM or CARB certified. Doesn't matter that CO physically tests cars on a rolling road, just more ammunition for the new war on cars.
White Stripe
Hard Core 4+
I had to replace a cat recently. I installed a magnaflow one that was carb certified. Initial research showed over 600 dollars. After shopping around on the net I paid around 300. That was for a universal cat that fit my v8 swap. But shopping around might help. Also a very good idea to install an alarm. Many new alarms have vibration sensing.
AlpineAccess
Hard Core 4+
Do you have skids? Do you think they would make any difference based on how they got at the cat?
Asking for myself now that the 100 series is parked in the driveway 😅
No aftermarket skids. ☹️ Rising Sun price at Stevinson is $1200 each. $1700 without our discount.
Oh man, sorry to hear this one again. Those cats are not at all cheap to replace, I'd probably look for a takeoff set or yard set or maybe have aftermarket cats welded into the stock tubing instead.
I'm pretty confidant the Slee belly plate on mine would protect the cats from the cut/grab.
I too wish it was harder to fence stolen recyclables, I've seen some nasty expensive damage from people steeling copper from industrial equipment etc. Maybe stamping the vins on the cats could help curb it
?
I'm pretty confidant the Slee belly plate on mine would protect the cats from the cut/grab.
I too wish it was harder to fence stolen recyclables, I've seen some nasty expensive damage from people steeling copper from industrial equipment etc. Maybe stamping the vins on the cats could help curb it
?According to BVB all Toyota cats have serial numbers that are tied to the VIN.Oh man, sorry to hear this one again. Those cats are not at all cheap to replace, I'd probably look for a takeoff set or yard set or maybe have aftermarket cats welded into the stock tubing instead.
I'm pretty confidant the Slee belly plate on mine would protect the cats from the cut/grab.
I too wish it was harder to fence stolen recyclables, I've seen some nasty expensive damage from people steeling copper from industrial equipment etc. Maybe stamping the vins on the cats could help curb it
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
grrr. Have not started my 100 today either.... time to park in the driveway again. 80 gets the garage.
As soon as I got home from eth club meeting 10 ish I saw a car do about 60 down the street, throgh the stop sign as it skidded round the corner,, another few blocks more squeal then pop pop and crash. DPD and DFD on scene shortly after at 17th & Meade.
As soon as I got home from eth club meeting 10 ish I saw a car do about 60 down the street, throgh the stop sign as it skidded round the corner,, another few blocks more squeal then pop pop and crash. DPD and DFD on scene shortly after at 17th & Meade.
mcgaskins
Rising Sun Member
Interestingly I saw a RAV4 with the darkest tint (literally in broad daylight I could not even tell if there were people inside) I have ever seen roll up to our house, park at the base of our driveway and just sit there. We have 2 cruisers in the driveway, and I was wondering if this person was casing them. I'm also worried about our old van because they're so valuable all of a sudden. I snapped pics and got their license plate just in case.
DouglasVB
Rising Sun Member
There was a segment on public radio a few weeks back about cat theft out here in California. Sounds like the cats end up in cargo containers heading to China to be melted down for the rare earth metals. Lot of them are skipping the local metal recycling places now. So I'm guessing it's more organized than it used to be.
Worst part is whoever is cutting them off your rig gets pennies on the dollar compared to replacement price.
Worst part is whoever is cutting them off your rig gets pennies on the dollar compared to replacement price.
DanInDenver
Trail Ready
Could something be fabbed up that would deter the thieves? Something like the belly plate Andy mentioned?
J1000
Rising Sun Member
People are doing all sorts of stuff from bolting skidplates onto CRVs or welding rebar cages around the cats. I have just resigned to claiming it on my insurance and getting aftermarket headers if they ever hit my 100.
AlpineAccess
Hard Core 4+
My neighbor had her 4runner at the exhaust shop to fix something unrelated to the cat. For $50 the guy put a couple 1/2" by maybe 12 inch sections of rebar to the exhaust where the cat is exposed. They were tacked to the flanges mostly it looks like for a similar metal thickness.
I mentioned it on mud and I guess there's people who think it wouldn't make a difference, but I think it would and I've had to cut exhaust tubing and rebar before.
simps80
Rising Sun Member
They stole my sons catalytic converter from his 4 runner in the parking lot of Colorado mills in the middle of the day lol.
Relentless losers everywhere
Relentless losers everywhere
gungriffin
Rising Sun Member
There is a product made out of steel cable that is designed to be installed to keep them from making off with the catalytic converter. Not sure how well it would work. https://catclamp.com/product/catclamp-standard-security-kit/
This is probably a great reason to instead just get skid plates. It would be WAY more work to get to my cats with the Slee aluminum underbelly skids.
This is probably a great reason to instead just get skid plates. It would be WAY more work to get to my cats with the Slee aluminum underbelly skids.
AlpineAccess
Hard Core 4+
Well, things got more interesting for us tonight.
Was out for a run and a few miles from my house had a car drive by me. Guy by himself in a banged up car had his window open, mask on, no license plates, and had his left on arm on the steering and wheel and his right arm up under his arm pit holding a cell phone, just high enough to see over the window sill, while not being obtrusive.
Got home and thought about calling it in, but didn't. Then went for a cool down run around the neighborhood and there he was again - cruising along at 10-20 mph right down the middle of the street with the cell phone tucked up there - now several miles away from where I saw him last time. So I got home and did call in - was transferred to a patrol officer who asked if I had seen a picture of the car somewhere. I said I hadn't, and he responded saying I described 'someone they are looking for, to a T'. He said he was on his way to our area to start looking around for the guy.
He did bring up in passing that FedEx's lot got hit, along with a number of local businesses within the last week or two - and that they had seen high clearance vehicles in neighborhoods also being targeted more frequently.
A little ironic that this all happened on the same day this thread was brought up, but I appreciate that you mentioned it here. While that behavior would certainly have registered as odd, it might not have been enough to warrant calling it in.
Was out for a run and a few miles from my house had a car drive by me. Guy by himself in a banged up car had his window open, mask on, no license plates, and had his left on arm on the steering and wheel and his right arm up under his arm pit holding a cell phone, just high enough to see over the window sill, while not being obtrusive.
Got home and thought about calling it in, but didn't. Then went for a cool down run around the neighborhood and there he was again - cruising along at 10-20 mph right down the middle of the street with the cell phone tucked up there - now several miles away from where I saw him last time. So I got home and did call in - was transferred to a patrol officer who asked if I had seen a picture of the car somewhere. I said I hadn't, and he responded saying I described 'someone they are looking for, to a T'. He said he was on his way to our area to start looking around for the guy.
He did bring up in passing that FedEx's lot got hit, along with a number of local businesses within the last week or two - and that they had seen high clearance vehicles in neighborhoods also being targeted more frequently.
A little ironic that this all happened on the same day this thread was brought up, but I appreciate that you mentioned it here. While that behavior would certainly have registered as odd, it might not have been enough to warrant calling it in.
Last edited: