O-Ranger
Member
- First Name
- Robert
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2021
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 8
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Vehicle(s)
- Ranger Lariat FX4
- Occupation
- teacher
- Thread starter
- #1
So, I woke up one morning to find my taillights missing.
One trip to the auto body shop later, and I find that the bill for the lights, the blind spot monitor, and the wiring pigtail (to replace the cut one) was north of $3.5k. In addition, the shop needed a trip to the dealer to reset the computer and calibrate the sensor. This is also a reminder to have good insurance.
The Ford dealer apparently said that this was the third case they had seen in recent months. It's probably likely that they'll be a market for these parts from sketchy body shops as time goes on and Rangers get rear-ended.
How do they take the lights? They are held in by two 8mm bolts that are easily reached when you drop the tailgate (see pic with red arrows). And how do you open a locked tailgate? By jumping in the bed and unscrewing the 10 torx bolts holding in an access panel on the tailgate. And does the alarm go off when you open the tailgate from the inside? No, it does not. The whole operation probably took less than a minute and you could do it with a cordless drill and a box knife.
You might want to try the following to avoid my fate:
1) Pop-rivet the access panel shut. This only takes a few minutes to drill out the aluminum panels and you can use a cheapo hand riveter to put in a dozen rivets. (see picture)
2) Fill in the Torx screws with JB weld to make them much harder to remove. I have a WeatherTech cover on the tailgate, so they can't see the rivets until they'd get through this. (no pic)
3) Grind down the 8mm bolts so that they cannot be easily removed. I used a Dremel tool. Ideally, you could tack weld the bolt in, but its steel to aluminum and it'd probably mess up the paint and look ugly.
If you don't have the Blind Spot Monitoring System, your lights are a lot less expensive. Hope this gives you some ideas.
Also, like any post about Catalytic converter theft, people get (rightfully) angry. So, maybe let's just all agree that thieves are bad and leave it there?
One trip to the auto body shop later, and I find that the bill for the lights, the blind spot monitor, and the wiring pigtail (to replace the cut one) was north of $3.5k. In addition, the shop needed a trip to the dealer to reset the computer and calibrate the sensor. This is also a reminder to have good insurance.
The Ford dealer apparently said that this was the third case they had seen in recent months. It's probably likely that they'll be a market for these parts from sketchy body shops as time goes on and Rangers get rear-ended.
How do they take the lights? They are held in by two 8mm bolts that are easily reached when you drop the tailgate (see pic with red arrows). And how do you open a locked tailgate? By jumping in the bed and unscrewing the 10 torx bolts holding in an access panel on the tailgate. And does the alarm go off when you open the tailgate from the inside? No, it does not. The whole operation probably took less than a minute and you could do it with a cordless drill and a box knife.
You might want to try the following to avoid my fate:
1) Pop-rivet the access panel shut. This only takes a few minutes to drill out the aluminum panels and you can use a cheapo hand riveter to put in a dozen rivets. (see picture)
2) Fill in the Torx screws with JB weld to make them much harder to remove. I have a WeatherTech cover on the tailgate, so they can't see the rivets until they'd get through this. (no pic)
3) Grind down the 8mm bolts so that they cannot be easily removed. I used a Dremel tool. Ideally, you could tack weld the bolt in, but its steel to aluminum and it'd probably mess up the paint and look ugly.
If you don't have the Blind Spot Monitoring System, your lights are a lot less expensive. Hope this gives you some ideas.
Also, like any post about Catalytic converter theft, people get (rightfully) angry. So, maybe let's just all agree that thieves are bad and leave it there?
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