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Thread: Bold Boulder Thieves!!!

  1. #1
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    Bold Boulder Thieves!!!

    Kind of a long story. It rained two inches yesterday. Across one of the state roads on both sides of our place there is some construction work going on. Those guys didn't work today, because the ground was too wet from all the rain.

    There is another state road that goes down the middle of our place. Off that middle road is a path to an abandoned rock quarry. The path in to the rock quarry is a bit less than a quarter mile. The quarry hole has 8 tenths of an acre of water in it, and several acres of all sizes of Granite around it, and beside the path when you get close to the quarry.

    Someone "borrowed" a dump truck, and rubber tracked skid steer loader from the construction site, and went into the quarry path, tearing the red dirt path all to pieces. They did obviously take some fairly large bolders, knocking down trees in the process.

    On their way out, they made a wrong turn onto some of our trails, and got the truck stuck up to the axle. They went back to the construction site, and "borrowed" a 320 class excavator, driving it across the state road, knocking down some trees, got it onto our trails, and walked it about a half mile to pull the dump truck out. All this I figured out by the tracks left, and holes where the truck got stuck. They walked the big excavator back, and parked it where it was, but it left two thick, muddy tracks across the road.

    I knew the equipment owner, and called him. I knew he hadn't done it. He said they didn't even work today. People don't take keys out of stuff around here, but maybe they'll start.


    So, we're missing some big rocks, that I would have given anyone if they asked, and they won't be missed a bit, but I'm pretty pissed about the path, and trails being torn up so badly by someone who knows how to operate equipment, but was too stupid to realize that after two inches of rain, the ground would be too soft to put any piece of equipment on.

    A deputy did come out, and made a report, but who knows if anything will come of it.
    Last edited by Tom M King; 05-01-2020 at 8:31 PM.

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King;
    A deputy did come out, and made a report, but who knows if anything will come of it.
    Did the deputy ask you the great question. "If you find out who did this, give us a call." That's what the police did when my motorcycle was stolen.
    Last edited by John K Jordan; 05-02-2020 at 8:50 AM. Reason: fix quote

  3. #3
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    A deputy did come out, and made a report, but who knows if anything will come of it.
    If they didn't dust for fingerprint evidence you likely won't hear from them again.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    If they didn't dust for fingerprint evidence you likely won't hear from them again.

    jtk
    Sometimes....

    A friend and I returned to the truck after cave diving at a spring in Fla to find someone had broken into his truck and taken money from his wallet. Carl had "hidden" his keys in the tailpipe and the guy who took the money put them back when he was done! Carl reported the theft to the local authorities.

    Months later: he got money in the mail. The police caught a guy breaking into other vehicles in the same area. The guy confessed. And gave back the money.

    BTW, with some recent exceptions, anyone can buy a set of keys that fit any construction equipment. Some get stolen that way. Some owners buy insurance. Some put GPS trackers on their equipment and use a service that sends a text message if the equipment is even moved. When leaving the property for more than a few hours I disable the starting circuit on my new excavator. (It's not a big one but I'm amazed at what it can lift - I used it last week to give a 3000 lb rock to a neighbor.)

    JKJ

  5. #5
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    Geez, sounds like a lot of effort for a few boulders. There are some strange folks floating around in this world.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by julian abram View Post
    Geez, sounds like a lot of effort for a few boulders. There are some strange folks floating around in this world.
    Strange? Greed! Big rocks are big money. If you haven't checked you might be surprised. Architects and landscapers will pay a small fortune for the right rocks for their clients with deep pockets.

  7. #7
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    One of the high schools in my area while growing up had a big rock with the school's name engraved on it.

    It would occasionally go missing before important football games. It would always turn up eventually.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    One of the high schools in my area while growing up had a big rock with the school's name engraved on it.

    It would occasionally go missing before important football games. It would always turn up eventually.

    jtk
    University of TN has a huge boulder that students have painted for over 50 years, messages, artwork, graffiti, whatever! Anyone and everyone is unofficially invited to paint when and what they want (just play nice, kids!) Sometimes it gets painted one day and painted over by someone the next.

    https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/...rock/92887980/

  9. #9
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    Sorry for the damage to your place Tom. In the arena of dumb crooks, we found a smooshed pickup truck in the yard one time when some clever thieves thought they'd roll some of this sort of stock into their f-150 and make a killing at the salvage yard.

    steel on trailer.JPG
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    Sorry for the damage to your place Tom. In the arena of dumb crooks, we found a smooshed pickup truck in the yard one time when some clever thieves thought they'd roll some of this sort of stock into their f-150 and make a killing at the salvage yard.

    steel on trailer.JPG
    I worked for an HVAC manufacturer that used lots of these big sheet metal rolls. One became unsecured and started rolling. Rolled right through the reinforced cement block wall and ended up in a cement culvert about 30 feet later. They put a new overhead door where the hole was.
    My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities

    The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    BTW, with some recent exceptions, anyone can buy a set of keys that fit any construction equipment. Some get stolen that way. Some owners buy insurance. Some put GPS trackers on their equipment and use a service that sends a text message if the equipment is even moved. When leaving the property for more than a few hours I disable the starting circuit on my new excavator. (It's not a big one but I'm amazed at what it can lift - I used it last week to give a 3000 lb rock to a neighbor.)
    I never understood why companies use generic keys like the Indak key on expensive equipment. For years Toro used a generic key on their commercial riding mowers even though some cost over $20,000 in 1992. I don't know if Toro still does this today, but I have a 2005 Toro commercial mower in my garage with the same generic key.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    I never understood why companies use generic keys like the Indak key on expensive equipment. For years Toro used a generic key on their commercial riding mowers even though some cost over $20,000 in 1992. I don't know if Toro still does this today, but I have a 2005 Toro commercial mower in my garage with the same generic key.
    One construction manager told me his operators keep losing the keys. He had to buy many replacements. Maybe that's one reason. I suspect the other is cost. How they can cheap out on a key for a $50,000-$100,000 machine is beyond me too. This guy stopped the key loss when held they operator's drivers license hostage until the key was returned at the end of the day.

    The Kubota sales info indicates a special security key system is available but the salesman said he never saw one and couldn't find out how to order one.

  13. #13
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    The Kubota sales info indicates a special security key system is available but the salesman said he never saw one and couldn't find out how to order one.
    That sounds like a salesman who wasn't motivated to do his job.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    That sounds like a salesman who wasn't motivated to do his job.

    jtk
    Things are not always how they sound.

    That salesman, a second salesman, the dealer manager, the parts department manager - none could find info on the security keys in their lists or on the Kubota web site. This got me wondering if it was an option available elsewhere in the world and not in the US. Or maybe it was a planned option that was not or was not yet offered.

    A backup light kit is one other thing offered in the sales literature but apparently unavailable by those who searched. I have a Kubota rear light kit for a UTV I plan on modifying to mount on the excavator. That would really help to keep from backing into a tree when clearing in the woods late at night. Right now I shine a flashlight out the back window.

    JKJ

  15. #15
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    I have enough LED lights, switches, fuses, wires and covers to go all the way from the battery, to turn night into day on the John Deere. I just need to get around to installing it all.

    I rented a Bobcat once that you had to punch in a code every time you started it. I never went back to that rental place.

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