Excavators and other tracked machinery are relatively easy to steal, given that they’re on tracks and are fairly mobile.
By securing the track of the machinery, you are greatly reducing the opportunity to be driven away or winched on to a trailer.
When an excavator costs from £20,000 to buy, the last thing you want happening is for it to get stolen. Even if you were to hire a mini digger for the day, that can be around the £100 mark and it would still need securing whilst in your hands.
The costs involved in losing a tracked piece of machinery is vast, when the remedy to holding on to it is so simple.
There are many ways to prevent mini digger theft, or excavator theft, or theft of whatever tracked machinery you have.
How to prevent tracked machinery theft
- The first one may be obvious but do keep it locked up and keep the keys away from the tracked machinery. Try not to leave the keys onsite as it would only a take a minute for a thief to break into your site cabin, grab the keys then head off into the night with your tracked machinery.
- Blocking it in might seem like another good idea. There are two trains of thought on this one. We wouldn’t recommend blocking it in with another vehicle, a van for instance. It is not difficult to smash a window of the van, take the handbrake off and steer the van out the way. They then have easy access to your tracked machinery
- On the other hand, blocking it in with heavy equipment such as concrete blocks or other non-moveable, heavy items could be good idea. This would be an immediate deterrent for thieves, especially as most are opportunistic.
- Make sure to document and photograph your equipment, too. If the situation arises, you will want to have your registration documents and serial numbers to hand. This might seem excessive, but you’ll be glad you spent the extra time getting this organised when you have to report your tracked machinery as stolen.
- Lastly, anti-theft locks are always a good idea. Which brings us on to the Lincmaster MiniLok.
How does the Lincmaster MiniLok work?
The MiniLok is a very simple and effective device as it secures the tracks of rubber tracked crawler machines. The MiniLok is versatile in that it can be moved from one machine to another. This is without the need for machine modification. The tracked machinery does need to have holes in the drive sprocket to be compatible with the MiniLok.
In order to fit the MiniLok, simply feed the rod through the track and lock it in place. Going back to our point about blocking your tracked machinery in. You can use the MiniLok in conjunction with our HD Security Chain. This secures the machine to other equipment or any immovable object such as a post or other equipment
The MiniLok is made up of a shackle and locking block that is secured using Lincmaster’s renowned barrel locking system. This system has over one million combinations to prevent drive-away theft.
What do we mean by one million locking combinations?
The Lincmaster MiniLok is a ten pin lock. This means the pins are set in a circle and can be placed in different positions so to take many different keys. Each key is given a number, so it can be re-cut if you lose your key. Just don’t forget to jot the number down!
Can I use the Lincmaster MiniLok with anything else?
When machines are left on trailers, we strongly recommend that Lincmaster HD Security Chain is used to secure the machine to the trailer to prevent theft by lifting.
The Lincmaster MiniLok comes in a variety of sizes to suit all tracked machinery:
Micro: Micro Track width 180mm
Small: Up to 1.8 tonne track width (230mm)
Medium: 1.9-3.5 tonne track width (300mm)
Large: 4 tonne+ track width (450mm)
What does the Lincmaster MiniLok cost?
There are a variety of prices for the Lincmaster MiniLok, depending on which size you choose. However, they range between £148.00 and £175.00
We understand that it may be a big cost to you to pay, especially if you have multiple tracked machinery. But, we ask you:
What is the full true cost of replacing your stolen tracked machinery?
The insurance excess on a mini-excavator will pay for many MiniLoks. We often call our products economy devices – because they save you money by stopping the theft of your plant. Saving you the cost of the excess, higher premiums, lost revenues and so on.
We hear many objections to paying for premium locks, chains and other security devices. And we fully understand those. One of the frequent objections is that a thief will simply cut/grind/disc the lock off.
And we say… Only if they have the Time, Equipment, Opportunity and Inclination.
We have seen attempts to do all these things, including one where a Leg-Lock unit was cut into three pieces by burning. However, the metal in the lock melted, ran around the pin and effectively braised it in place and stopped them getting away with the machine.
Nothing is so certain but if you do nothing then you will be inviting theft. Other people are taking preventative action so you will become the obvious target!
A little more on the Lincmaster MiniLok
We have been manufacturing the MiniLok since 2009 which has absolutely flown by. We have sold many of these in different sizes but, to date, never had any returned.
Also, we have never been told a customer’s plant has been stolen as a result of the lock not working or failing. And, believe us, but if something does not work correctly or they have their plant stolen we are the first person a customer will call! So, we can be pretty confident in this claim that a MiniLok has never failed anyone.
If a new customer comes to us after they have been victim of theft, we learn a lot from them. That’s what we want to pass on to you:
Make sure you take the extra 3 or 4 minutes at the end of every day to secure your tracked machinery. Or plant, vehicles, tools or anything of value. We know you just want to get home after a long day but theft can be so costly to your business.
It’s just not worth the risk!
Get in touch
Lincmaster products have been at the forefront of protecting construction, agricultural, trade and domestic equipment, tools and vehicles for more than 25 years.
We provide you with the best anti-theft products on the market plus the advice to protect your equipment and most importantly your business.
Call us now for details about the Lincmaster Minilok as well as information on our full range of Thief Stopper products.
See our range of Lincmaster Products here
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