Theft Deterrent for the Andersen Ultimate

[ReagentGrade]

You can't deter a determined crook, but you can make your trailer harder to steal. But what if you have a Andersen Ultimate Fifth Wheel Hitch? I ran across a solution.

https://www.ftknoxlocks.com/our-products.html (scroll down about half way)



I saw the same thing on Amazon, but that one don't look like it could accommodate the chain connections. Maybe it's just an old photo.

It costs $175 (plus shipping?). And of course you need to provide a puck lock. The Master they offer is OK, but an American Lock puck lock is better for just a few dollars more.

Rich

[Brian B-P]

I think it's interesting that the manufacturer of this lock found it worthwhile to make a model which is specific to the Andersen Ultimate. Either there are a lot of Ultimate hitches sold, or their manufacturing method is quite flexible and able to efficiently make single units of the desired design.

The web page description says

This lock fits both the original Ultimate as well as the newly updated version with the alignment "funnel" as well as accommodates the chain eyebolts if you have them...

... but it's not obvious how it handles the funnel - this is an important feature, but the result could be an enormous steel box.

It does seem a little strange that Ft. Knox would show an obsolete version in the Amazon store, but perhaps they are just behind in site maintenance and would ship the current version.

[Starbrightsteve]

I don't have a 5.0 yet but it seems that an easy way to prevent it from being stolen without a lock is to is to use the battery cut off switch and a lockable landing gear access door.

[Donna D.]

Lockable hatches are a joke. There's only about three keys total and they work on all the hatches on all brands of trailers. Basically they just keep honest people honest. A lot of people replace the locks with thumb latches.

On my trailer, the landing gear work whether or not the battery disconnect is turned off.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Lockable hatches are a joke. There's only about three keys total and they work on all the hatches on all brands of trailers.

True, there are only a few common ones used by most manufacturers. Escapes are keyed with the most common one - a CH751.

But, you can easily replace them with a high security cam lock.

http://ch751.com

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

True, there are only a few common ones used by most manufacturers. Escapes are keyed with the most common one - a CH751.

But, you can easily replace them with a high security cam lock.

CH751 RV REPLACEMENT LOCKS, CAM LOCKS, CAMLOCKS

We did . Pretty nice lock and got the dust cover . Not to pricey just one door . Pat

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Starbrightsteve

I don't have a 5.0 yet but it seems that an easy way to prevent it from being stolen without a lock is to is to use the battery cut off switch and a lockable landing gear access door.

That would help, but if the thief had a high enough hitch the trailer could be towed without even retracting the gear. Fortunately fifth-wheel heights are pretty consistent and most fifth-wheel hitches are tedious to adjust, so a thief is unlikely to be set up with enough height; on the other hand, most fifth-wheel travel trailers have landing gear which is accessible only via a lockable door... so they're probably prepared for that.

The unusual thing about Escape's fifth-wheel landing gear setup is that the jacks are run separately (usually it is one motor for both legs), so to use the manual drives on each jack would either mean going back and forth between them, or supporting the trailer on only one jack (which you might be happy to do if you're stealing it).