I really would like to know. This past year has been a winner for the sawzall thieves. Its hard to take when good folks and businesses pay such a price. One couple with a stored RV bought a OEM replacement converter for $3,300.00. Their engine is a V10. Now the bastards have again been hitting the Uhaul trucks. Three last Thursday or Friday night. I'm thinking it would be so right if converters could be redesigned to work with non valuable materials. The F'n scrap yards are basically legal criminals. They got no interest in working with Law Enforcement. Saw some wise guy on Facebook last year post a pic of a whole trailer full of converters and it was visible where they were sawzalled off. He titled his post Cats. I am sure he came by those legally..uh huh. Anyhow, I get to baby sit the trucks now, grouped up close by so I might hear a power tool. I wish they could arrest them all involved and deal out some quality jail time.
December 07, 2021, 08:28 PM
sigmonkey
Used to hang horse thieves and cattle rustlers...
"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
December 07, 2021, 08:28 PM
gearhounds
Heads on pikes.
“Remember to get vaccinated or a vaccinated person might get sick from a virus they got vaccinated against because you’re not vaccinated.” - author unknown
December 07, 2021, 08:34 PM
KevinCW
The above two are my vote.... It's sad that we are seeing the epidemic of this, especially in urban areas where there are both more targets, and usually, a public desire to "coddle the criminals" by the local prosecution and "activists."
Start throwing people in jail for their crimes, and stop decriminalizing drugs. Many of these crimes are committed by addicts. The common theme lately is to coddle the addict as opposed to incarcerate them. I get treating the addiction to try to end it, but it's being undertaken the wrong way. If they don't face consequences, they don't ever hit the "rock bottom" most need to actually make a change.
Strive to live your life so when you wake up in the morning and your feet hit the floor, the devil says "Oh crap, he's up."
December 07, 2021, 08:37 PM
David Lee
At least let the LEOs bang their darn heads putting them in their cruisers. I think it would be a snap to alarm the exhaust and use a back up battery. But who even answers car alarms when they are set off. The industry of cat thieving needs to be fixed. All sorts of preventive measures on line for sale. The Uhauls have a rebar steel basket welded over the converter and the thieves saw right through it. Theres got to be a way to fix this. Something has to change.
December 07, 2021, 09:04 PM
nasig
quote:
I wish they could arrest them all involved and deal out some quality jail time
that doesn't happen anymore
December 07, 2021, 09:13 PM
David Lee
quote:
Originally posted by KevinCW: The above two are my vote.... It's sad that we are seeing the epidemic of this, especially in urban areas where there are both more targets, and usually, a public desire to "coddle the criminals" by the local prosecution and "activists."
Start throwing people in jail for their crimes, and stop decriminalizing drugs. Many of these crimes are committed by addicts. The common theme lately is to coddle the addict as opposed to incarcerate them. I get treating the addiction to try to end it, but it's being undertaken the wrong way. If they don't face consequences, they don't ever hit the "rock bottom" most need to actually make a change.
What ever the reasons Kevin, someone is benefitting from all the rare metals. It goes right up the line. I helped a friend take 25 40 pound boxes of wheel weights in to scrap yard a couple Summers back. I told him lead was worth something. The boxes were in a gaylord pallet he and his wife bought from Walmart returns. Walmart basically wanted someone to deal with their scrap lead. Our surprise after dumping the dirty weights into a bin to be scaled, the scrap yard worked sawed a few in two and they were steel. If they can change a wheel weight material, they should be able to make converters work from a lesser material. Just my thinking.
December 07, 2021, 09:30 PM
flashguy
Catalytic converters contain Platinum, which is the material that works to eliminate the hydrocarbons in the exhaust. The materials that have that ability are very few, and most are even more expensive than Platinum.
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth
December 07, 2021, 09:37 PM
nhtagmember
the converter is designed to facilitate a specific chemical reaction
it just so happens the catalyst is platinum
I suspect it wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue as if the catalyst were aluminum or ironThis message has been edited. Last edited by: nhtagmember,
December 07, 2021, 10:36 PM
tanner
quote:
Can the catalytic converter be rethunk
It has been. In the way back of the 1980’s, I had an Astronomy course at a Detroit area community college and the adjunct professor was a former engineer with a very prominent auto manufacturer, *cough* *cough* “Generous Motors” *hack* *cough* *flem*.
Said engineer was an MIT PhD engineering graduate. He spent many years developing technology in GM’s R&D along with others who were recruited as the best and brightest from top universities. These guys and girls were given anything and everything in the way of laboratories, facilities and resources to chase their scientific ideas and dreams. Anyways, one of the technologies he developed was a very simple and affordable replacement to the current platinum catalytic converter. He was very excited about his discoveries.
GM shelved the technology because it would not make them money in the present environment. He said there are thousands of such technologies developed, patented and ready to be deployed that are not financially advantageous to the corporate entities that they were developed within. GM waits until these technologies can be sold outright or implemented to gain maximum market or financial advantage. Stay tuned.
The engineer eventually quit GM to pursue “other opportunities”.
December 07, 2021, 10:49 PM
DougE
quote:
The F'n scrap yards are basically legal criminals.
The one in my area will not take catalytic converters unless you can prove it came off your vehicle.
The water in Washington won't clear up until we get the pigs out of the creek~Senator John Kennedy
December 07, 2021, 10:51 PM
BBMW
You would think states would start tightly regulating the purchase and trade of scrap cats. If they don't get the car intact with the cats, they just can't buy them. If they can, the seller has to show ID and title to the car it came off of. Do cats have VINs stamped on them? If not, they should.
December 07, 2021, 11:25 PM
tanner
quote:
Originally posted by BBMW: You would think states would start tightly regulating the purchase and trade of scrap cats. If they don't get the car intact with the cats, they just can't buy them. If they can, the seller has to show ID and title to the car it came off of. Do cats have VINs stamped on them? If not, they should.
The problem is that the contents of the cats are pellets of platinum. A VIN could be stamped on the shell that contains the pellets, but a VIN on each and every pellet would probably be cost prohibitive.
December 08, 2021, 05:34 AM
r0gue
Couple more years and cars won't need cats. And the thieves will be stealing the batteries from cars. As Sigmonkey said, the problem is the thieves. Until we deal with that, we're just prolonging the issues.
December 08, 2021, 07:20 AM
David Lee
quote:
Originally posted by tanner:
quote:
Can the catalytic converter be rethunk
It has been. In the way back of the 1980’s, I had an Astronomy course at a Detroit area community college and the adjunct professor was a former engineer with a very prominent auto manufacturer, *cough* *cough* “Generous Motors” *hack* *cough* *flem*.
Said engineer was an MIT PhD engineering graduate. He spent many years developing technology in GM’s R&D along with others who were recruited as the best and brightest from top universities. These guys and girls were given anything and everything in the way of laboratories, facilities and resources to chase their scientific ideas and dreams. Anyways, one of the technologies he developed was a very simple and affordable replacement to the current platinum catalytic converter. He was very excited about his discoveries.
GM shelved the technology because it would not make them money in the present environment. He said there are thousands of such technologies developed, patented and ready to be deployed that are not financially advantageous to the corporate entities that they were developed within. GM waits until these technologies can be sold outright or implemented to gain maximum market or financial advantage. Stay tuned.
The engineer eventually quit GM to pursue “other opportunities”.
That was quite interesting. Thank you.
December 08, 2021, 07:25 AM
David Lee
quote:
Originally posted by BBMW: You would think states would start tightly regulating the purchase and trade of scrap cats. If they don't get the car intact with the cats, they just can't buy them. If they can, the seller has to show ID and title to the car it came off of. Do cats have VINs stamped on them? If not, they should.
On the tube there are vids teaching people how to extract and smelt the metals. Rhodium seems to be of value somewhere above 6 grand per ounce to 17 grand.
December 08, 2021, 07:33 AM
gearhounds
I did a little research years ago when putting a high flow cat on my Grand Cherokee. A cheap $100 ceramic honeycomb construction cat is nearly as effective as these ridiculously expensive platinum based style. They might not last as long, but there is no reason they could not be used. The introduction of oxygen is the perfect catalyst to a hot converter. To me, the slight increase in scrubbing effect of platinum just isn’t worth the added cost.
“Remember to get vaccinated or a vaccinated person might get sick from a virus they got vaccinated against because you’re not vaccinated.” - author unknown
December 08, 2021, 08:35 AM
Aglifter
Organic chemistry pretty much uses Pt, Rh, etc as catalysts. Just how physics works.
The real issue is crooked junk dealers.
Once the city got after the local scrap yards for taking in stolen material, the theft rate in the industrial park collapsed.
December 08, 2021, 08:38 AM
220-9er
I'm surprised the liberals haven't proposed outlawing or regulating the possession of the Sawzall or limiting how many replacement blades you can carry. Just think how many cats lives could be saved.
Fence in the U-Haul yard and get a couple of Dobermans.
_________________________________________________________________________ “A man’s treatment of a dog is no indication of the man’s nature, but his treatment of a cat is. It is the crucial test. None but the humane treat a cat well.” -- Mark Twain, 1902
