Introduction: How to Lock Up Any Small Vehicle Outside.

Winter is a great time for snowmobiling, but a real pain since you either risk having your expensive machines stolen with ease or having to haul them inside or on the trailer to be locked up, even when you'll be using them again in a few hours. 

Same goes for summertime when the same is true for ATV's, dirtbikes, or anything else you use frequently and hate having to take 20 minutes to lock the thing back up.

Here is my solution to this unbelieveably annoying problem.  It takes quite some work but is incredibly effective and takes less than a minute to lock up a machine for easy un-locking when you need to use it.

Step 1: What You'll Need

- drill press
- 2" aluminum or steel fence pipe, hollow
- hacksaw (or get the guys at the store to cut it)
- some concrete
- large screws, and a drillbit the same size as the screw
- shovel (non-frozen ground) or a rented electric auger (frozen ground)
- screwdriver for the screws (i recommend using square because it's hard to strip.)
- chan or pole, length depends on how many machines you use this for
- something to attach the chain to each pole
- someone to weld whatever your attachint to the pole
- dirt

Step 2: The General Idea

It's never a good idea to keep machines unlock, seeing as how they can have a hefty pricetag on them...

Heres the idea...
1. anchor two poles in concrete about 3 feet into the ground
2. park the front of the machines between the poles
3. weave a chain through the machine's not-easily-removed parts and anchor the chain to each pole, or use a pole if it will be used for snowmobiles only.
4. VOILA!  You have effectively locked your machines

Step 3: Procedure

Poles

  1. make a hole about 6" in diameter and two feet deep
  2. take each 3 foot pole and get the chain connector welded on, a loop or something should work fine
  3. mark two feet from the bottom of the pole
  4. drill several holes between the bottom of the pole and the two-foot mark
  5. screw the screws into the holes, the idea is the get the pole and the attached screws encased in the concrete, so nobody has a chance in hell of pulling the pole out
Casing

  1. mix the concrete
  2. get someone to hold the poles in the center of the hole while you fill it up HALFWAY with concrete
  3. fix the poles there until the concrete sets completely, give it 24 hours
  4. fill the hole the rest of the way with dirt, let it freeze in with the rest of the ground and a thief would need a tractor to get the pole out.

Securing
  1. park the machine(s) with the front being between the two poles
  2. secure the chain to one pole, weave it through the machine(s), then attach to other pole with lock.

Step 4: Only for Snowmobiles?

Simply use a pole with a hinge rather than a chain.  Clamp the pole between the middle of the ski and the ground.  Those humps on the ski's fron are pretty hard to completely remove and the whole ski will have to come off for it to be detached the other way.

Look at the pictures...

Step 5: WARNINGS

This is more of a deterrent than a security system, as it can be easily defeated with a pair of bolt-cutters.  So i don't recommend using this method to lock up your prized $10,000 yamaha snowmobile and I am not responsible for any property damage/loss you may experience.