Well, I'm actually in North Chicago - a little town by the Great Lakes Naval Base - just south of Waukegan. "Big" Chicago is about 28 miles south.

Given some serious thought to "hardening" my topper (I drive a pickup truck w/ a fiberglass "camper" style top - 2 slider windows on the sides, and a see-through window in the back over the tailgate)

1) build a plywood deck just higher off the truck bed than the average Milwaukee box is tall. This will allow me to secure tools & supplies under the decking, invisible to "wandering eyes" - it also allows me to be able to tote sheet goods without dumping everything out of the bed. This will stay in place if/when I get a "contractor" cap for that reason.

2) Bolt a piece of B-24 C-Strut to the bottom of the lift door of the topper - with the open side towards the frame, with small cutouts to allow access to the lock/handle. This will keep the aluminum from being "flexed" out of position, which facilitates popping the lock rods out of position... which is how Schmucko got in.

3) Get some expanded metal lathing cut to size(we have an iron/steel works that the FD is on pretty good terms with in town), and use hi-tensile round/carriage head machine bolts and panel washers to secure it over the rear and side windows. It won't be very quiet at highway speeds, but at least my stuff should still be there.

4) Radio Shack has a "portable" alarm for cars that hangs inside the engine compartment and clips to the battery - it even has a keychain remote! I figure I'd hard mount it to the lift gate, and run some SJO (or similar) from the battery back to the alarm in the bed - at least this way if somebody f*s with the rear gate, they'll get an earache.

5) Install a lock in the tailgate handle, or else mount a gate latch inside the tailgate, so you have to access the inside before dropping the gate.

Anybody got a Knapheide or Reading topper for sale? [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by DougW (edited 04-12-2004).]