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Tuffy Security
One Tough Customer: That’s Who Tuffy Builds Its Storage Products For
by Steve Temple
photos by the manufacturer
Early American settlers, crossing the plains in covered wagons, had the luxury of scouts and well-armed cowboy-types for protection of their family heirlooms; not to mention heeding the well-worn expression about “circling the wagons.” But what about us? What do we have, as descendants of those settlers who regularly recapture the adventure of blazing trails across the wilds? Well, there’s Tuffy, for one thing, an aptly named manufacturer of cowboy-tough storage equipment. If those Conestoga wagons had come equipped with Tuffy storage, the West probably would have been populated a lot faster (or at least those pioneers’ belonging would have lasted a lot longer).
Tuffy Security Products started out the same way many other companies have — frustration creatively focused on solving a problem. Back in 1989, then 17-year-old Shawn Gregory experienced the aggravation of having his Jeep ransacked once too often. The final straw that broke Gregory’s endurance was walking up to the vehicle and finding a hole and dangling wires where his stereo had once been. Right there and then, he decided to fabricate his own console that would be theft-proof, and headed to his garage workshop to do just that.
The finished product was so good, people noticed, and Gregory started making the security consoles for friends. Realizing that he really had filled an important need in the off-road community, Gregory put an ad in an enthusiast publication and three months later he had enough requests for the consoles he went into the business full time.
By 1991, Gregory and one employee opened the first Tuffy facility in Golden, Colorado in a modest 500-square-foot shop. Like all good ideas, success came in a rush, both in the volume and diversity of products produced. By 1994, Tuffy moved to a 9,000-square foot facility in Lakewood and four years later grew out of it.
The next move was to the current location in Cortez, Colorado and 16,000-square feet, then followed by another expansion in 2001 and the present 30,000-square foot facility with 25 employees. Cortez is in 4x4 heaven, according to marketing director Jeff Fox, in the four-corners area of the West, 100 miles from Moab, Utah and Farmington, New Mexico.
With its origins as a predominantly Jeep security console (the list of vehicle applications is much broader now, including a broad range from full-sized pick-ups to most of the popular SUVs), the Tuffy products had to fill two functions: Keeping valuables and stereo components out of the hands of thieves, both two- and four-legged, and holding up under the rigors of off-roading. Tuffy lock boxes are hand-made, with the help of high-tech computerized machines, from heavy-duty 16-gauge steel, and finished with an electronically fusion-bonded epoxy powder coating.
But the really fun job at Tuffy is the testing. “We get to play thief for a while,” Fox grins with a note of mischief.
The consoles are bolted to pallets and the “testers” go after them with crowbars and whatever else they can get their hands on. (Sounds like a great ice-breaker for a party, doesn’t it?)
If the lock boxes can be penetrated, they go back to the drawing board. If they survive in-house testing, they go on the road for real-world testing in employee vehicles or at one of the many four-wheel events that Tuffy supports, like the Bill Burke Triathlon.
The Triathlon, an Americanized version of the Camel Trophy expedition, includes mountain bike and canoeing legs and 200 miles of four-wheeling over terrain nearly as impenetrable as Tuffy consoles. An exercise in self-sufficiency, all the gear is carried in the vehicles, so the product has to endure not only the bone-jarring test of rock steps, mud wrestling and rugged trails, but also the constant battering from panicky participants dragging gear in and out of the 4x4s.
Whatever the Tuffy crew comes up with in terms of product testing is no rival for the feedback the company gets from customers. One, a camper in Yosemite, had his camp ravaged by a bear. Everything was ripped up as the bear went in search of food. While we all like to think of bears and raccoons as “wild” life, those creatures living near popular campsites have developed skills that would be the envy of any safe cracker. About the only thing left intact at this campsite was the Tuffy center console. It had big bear claw marks all over it, but the console and its contents survived the attack.
The features that render Tuffy products virtually impervious to bears or thieves read like the specs at Fort Knox. First, the Pry-Guard II push-lock latching system: The latch mechanism is hardened steel mounted in a welded metal assembly for superior strength.
The lock is pick-resistant and provides the same degree, or greater, than the vehicle’s ignition. The key is double-bitted and fits into a 10-tumbler lock, much harder to pick than the more conventional five-tumbler, single-bitted key systems. Consoles with tubular keys can be broken into by simply punching out the center pin. Plus, the patented anti-twist lock design reduces the vulnerability of typical push-button locks without reducing the convenience. Tuffy products with the Pry-Guard cam-lock system have the additional security similar to a deadbolt lock.
The design features of Tuffy lockboxes include a welded, not riveted, custom hinge with stainless steel and 16-gauge carbon steel components. The hemmed lid edges create a 1/8-inch thick steel rim that further deters break-ins. Especially important with open-air Jeeps are the neoprene weather seal, lock dust cover and internal O-ring incorporated into the lid design.
Don’t get the impression you’ll be driving around the automotive version of a gun-metal-gray bank vault. The consoles are available in a range of colors to match vehicle interiors. They have both interior and exterior storage trays, extra locks so all your Tuffy storage boxes can be keyed-alike. Even the drink holders in center consoles have nifty neoprene fingers that hang onto both your small McCoffee or your Big Gulp.
As for the company’s diverse range of other products, Tuffy has grown from Jeep Wrangler consoles to center consoles for a long list of light trucks, overhead consoles, rear security lockboxes, underseat drawers, truck bed-side storage boxes and full-pull load decks.
Still the most popular are the center consoles, now available in the deluxe stereo version with two compartments; one to mount a stereo or CB radio and the second lockable compartment that can hold a CD changer, tools or other valuables. The more compact Series II security console includes all the features of its deluxe big brother without the stereo-mounting compartment.
The full TJ stereo/speaker console matches the Jeep’s interior but has more than twice the storage capacity, including space for the factory subwoofer or eight-inch speakers. Tuffy also offers a couple of variations, specifically designed for the Jeep TJ. Rounding out the model-specific line are the Samurai, Jeep Cherokee XJ security consoles. Tuffy’s security center consoles mount through the vehicle’s floor. The added security is worth a little drilling.
Tuffy’s overhead consoles come in either one- or two-compartment models. These consoles are designed for mounting a stereo, CB, speakers, etc. They can be mounted to a full roll-cage and can expand to mount between a roll bar and windshield.
While the Jeep’s compact size and short wheelbase makes it more goat-like over boulders and through narrow dry-creek beds, the downside is the lack of secured storage space, especially if you’ve got poor Fido or a third human being pummeled with gear in the back. Tuffy’s solution is a line of rear lockboxes.
The expandable lockbox mounts behind the rear seat. When the rear seat is folded and tumbled, the box expands to fill up the area, plus it has all the security features and Pry-Guard II locking system.
If you’ve abandoned your Jeep’s rear seat, that will leave room for the rear cargo security drawer, or the unlimited drawer. Each has heavy-duty roller bearings and massive amounts of storage space. Then there’s the rear cargo storage cage that can be mounted directly to the Jeep floor, or on top of either of the two security drawers.
And the list goes on. There’s a rear cargo aluminum storage box for lighter weight, a series of storage trunks that mount behind the rear seat and security drawers that mount under the rear seat. In other words, Tuffy has created lockboxes and storage solutions for every inch of the Jeep Wrangler.
If your 4x4 falls into the full-sized pickup category, Tuffy makes a series of storage boxes to the same high security standards. The full-length bed-side boxes are available in steel or aluminum and will fit long- or short-bed pickups. With the Sportsman’s upgrade, you can have gun or rod holders with foam padding. For convenient smaller storage, there’s a 24-inch version of the bed-side box and a low-profile version that mounts in the bed behind the cab.
While Tuffy security lockboxes aren’t advertised as fireproof, one of the customer survival stories indicates the consoles will probably be left standing after a direct nuclear blast. Following a house fire that burnt a garaged Jeep into cinders, its dismayed customer noted with surprise that the console was intact. Not only was it not reduced to a blackened slug, the CDs inside were a little warm but still playable. If Tuffy can survive scorching fires and bears, what chance does a thief have? That’s the right stuff for one tough customer.
