The Missing Linc (1987 4WD 2.9 5spd short short)

[Rick W]

Here’s my 1987 “Lincoln” All Terrain

 

[Rick W]

I’ve had it since 2020 and I’ve been running around in it for a couple years. I did most of the build out in 21-22, but never wrote anything up other than a few notes in the what did you do with a Ranger today thread.

I’m about to complete the matching trailer, and a few folks asked me to backtrack and talk about how I put it all together. So I plan on doing a quickie summarized history (as much as I can do “quickie“ on anything).

 

[Rick W]

When I picked up my $40 piece of junk trailer special a couple weeks ago (unrelated to this truck) I realized that I never wired up a trailer electrical connection. I thought I pulled trailers with this before, but I must’ve done it all with the F250. So in keeping with my “upside down and backwards” methodology, I’ll start with the trailer connection fabricating.

 

[Rick W]

Since I play a lot with trailers, I’d like to be able to pull anything with anything. So as I wire up this little truck, I’m still going to put in a seven blade connector even though 90% of the time I will be using a standard 4-pin connector. And I love my strobes, so I have to put in the four pin aviation connector as well.

Remember I picked up a freebie beat up diamond plate truck box for a full-size truck a while back, and I’ve been cutting pieces out of it for all kinds of things.

I started with the section I had left under the work table. It used to run from the bottom, up the inner bed, over the rail, and up to the lid, about 8 inches wide. I cut off the top piece that had the lip, so I ended up with a 90° bend, with that lip on it.

I cut it to an even width of about 7 inches. I had a 7-blade socket, a 4-pin sheet metal mount connector, and a 4-pin aviation connector already. The aviation connector was the only one I paid for, the rest were horse trading.

I drilled a 2 inch hole for the 7-blade, and a 5/8 hole for the aviation connector, and then I slotted across at an angle to mount the 4-pin trailer connector on a 45° angle. I cut the slot in a way that the mounting side of the mounts was not cut to maintain the integrity of the whole piece. The location was also to keep it up close to the bend, since it’s the one I’ll probably use most, and they would have extra strength the closer it is to the bend. Here’s how it came out:

I misplaced my homemade hole saw template, so I started to make a new one. With all the weird fab I do on little stuff, it’s nice to have something easy like a piece of cardboard with the various holes cut out so I could just see what slides into what instead of fighting the caliper and figuring it out in my feeble brain.

I plan on running a little strut from the bottom to the top to keep it strong from bending when I plug into it, but I’ll be doing that and finishing it after I figure out how I’m going to mount it.

I haven’t thought about if I’m going to do polished aluminum, Silver, Red, black, or flat black finish on it, but it will all make sense when I get that far.

 

[Rick W]

I took a break from The Road Ranger today, and I actually regrouped on the frame I’m making for the ‘88 matching trailer for the Missing Linc. It may seem scattered, but this trailer is sitting upside down right in the middle of where I will need to move The Road Ranger trailer around, and park it when not in use. I was probably 85 or 90% done when I shifted all my efforts to the big trailer to make it to the Carlisle Truck Nationals.

To recap, I had picked up a couple of the harbor freight trailers for a little money, so I decided to modify one for under this truck bed. That was a mistake, but I’m so far into it, I’ll complete it. It would’ve been much easier to just use some 2 x 2 tubing or 2 x 4 tubing and just fabricated a frame from scratch. In the next few days I’ll post a picture of what I’m doing, and I’ll drop a sketch for anyone who would want to try it themselves. It won’t be the first time that I say don’t do what I did!

 

[sgtsandman]

So, the trailer is sketch or are you going to draw a sketch? Or is the the sketch going to be sketchy?

 

[Rick W]

So, the trailer is sketch or are you going to draw a sketch? Or is the the sketch going to be sketchy?

You’ve got my number! Yes to all!

 

[Rick W]

Current trailer status with most of the leaves blown off

 

[sgtsandman]

Current trailer status with most of the leaves blown off

View attachment 101402

At this point, definitely sketch.

 

[Rick W]

I put the second coat of silver on the 14” steelies for the trailer, and the first coat of silver and black on the center caps to match the truck.

When the silver dries, I’m going to do the red outline of the vent holes like the truck wheels, and I’ll paint the little outline circle with a cross line on the center caps to match the four-wheel-drive caps.

I have one 14 inch chrome trim ring, and I hate to buy four to get the second one, but they just can’t be found in the pull a part anymore. That will be a last minute thing, I’ll keep hunting.

 

[Rick W]

When I finally got my tail in gear today and went outside, it was actually drying up, so I decided to tackle the trailer a little more.

I got all the welding done on the frame that I needed to do when it’s upside down except two little braces. I also drilled the spring support channels, welded them on, and then bolted the springs on the front end. I’ll make the shackles for the tail end after I get the whole thing flipped over so I end up with the correct ride height to match the truck with the 3 inch lift. I mounted the spring mount channels “up,” actually down, a couple inches so I still have a little to play with to get it right

I also drilled through the frame so I can use the existing holes in the bed to bolt the bed on, and I drilled the holes to mount the back bumper and made up the bolts that I’m going to use.

I wanted to get a coat of paint on it from the bottom side, but I ran out of sunlight….

 

[Rick W]

I got out early and rolled a good coat of Rustoleum on the bottom side of the trailer frame.

I also finished painting the wheel center caps, but not the wheels.

And before I realized I had a trailer hub problem, I finished cleaning up my axle w/2000 emery paper. You can see yourself in the reflection.

I wrote up the wheel issue in the thread “what did your ranger do to you today”

Small progress, but still progress…

 

[Rick W]

Got the red accents done…

But I used the wrong red. Ugh.

 

[Rick W]

On the trailer, the ‘88 bed sits squarely on the straight 2x2s in several spots, but there is a gap in three places on each side. I was thinking of just cutting some oak blocks, painting them and sealing them, and then holding them in place with a bolt or screw.

Then I remembered my aluminum channel beams had these solid aluminum blocks about 2-1/2” x 4” x 1-1/4”.

I’ve worked all the aluminum I’ve used to date with woodworking tools with no issues as long as I went carefully. I think I’m going to cut one of these blocks out with a carbide tip skill saw, and then see how easy it would be to cut it up to the right dimensions with my bandsaw. Then drill and tap it for retaining bolts. I’ll get my trailer frame blocks, and the experience I need for my next harebrained project at the same time.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

On the trailer, the ‘88 bed sits squarely on the straight 2x2s in several spots, but there is a gap in three places on each side. I was thinking of just cutting some oak blocks, painting them and sealing them, and then holding them in place with a bolt or screw.

Then I remembered my aluminum channel beams had these solid aluminum blocks about 2-1/2” x 4” x 1-1/4”.

View attachment 101752

I’ve worked all the aluminum I’ve used to date with woodworking tools with no issues as long as I went carefully. I think I’m going to cut one of these blocks out with a carbide tip skill saw, and then see how easy it would be to cut it up to the right dimensions with my bandsaw. Then drill and tap it for retaining bolts. I’ll get my trailer frame blocks, and the experience I need for my next harebrained project at the same time.

When cutting aluminum, use lots of wd40 or equivalent while cutting. It keeps the blades from clogging up.