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

[Rick W]

Over the weekend, in between the honey-dos, I touched up the paint on the bottom in the back where I had moved the bumper. And I covered the bumper pad in Forever Black.

I went into the wire box in the shed of miracles, and pulled all the wires from the various lights up to the tongue. Just hanging under the trailer right now until I get all the circuits tested. I temp mounted a terminal strip to hook everything up and test it, which I will relocate to a more hidden position later.

I mounted all of the strobe and marker lights, the third brake light under the tailgate, and mounted the new OEM tail lights with the Lincoln star.

Everything tested out OK except the two marker lights I have on the front of the bed, kind of where the gas door is. My goal with these two lights was to mimic the side marker lights on the front of the truck. I’m not sure I like them, I would prefer something flush. I’ll take a look on eBay. So maybe it’s an omen that I shouldn’t fix the wiring until I get lights I like better. Not a top priority right this moment, so I’ll probably leave that for later.

I want to add a light inside the toolbox that works on a mercury switch, tapped into the running lights, that I acquired from (you guessed it) under the hood of a Lincoln Town Car. And then I want to add a light somewhere low on the toolbox or near the jack stand so I have a light when I’m putting the trailer on or taking it off or whatever. That will be tied into the reverse lights/rear floods, which I also have on a toggle switch.

Final item is putting a cover over the tongue, probably diamond plate, but I’m not sure yet. Maybe little tiny guard rails in case I said something there.

License plate tomorrow!

 

[Rick W]

I got a little time & redid the wires to the two side markers up front. 20 minutes, now 100% now. Funny thing is that that string of wire from my scrap bin was the only piece that was new, unused.

Truck side, the 7-blade connector I worked up is somewhere in the twilight zone section of the shed of miracles, so I made another mounting plate for the 7-blade I’m putting on the truck plus the 4-pin aviation connector for the strobes. I want all my vehicles capable of pulling a trailer with brakes.

On this trailer, no brakes, so I’m going to use an adapter and then a simple 4-pin connector, plus the 4-pin aviation connector, and then a single blade connector for the third brake light. A little crazy, but the other three trailers have/will have a seven blade plug plus the aviation connector, and I wanted to keep them all wired the same.

Baby steps…

 

[Rick W]

Afterthought, I also made up the pigtail behind the truck outlets, and I made the plug cords from the trailer. Since I had to paint the new mount I made, I had to leave it at that point.

The other mount will show up, and I have two more of these to do.

I was just about to head out, looked at my phone, and Siri says it’s snowing here in Atlanta! It’s a very fine white powder. I think Siri was sniffing it.

 

[Rick W]

They say we don’t have four seasons in Atlanta. Not true, yesterday morning we had winter, then spring at 10-11:00, and then early summer in the afternoon, sunny and 65.

Anywho, I finally installed the 7-blade trailer coupler on the truck (it hasn’t had any trailer connector since I’ve had it) along with my strobe connector.

Note the aviation connector left of the 7-blade. I put my Craigslist and Rustoleum tri-ball Pintle on, and dropped the trailer on it for the first time to finish up and check all the wiring and chains and such.

I had to use penetrating oil and a small pipe wrench to open up the connecting links in my grand daddy’s vice. No telling how long I’ve had them or where I scavenged them. I picked them out of my chain scrap bucket, & they worked fine once I oiled them up.

The strobes all worked the first time, but the ones on the passenger side are a little weak. I must have a weak connection somewhere in the 4-pair ma bell wire I used (2 lines, one color per line). I haven’t tied up all the wires under the trailer for exactly this reason, I have some troubleshooting to do.

Then I connected the 7-blade, and got absolutely nothing. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to figure out that the male wasn’t going all the way into the female. I mounted the whole thing thing bottom side of the step bumper, and my bracket had the 7-blade too close to the top, and the male wouldn’t go all the way in.

I didn’t have any fur to put around it, so I got a couple of 7/16 nuts, and used them as spacers to move the bracket down about a half inch. Then everything worked like it was supposed to, with one exception. Each directional signal works fine, but when I put the 4-ways on, it flickers. I guess I’ll have to put in a stronger flasher button in the Missing Linc.

I moved the trailer back to its parking spot to finish up the tongue. I made a little plate to go around the jack stand and hold the terminal strip and installed that.

My plan for the top of the tongue is to put two overlapping pieces of diamond plate, behind and in front of the tongue jack, that will be held down with just two Allen head 1/4-20 bolts. I did this on the Road Ranger where the plate covers the toolbox with the jack, and I’ve done it before. I leave a little Allen wrench with a wooden handle in the big toolbox to get the bolts out if I need to. Cheap security for the spare tire and anything I might leave under there.

 

[Rick W]

Inspired by @sgtsandman, I wanted to share one of the things I did to get that “professional result.”

It doesn’t just happen. You have to start with quality materials, and a professionally laid out and appointed workstation.

Here you can see where I used a relatively level place in the yard, mostly because it was 2 feet away from where I had the box stored (under tarp at left). I put my free toolbox upside down, so I could work safely with my Skil saw.

At least three legs of my plastic chair wrested firmly on the ground. But it’s all about the details. If you look very closely, you can see where I drilled a hole in the middle/rear of the seat of the chair to let the rain water out. It’s very hard to concentrate when you have a wet ass, especially if you sit down without knowing that’s going to happen. This chair doubles as my life guard chair when I let Lincoln run in the yard.

I’m still thinking of some kind of perimeter treatment around that diamond plate.

The back edge is held down by the angled face at the bottom of the toolbox. I’m going to put some type of clip on the front. Then if I put just two Allen screws where the two sheets overlap, it’ll all be snug, but easy to open up if I have to.

I’m really going to have to go and get that license plate…

 

[sgtsandman]

Inspired by @sgtsandman, I wanted to share one of the things I did to get that “professional result.”

It doesn’t just happen. You have to start with quality materials, and a professionally laid out and appointed workstation.

View attachment 106404

Here you can see where I used a relatively level place in the yard, mostly because it was 2 feet away from where I had the box stored (under tarp at left). I put my free toolbox upside down, so I could work safely with my Skil saw.

At least three legs of my plastic chair wrested firmly on the ground. But it’s all about the details. If you look very closely, you can see where I drilled a hole in the middle/rear of the seat of the chair to let the rain water out. It’s very hard to concentrate when you have a wet ass, especially if you sit down without knowing that’s going to happen. This chair doubles as my life guard chair when I let Lincoln run in the yard.

View attachment 106405

I’m still thinking of some kind of perimeter treatment around that diamond plate.

The back edge is held down by the angled face at the bottom of the toolbox. I’m going to put some type of clip on the front. Then if I put just two Allen screws where the two sheets overlap, it’ll all be snug, but easy to open up if I have to.

I’m really going to have to go and get that license plate…

Your truck bed box is missing it's bottom. Is it still within the 30 day purchase window? You might be able to get it exchanged for one that has a bottom.

 

[Rick W]

Your truck bed box is missing it's bottom. Is it still within the 30 day purchase window? You might be able to get it exchanged for one that has a bottom.

One of two I literally got for free, I don’t know how I’d swap it unless he’s got another one. I still have some of that nice diamond plate left, too. This one has a huge flat lid, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to split it lengthwise to make the fenders for the ‘Raith casket kitchen when I get that far.

 

[Rick W]

I have been down to the division of motor vehicles twice trying to get a license plate, and the police have been here twice to sign off that it’s not on the stolen list. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I told them (DMV) the truth about everything I did. Turned into a Chinese fire drill. I think I’ve got it straightened out today when the cop came by today. - btw, all great guys- so when I go down the DMV office Monday, I should be able to leave with a plate.

I also finished off the cover plates for the tongue, and used two of those 2500 self tapping 1/4-20 bolts I got for 25 bucks just to see how they work (because I’ll be using them on the big Road Ranger trailer). Worked like a charm, and then I swapped them out for some stainless Allen head bolts I had. I took one of the thousand extra Allen. Wrenches, I had the right size, it made of water to handle forward to keeping the Trailer Tool box.

I powered the strobes on both sides from a power supply at the tongue of the trailer, no problems there. The strobes are working fine on the truck, so it must’ve done something when I tapped into the wire and put the little connector next to the trailer connector. There’s a half dozen things I need to do to the truck, so it just got added to the list.

Really the last thing I can think of for the trailer, and the truck too, is I want to add six or 8 D-rings to keep stuff from sliding around. Not a priority since the first thing I’m doing with the trailer is getting mulch.

I think it’s all done except for couple minor little things, and then cleaning up the wiring underneath, and I’ll be off to the next project.

 

[Rick W]

Do you think hens teeth are rare? Try getting a license plate for a trailer you already own that you modified. The guys in the southeast may have seen me go down in flames for the third time.

I called them first, I was honest with them about everything I did, and put together what they asked for, went down there, and they told me I needed something else. I got that stuff and went down again (third contact, second trip), and then the woke person behind the counter thought I was being disrespectful when I got upset when she started asking for something else. I got shifted over to a supervisor who was very nice, but also told me I didn’t have everything I need. Before I left, we went page by page over everything so I would only have to come back one more time. What a ridiculous thought, huh?!???

When I went down today (fourth contact, third visit), each time having to wait in line for over a half hour, they said all my paperwork was OK, but the trailer wasn’t in the state database. I don’t know if I informed you guys, but I told them, I owned the trailer and brought it down from up north. No joy today, no license plate.

The county tag office has to petition the State of Georgia Department of Revenue to add the manufacturer of the trailer (out of business 20 years ago in Canada) into the system, to then be able to issue me a license plate. The gal said the “petition” was guaranteed, and, of course, refused to put that in writing, and I could come down again to get a license plate in 7 to 10 business days. What do you think the chances of that really happening are?

That’s going to put me about 21 days into trying to get a license plate. I built a Zaxby’s restaurant on top of a cleared lot that had utilities in 90 days. But I know, I’m confused, this is a tag for a $3 or $400 used trailer that I already owned. I should’ve known that it was going to be a very important system to go through. I just hope the governor, and the secretary of state, and Jesus Christ himself are available that day so I can get the plate!

 

[sgtsandman]

This makes me wonder what kind of joyful experience I'm going to go through if and when I move to Tennessee like I want to after I retire. It's a Chinese made trailer with a title and VIN plate but the company I bought it from has been out of business a long time. Hopefully the VIN plate, title, and the out of state plate will be enough to not need to jump through a bunch of hoops.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Anything rated for under 1200 pounds in Oregon doesn't need a plate conveniently and as long as it doesn't look like you're using it for business purposes they really don't care, assuming it looks like whatever load is there is secure... Don't envy that, my friend tried to get his trailer legal but ran into similar issues so gave up and just runs without a plate, been a decade now...

 

[Curious Hound]

This makes me wonder what kind of joyful experience I'm going to go through if and when I move to Tennessee like I want to after I retire. It's a Chinese made trailer with a title and VIN plate but the company I bought it from has been out of business a long time. Hopefully the VIN plate, title, and the out of state plate will be enough to not need to jump through a bunch of hoops.

The only hoops they have in Tennessee are holding whiskey barrels together.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

There is definitely differences between city and rural registration offices up here. I ended up traveling 30 minutes out of town to register my school bus as an RV.

 

[Rick W]

If I had it to do over again, I’d have just gone through the home made trailer process. Build it, go to county and sign an affidavit & get an ID plate, mount that and have a cop look at it (for theft reasons), he fills out a form, go back to the county and get the plate.

I didn’t want to do that because it was too many steps, so I went back-and-forth to the DMV five times to prove the trailer I own is the trailer I own…

Anywho, I installed small D-rings in the Missing Linc. I think they were something like three dollars for four of them on sale at harbor freight.

I’m going to duplicate it in the Towncart.

License plate frames came in today.

 

[Rick W]

I put 4 D-rings in the Town Cart in the same corners. The ones through the toolbox in the truck are bolted in, but everything else through the side of the bed is a self drilling, self tapping, hex head.

I learned a long time ago to punch the holes, and then coat the surfaces with that E 6000 stuff, and also put it in the screw hole and under the hex head. It stops the screws from loosening up from vibration.

And I’m never going to carry anything real heavy in either one of those, that’s what Big Red is for.