[ihc] electrical grounds, follow-up

["Dan Nees" <cookiedan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Digesters,

    I was just reading the Good Grounds mail that I wrote last year on the
OLD IHC FAQ site and decided to add to it a bit.

   In addition to the primary grounds, battery to engine and engine to
firewall, there are all the secondary grounds throughout the body that need
attention.

   On the Scout's and later model pick-up's (I haven't worked on the older
trucks, but; I imagine them to be the same) there are ground points behind
the light buckets, front and back. This is a welded 1/4" stud that all the
grounds for the tail light are terminated to. This is the biggest point of
contention. Usually, this stud is painted and the ground is dependant on the
threads of the stud and the nut. A good starting point would be to sand the
paint off the body around the stud and clean the nut up real good. After you
clean, or replace, the ground wire ends, add a di-electric grease, like
No-Ox, liberally over the now bare metal and the ends of the wire. Tighten
the nut nice and tight over the wire ends and smear the di-electric around
the outside to keep the whole affair coated.

   In the front end of the Scout's the turn signal light housings themselves
are self grounding. This is performed by a metal tab that contacts the
frontclip when the screw is tightened down. Here you should clean the paint
around where the screw and tab make contact with the clip, and clean the tab
off as well. This tab usually gets nice and rusty. Again, a good coating
with No-Ox and screw it all together. Of course, this will give you a good
ground from the light housing to the clip, but; if you still have problems
it will be because the clip to fender mounting is painted, and or rusty. I
would then add a small jumper wire, attached to the front clip portion,
either tapped with a zip screw in an inconspicous place, or a stacon under
the light screw, and zip it to the inner fender under the battery. 

   On fiberglass body trucks there are nor ground points and you must pull a
master ground wire from the front of the truck to the back. While I haven't
done this to my metal Scout, this would be a good route if you have
continuous problems and can't solve them. A #6 wire or greater attached to
the engine or battery that ran from the front to the back would give you an
attachment point and a few split bolt splice lugs, available at your local
electrical supply or Home Depot/Loews would allow you to tap onto it along
the length without cutting the wire and splicing it. Just make sure you coat
each connection with No-Ox and I wouldn't recommend against tapping each tap
up nice and tight with rubber tape, with a couple of raps of electrical tape
over it to keep the water out. Note, if you rubber tape, then electrical
tape the connection, make sure you don't intend to go back into that splice
again soon as the rubber tape will bond to itself and is a real booger to
try and cut away.

    As always, I hope this helps and it should help with the majority of
problems associated with 30+ year old trucks.



Dan Nees

cookiedan@domain.elided