Dumbest Question Ever...How To Ground Tail Lamps?

[terd ferguson]

Self explanitory. I am dumb.



I rewired the entire truck. The kit I used was a factory style replacement harness. It did not include any ground wires. I've got a '55 2nd series, how do I ground the tail lamps? I know the obvious, that it needs to go to bare metal. But where does the other end go (on the lightor housing or?)?

Thanks in advance for putting up with my really dumb questions from time to time. This is the last hurdle before I can get back to driving. And if you've been following, I cured my stumble with a new distributor. The plastic bushing in the dizzy case for the wire to the points was bad and the gear was worn leading to timing issues.

[dwcsr]

Heres a really bumb answer. Wrap it around a copper pipe in your house.

The light should ground through the housing and the bed needs a ground to the chassis and chassis to the battery.

[terd ferguson]

So you're saying the tail lamps should be grounded to the body just by mounting them? Then the body needs to be grounded to the frame. I also think I read somewhere that the bed should be grounded to the cab too?

[dwcsr]

So you're saying the tail lamps should be grounded to the body just by mounting them? Yes

Then the body needs to be grounded to the frame. Yes

I also think I read somewhere that the bed should be grounded to the cab too? It would'nt hurt.

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

So you're saying the tail lamps should be grounded to the body just by mounting them? Yes

Then the body needs to be grounded to the frame. Yes

I also think I read somewhere that the bed should be grounded to the cab too? It would'nt hurt.

Got it. The lights all work now. Thanks a bunch.

[mr48chev]

A lot of guys like to run the ground wire back to the frame simply because they don't want to scrape the paint down to bare metal under where the light mounts.
Sounds like you have it handled though.

[kustombrad]

Go to your local car stereo shop and have them cut you up 3 pieces of 2 gauge wire say 12-16" long (it's a little overkill but I've never had any grounding problems on any cars). Have them crimp the ends you put bolts through and get busy. Assuming you ran the battery ground to the engine, run 1 from the engine (should be lots of extra holes in the block to use) to the frame. Run 1 from the frame to the cab and another from the frame to the bed. Use those serrated washers (looks like a bunch of twisted edges) between each end of the cable and whatever it's bolting to, so it will bite in and give you good contact. It's pretty simple and works great! Just my 2 cents...