Ground locations in the cab...

[terd ferguson]

Where are the gound locations in the cab? All I can think of at the moment is the headlight switch and the fuel sender. Are there others? The reason I ask is because I got a factory style wiring harness that is very complete. Complete except for there are no ground wires included. And being that my truck was so far from stock wiring wise, it would help to know the stock ground locations so I don't miss one.

Thanks in advance for the help.



Oh, and by the way, if you've followed my saga, here's a little update. I finally got everything wired up. It took a while, but I went slow making sure everything went where it was supposed to. Went to start it up and the battery was no good. I got a new battery and new cables and tried to start it. Got sparks under the hood. WTF? Turns out the positive battery cable was getting in the way down on the starter (the plunger was hitting the battery cable instead of the button on the starter). Fixed that and tried to start again. No spark at the coil. I thought I had fried the previous coil before the rewire due to crappy factory/altered wiring and possible resistor bypass. So I got a new coil, points, and condensor for just in case. Still no fire to the coil. Finally traced it to the wire coming out of the dizzy going to the negative terminal on the coil. Something was interrupting the connection there at the insulator on the dizzy case. Got it fixed and got it to fire up and got a spark under the dash. Oops, I forgot to tape up a couple of wires I didn't use as they were incompatible (the harness has wires for electrical temp gauge and I have stock mechanical, my horn is not yet hooked up because I don't have any horn guts in my steering wheel, etc.).

Finally, I got everything buttoned up (I think) but it got too late to start it up and go for a ride. And I want to make sure everything is grounded properly in the cab, under the hood I'm good to go as far as grounds. No more sparks is what I'm hoping for. So untill tomorrow....And thanks again.

[cajundragger]

make a known good ground from the cab to the chassis. And ground wires where ever is convenient.

[OrrieG]

I will look in the factory assy manual, I think there is a page in the elec section that lists all the grounds.

[terd ferguson]

Thanks guys for the help. This has to be the longest rewire in history, lol.

[OrrieG]

I forgot to look but based on the wiring diagram here is what I found.

Battery to cab.
Headlights to body.
Parking lights to body.
Starter (internal through starter bolts)
Horn to body.
Headlight switch to dash frame.
Tail/stop light to body.
Gas tank sender to body.
Instrument lights (internal through housing)
Horn button (grounding causes horn to work).
Ingition switch (internal through housing)
Cigar lighter (internat through housing?)

You also need to ground the engine, I prefer to run the wire up to the same bolt as the battery to cab.

Cab and bed each need a jumper to the frame, rubber mounts isolate them electrically.

Accessories are not shown, I would assume wiper motor (electric), radio, AC/heater would also need to be grounded to the cab. If you run any auxilary lights, trailer connection, they probably need grounded too, if not internally through the mounting bolts.

You might check Alan Horvish site, I think he goes through the grounding check list too.

[terd ferguson]

Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate the help.

[BIG CHEVY 3600]

I drilled a hole in the firewall behind the gauges and installed a ground block to be able to ground anything the future might present. I grounded the block to the frame which will guarantee a good ground.

[alden]

this'll be quite useful for me in a few days as well. Glad to see you're almost done!

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by alden

this'll be quite useful for me in a few days as well. Glad to see you're almost done!

Almost, lol. I did get it fired up but it's not running quite right. Could still be the negative wire from the coil to the dizzy (inside the insulator) or could be the carb got gummed up from sitting for a month. I'll get that figured out pretty quick.

As for wiring issues, I've got headlights, all gauges, and one front left turn signal. No running lights front or back, no right front turn signal, no rear turn signals, and no brake lights. So I've got that going for me. It shouldn't be too hard to run down those problems since I am now intimately familiar with the wiring routing. But at least it's running again.

[alden]

A few questions on this, hope you don't mind my mini-thread jack

Originally Posted by OrrieG

Headlight switch to dash frame.

Where on the dash frame does this go? The previous owner had some things grounded to a bolt on the steering column support, is that right?

Gas tank sender to body.

Mine was previously just grounded right at the base of the gas tank in the cab through a screw that went into the cab floor. Is this correct?

Horn button (grounding causes horn to work).

What does the horn wire go to in the column? I got a new turn signal cup with wiring because my old one had been abandoned long ago, but it doesn't have a wire for the horn. So I tried to use the old horn wire but I think it is dry rotted and is grounding somewhere within the column so if that's hooked up the second I hook up the battery the horn starts blasting away. I even removed the horn button (the small part that goes inside of the steering wheel that creates the ground) and then later the whole steering wheel and it was still going off as soon as there was power from the battery.

Ingition switch (internal through housing)

If I'm just trying to use a key ignition, do I need an additional ground somewhere?

You also need to ground the engine, I prefer to run the wire up to the same bolt as the battery to cab.

Where on the engine do I connect the ground? I have located the starter ground which goes to a bolt down low on the cab, and my battery was previously ground to a bolt at the front of the engine head, but I can't for the life of me see anywhere that the engine itself may have been grounded except maybe through the motor mounts (using the mounts as the connection, there is no cable).

Cab and bed each need a jumper to the frame, rubber mounts isolate them electrically.

I can see where my bed was jumped to the frame, but I don't see where the cab was, is there a specific spot where that should be?

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by alden

A few questions on this, hope you don't mind my mini-thread jack



Where on the dash frame does this go? The previous owner had some things grounded to a bolt on the steering column support, is that right?



Mine was previously just grounded right at the base of the gas tank in the cab through a screw that went into the cab floor. Is this correct?



What does the horn wire go to in the column? I got a new turn signal cup with wiring because my old one had been abandoned long ago, but it doesn't have a wire for the horn. So I tried to use the old horn wire but I think it is dry rotted and is grounding somewhere within the column so if that's hooked up the second I hook up the battery the horn starts blasting away. I even removed the horn button (the small part that goes inside of the steering wheel that creates the ground) and then later the whole steering wheel and it was still going off as soon as there was power from the battery.



If I'm just trying to use a key ignition, do I need an additional ground somewhere?



Where on the engine do I connect the ground? I have located the starter ground which goes to a bolt down low on the cab, and my battery was previously ground to a bolt at the front of the engine head, but I can't for the life of me see anywhere that the engine itself may have been grounded except maybe through the motor mounts (using the mounts as the connection, there is no cable).



I can see where my bed was jumped to the frame, but I don't see where the cab was, is there a specific spot where that should be?

My headlight switch has a ground wire going behind the dash.

Your fuel sender sounds right.

The horn button is grounded when you press the button. That's what makes it blow. The wire should go down through the steering column and out the bottom and then into the wiring harness. If it blows all the time, you've got a short, probably somewhere inside the steering column.

The key switch should be grounded by the bezel screwed into the dash.

I'm not sure where the engine is grounded. I'll take a look at mine and get back to you.

I *think* the cab is grounded to the frame through the cab mounts.

[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...

[BIG CHEVY 3600]

The simple answer Re. grounding is: all grounds should be routed to your frame. If you ground something to your cab be certain you have a good ground from cab to frame. Ground engine to frame. Ground bed to frame. A lot of electrical problems result from insufficient grounds.