ground strap repair...............

[lounge lizard]

well after doing my body lift my ground straps for under the body to frame broke. so I went to work on my air tanks when I saw the clips laying there.

and the truck has been acting up some lately so I figured it won't hurt!

so I drilled out the old wire lugs from the clips. now I only had three clips so I was already thinking how I would mount one end of one cable.

so the new cable I made out of 12 awg 600 volts wire. and I got the cable all put together.

so before I put it back on the truck I coated the clips in rust reformer, and I coiled the wire.

the passenger side body mount had a hole for the parking brake when it is used on the driver side.

so I had a bigger ring lug and a bolt to put through the hole to attache the cable to the frame.
now I only took a picture of the driver side because the passenger side is behind the body mount.

now I just have to see if it makes any difference in the weeks to come.

 

[IZwack]

I think that wire gauge might be a little thin. The original ground strap is a braided strand for a reason. And you paint it after you bolt it on, or else you might have just coated the interface between the grounding surfaces

 

[GRNMACHINE]

I think mine rusted thru, do I really need to replace it?

 

[MidnightRebel07]

When I did my body lift I used a monster cable from my stereo equiptment. Thicker gauge wire. I bolted it on in several spots on the frame to the body and bed.

 

[lounge lizard]

the braided wire carries no more current capacity then 12 awg wire. and it is merely for static charge not current.

if I would hold to our wiring standards at work the ground cables would be the same gauge as the ground cable coming off that battery.
but being it is not a direct return to the battery it is not considered a current carrying cable.


the rust reformer I sprayed on before I installed the cable does not interfere with the connection because the tangs cut in the the metal when the clips are pushed back onto the metal.
to guarantee a good connection. that is one of the reasons they use them. the other one is the ease of installment.

but I do appreciate the input.

do you need these cables?

not really, as I said they are merely for the static build up more than anything. there are enough ground wires running through the wiring system to the battery return to handle any of the electrical returns to the battery