The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Starter Ground Strap

Hi everyone! Please help me ground my vehicle correctly. There are three grounds I am concerned with:

1. My starter is grounded to itself, as shown in the picture. Is there a good reason for this, or is it likely to cause a "ground loop" and create problems? Should I leave this alone or remove it?

Starter

2. My battery is grounded to the inner fender. Does this make sense? I would think it should be grounded to the frame.

Battery / engine ground

3. Should the engine be grounded to the same fender, or the frame or does it matter? I notice that Denny's engine ground is attached to the bellhousing, but I am certain mine was attached to the starter bolts. Does this make any difference at all?

Denny's starter

I don't think that starter ground is doing anything useful. Like Denny's mine is grounded to the frame from the bell housing. This is done as the battery is also grounded to the frame.

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/Engine#5630285326118867586

My battery (can't find the pic) is grounded to the frame, not a fender.

Use the zoom feature to zoom up on the battery in the following photo...

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/Engine#5630283282396261298

Stove - someone was obviously having problems with poor grounding at some point in your trucks checkered past - hook things up the way the manual shows with the correct size cables, you need a good ground to the frame, engine and cab - and there is no such thing as a "ground loop"

Bill

What Bill said Darren, that ground strap was a band-aid for a poorly grounded system. The way Bill described the system is the way the factory set it up and it works just fine that way as long as you have good clean connections and good solid clean cables. Using old cables is a bad choice, the cable can look nice and perty but most old cables are corroded inside the connector where it’s crimped to the wire and that can't be cleaned up. In other words, a couple of new cables is cheap insurance and bound to help your electrical system function properly. Battery to frame, frame to engine, and although the factory didn’t have straps from the frame to cab or frame to box it’s also a good idea to run some small ground straps between these also.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

There certainly is. The fact that it doesn't apply to this situation doesn't mean they don't exist.

My truck has the - from batt to engine. and at that point a braded strap to frame and cab.I like that as the starter motor pulls the most and I find the braded cable does not carry the amps.All the truck needs to be at the same potential so the lights and other elect work correctly.wasn't a ground loop a aircraft manuver?....While we are in this area. there is a terminal on the starter that I think gives a "hotshot "to the coil when starting. I am running a alternator and use this as the exciter shot to the alt and wonder if its also going to the coil will i get a back circuit?

Hy 59chevy36, if you are using the resistor bypass terminal for alternator excitation alone, then no problem, but if it's also hooked to the coil to perform the bypass function, then without a diode the ignition will recieve power from the alternator when you turn the ignition switch off.

My battery is grounded to the starter. Is that factory? Nope but it works well. <CLICK>

Hello,

Ground loops do exist. Your battery post negatve ground is your best common ground. Ideal ground wiring would be to run a wire with the right gauge, back to the battery post from every electrical component, same as they do the positive side. This would eliminate any ground potential or change in true ground, which is your battery negatve post. The ground loop problem exist because when you ground wires at different points on a steel frame or body, your using the frame or body as a wire and they have different thicknesses so one point may be true ground and another point may be 80% ground or not the same ground potenial. Ground loops created by improperly designed or improperly installed equipment are a major cause of noise and interference in audio and video systems. The cleanest sounding auto sound system I ever heard was the one I installed in my old 1954 chevy panel,the problem was it had a 6 volt system and I wanted to install a 12 volt 100 watt power amp and a AM/FM cassette. I wanted to keep the original 6 volt system, so I fabricated a bracket on the side of the engine, mounted a 12 volt alternator with a built-in regulator lined-up the pulleys,ran one belt around the 6 volt generator, water pump, crankshaft and 12 volt alternator. Fabricated a 12 volt battery mount on the fender skirt, grounded the 12 volt battery to the frame, ran a cable from the alternator to the positive side of the 12 volt battery, ran all sound system power directly to the 12 volt battery positve and negative post. The sound system had ZERO 12 volt alternator and 6 volt generator noise and interference,even on AM stations.
It was a hybrid 6/12 volt system sharing the same ground. The thing that was nice, with engine off, I could run the sound system until the 12 volt battery was dead, then just hop in the truck and start it up with the 6 volt battery and a lot easier than a 6 to 12 volt conversion.

Your starter could careless about ground loops all it wants is voltage and the best way to give it voltage is to give it big pipes I mean big fat cables POSITVE AND NEGATVE, this is more important with a 6 volt starter which has a high cranking amperage.

Thanks

jorb

Many thanks for your help everyone!

I will ground the battery and engine directly to the frame, and install brand new battery cables.

-Darren Stovin

What's the difference between ground straps and ground cables? I need to replace the 2 ground straps on my 52' (cab to engine and frame to engine). Can I just use regular heavy gauge ground cables instead?

Braided ground cable

I grounded the engine and battery to the frame. But I cleaned up the ends of the ground strap with a wire brush first (whoops), not knowing it's covered in tin.

Maybe this has been covered, I just don't have the time this morning to go back and read all that was posted.
I hear a lot about using ought, double and triple ought cable for better current delivery in the 6v systems. What I haven't heard addressed is the fact that most every one puts a humongous cable on the positive but still uses the #2 ground straps.
Lectrixity going out needs to come back in also. Something like eating, what goes in has to come out, discounting for what is used up in work and given off as heat that is.
I haven't seen any ground straps in the #0, #00, #000 sizes.
Is there such an animal?
Denny Graham
Sandwich, Il

My positive and ground cables are #0 and are adequate. IMHO anything larger than #0 is unnecessary.

Yeah I gotta agree wit ya Richard, these old trucks started fine from the factory back in the day with #2 conductors, so really how much bigger do you really have to go for an improvement? I assume you're using a round cable for your ground in place of the braided style cable? As I said, I've never see the braided cables anywhere, larger that #2.

There is a truck parts house next town over, I thought I might stop there one day and check see if they carry any larger cables. Probably not because most of those electrical systems are either 12v or 24v which really reduces the size of the wire used and smaller wire means less weight which translates into more payload.

DG

Yeppers