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Where are the grounds

Mark1968

Mark1968

1/2 ton status
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Where are the major ground points located at?
I'm assuming I am missing one.

I see motor to firewall, frame to battery, alt bracket to battery and one under dash. Don't see one from the bed to the frame. Shouldn't there be one there?
 
Im a burb guy, not a truck guy, so i have no idea.

That being said, what issue are you trying to solve? Never hurts to just add an additional ground from bed to frame and/or bed to body.
 
I dont recall ever seeing a ground strap from bed to frame before,but just because my old trucks had none when I got them doesn't mean they never had one...I agree adding one wont hurt anything!...I have seen a few automatic trannies on GM vehicles with a ground strap to one of the pan or case bolts to the frame however,probably to ensure the detent solenoid will work on a TH400 and the shift solenoids on later trucks..I see many trucks with no ground strap to the firewall from the valve covers too,I had one truck missing them that you couldn't listen to the radio in until I added them,it reduced static like you wouldn't believe!..everything else worked normal without them,but I like having what GM put there if they felt it needed them..
 
dhcomp said:
Im a burb guy, not a truck guy, so i have no idea.

That being said, what issue are you trying to solve? Never hurts to just add an additional ground from bed to frame and/or bed to body.
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The rear turn signals do not work. The bed bolts loosen up and they stop working. I tighten them and everything is fine again.

I should probably just run a ground from the tail lights to the frame.
 
ground is to box behind tail light back socket holder.

and dont forget ground from core support to battery .
 
sweetk30 said:
ground is to box behind tail light back socket holder.

and dont forget ground from core support to battery .
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Right, there is one behind the driver side tail light, but I don't see anything between the box and the frame.

Got the core support to battery.
 
check gas door area filler neck to frame or body there also.

otherwise on the trucks i dont ever recall a specific ground to frame.
 
Before I moved my battery to the back in my Sub, I grounded my battery to the frame, and off that bolt I ran a 4ga wire straight to the block and grounded the block to the frame that way. Off my neg cable, it had a 10ga or so accessory wire that I grounded to the bolt for the headlight grounds, then I ran a 10ga wire from the rear intake bolt to the firewall. Its best to ground as much as you can to the battery itself, as that is the least amount of resistance you can achieve. And all the pickups I have seen were grounded by the filler neck to lessen chances of static spark I assume.
 
That is true, if you pull the passenger side taillight out you will notice a ground lug thing bolted to the bed inside the taillight that grounds the entire taillight harness, the problem is when the bed bolts come loose, the bed itself is no longer grounded to the battery via bed bolts to the frame, creating the taillight problems. Just toss a ground strap anywhere you can and problem solved.
 
If the bolts never came loose I suspect it would never be a problem, but as well all know that never works, We always just got some 10ga wire, used self tapping screws and viola problamo solved
 
Jester1 said:
And threadlocker the bolts. What kinda roads are you driving on?
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The worst paved roads you've ever seen.

Cranked them down last night and added a ground from the bed behind the tail lights and the frame. That didn't do it this time.

Stumped :dunno:
 
If you've got good ground connections, and this didn't fix it, you've got another problem. Ground is ground, bad connections are usually the issue.

You sure the taillight sockets (signals) are good? I've got one that doesn't like to work properly, I've had it apart multiple times to add "spring" to the contact.

Did you test that you are getting 12V to the socket when the turn signal should be operating?
 
Has anybody ever added trailer wiring? I've seen plenty of so-called "wiring" done for trailers that could be considered a crime against humanity. A good visual inspection along the length of the harness can go a long way, too. If the wire with ring terminal in the tail light harness is bad or not making good contact, then no amount of grounding the bed will help.

I assume you've measured the voltages to see where the problem is, but you might want to use an old-fashioned test light as well. A bad connection can seem OK when there is no load (i.e. multimeter) and I think it's hard to probe these when the bulbs are in place.
 
get the T-harnness conector for your vehicle . plug and play then run the power/trailer brake down the frame and add it in if needed.
 
Blue85 said:
Has anybody ever added trailer wiring? I've seen plenty of so-called "wiring" done for trailers that could be considered a crime against humanity. A good visual inspection along the length of the harness can go a long way, too. If the wire with ring terminal in the tail light harness is bad or not making good contact, then no amount of grounding the bed will help.

I assume you've measured the voltages to see where the problem is, but you might want to use an old-fashioned test light as well. A bad connection can seem OK when there is no load (i.e. multimeter) and I think it's hard to probe these when the bulbs are in place.
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Yup I`ve got a trailer harness wired in. I have not checked but I do know there is some kind of voltage there. When I use either turn signal the front operates fine but both of the back side flash as if I had my hazards on.

Gonna check and make sure I have the right style bulbs in and cut out the trailer harness since I don't tow.
 
Update: Cut out Stuff I didn't need and a plug that was wonky. Both sides work properly now. The angry finger points towards bad wires.

Also, what's up with the gap around my tail light lens?

IMG_0099.JPG

IMG_0098.JPG

IMG_0100.JPG
 
Odd lens fitment issue. Since it is held into the plastic "bucket", is the bucket flush with it's mounts? Either that or the lens is hitting something underneath?
 
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