Posted by Clint Dixon [172.68.37.45] on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 20:05:28 :
In Reply to: Re: ground straps posted by Craig Klages [108.162.245.69] on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 18:59:03 :
I think there may be a few reasons why our old Power-Wagons could, did, and still do, get by without any ground straps. I have owned Power-Wagons since 1980 and have never had to add a ground strap or wire. Or maybe I am just lucky.
Even though the engine is somewhat insulated from the frame with a floating mount in the front and fiber pads under the bellhousing ears, it is still grounding to the frame via the hardware through the bellhousing ears, the starter plunger into the cab, oil pressure line, and temperature tube. And then there is the exhaust pipe and muffler as well as the driveshafts which of course connect to the axle housings which are not insulated from the frame at the spring eyes or the shackles. Add to this the choke cable, hand throttle, and accelerator pedal linkage. Trucks equipped with the optional mechanical governor have another path of ground.
But the most important thing they did to ground everything together (in my opinion) is the square toothed lock washers they used EVERYWHERE. Whenever I cannot reuse an old square toothed washer, or cannot source new ones, I use internal and external toothed round lock washers.
Junior