Postive ground location

[tanda62]

I have just recently come in possession of a 1953 B4C116 Truck and am starting to get it back on the road after ten years of no real running.  The battery cables are shot and I need to get new ones but my real issue is trying to figure out where the positive ground should be attached.  There is a bolt on the block below the starter and a fender bolt where the old cables were attached along with a very small connection to the chassis which seems highly inadequate for a 6 volt system.  I have spent many a day looking for where the original positive ground cables should be connected and come up empty.  Anyone have a photo or diagram where the positive ground should be on this truck?  Thank you in advance for helping me get this old truck back on the road.

[greg g]

If you are asking where the ground cable should be attached, it is just like any other vehicle to the frame,engine, or other chassis unit adjacent to the battery.  If your battery is under the floor or seat.  Find a likely bolt on the frame or bell housing to engine and connect it up.  Most grounds for a battery in the enginecompartment go to a head bolt or similar on the engine.  Hopefully you got good beefy 1 or 0 gauge cables and not some skimpy 12 volt ones.  Rember what professor Ohm says about voltage and current flow needs and wire accordingly. For best operation of 6 volt stuff also connect a ground from the body to the frame or engine.  Your lights will thank you.

[Merle Coggins]

My Pos battery cable goes to one of the transmission cover bolts. I also have a smaller wire from that bolt on the block skirt going to the chassis/body to help with that ground.

[Jim Roach]

Welcome aboard. More pictures would be great. We all enjoy see the other trucks out there. 

[ggdad1951]

Mine is on the bell housing 

[tanda62]

I guess my real question is where did the factory put the positive ground wire?  Here is a picture showing where the wire was on my truck when I got it. The wire went from the battery to the block with another wire from there to the body and a smaller wire to the frame. 

The star is where a bolt with broken tab was located which went thru the body and touched the frame.  I am wondering if that was the original mounting point off the block.

There is also a picture of the wire and as you can see putting them on the wrong terminals when they are old and frayed is not a good idea.  Someone had put the cables on the battery thinking it is a negative ground system and when the bare cable touched the frame...well you see the result.

 

Edited March 11, 2017 by tanda62

[tanda62]

Here are some other pictures of the truck - it looks good from 20ft

[tanda62]

One more picture

[Reg Evans]

Like Merle said the pos ground goes to the transmission. A slight improvement may be to run it to a starter bolt instead.  Make sure you use heavy #0 cables.  The store bought ones for 12 volt are too light to turn the starter fast enough.

[JBNeal]

additional information - Starter Ground Performance Upgrade 

Edited May 24, 2021 by JBNeal
revised link

[tanda62]

Thanks everyone for the help.  BTW this truck has 30,700 original miles on it but has been mostly sitting for the better part of ten years.  Looking forward to getting it back on the road and while not a daily driver probably a once a week driver.