Grounding equipment is one of the most frequently axed questions that I get. Since I'm in the middle of refreshing some things, I'm making this thread so I might not have to keep typing the same thing over and over lol. First things first, my opinion is the frame is the optimum ground and nothing will change that.
The #1 question I get is how to pass wires from inside the truck to outside. Most peeps don't want to drill holes, which is understandable. In my 2003 short wheel base, there is a rubber grommet in the r/r corner. You can see where it is in relation to the r/r tire in this pic. I use this for passing the leads from outside to inside. I've fit (2) 1/0 AWG leads through the grommet. There's room to expand the hole if needed for more then 2 leads. If you have an ext or a 360 with rear air suspension, I've been told that you can't pass wires this way. I've never done one in one of those trucks so I can't say for sure if this is accurate.
The #2 question is how to connect ring terminals to the frame. This is one way to do them, and I had it like this for years. The cutouts near the predrilled holes in the outside of the frame can accommodate a wrench to hold a nut on the backside. It's tricky to get the nuts started but with some patience it's doable. I took these out the other day and they were in excellent condition even through 5-6 winters. Time to do it a little different this time.
I dropped the spare tire to get some room. I wanted to go inside the frame this time. So I started by drilling (2) 9/32" holes. Drilling holes in the frame is a controversial topic, all I have to say is this is my truck and I'll do it how I want. Next I ran a 5/16" x 18 tap through each hole.
Next I hit the area around the holes with a wire brush attachment thingy that I got from Lowes on my drill. I've used a dremel with a sanding attachment before and that worked good too. A wire brush isn't going to cut it here unless you can move your hand as fast as the puppet in the "Sober" video from Tool from back in the day.
Get it to the raw metal like this. You can kind of see the "gray" areas where the wire wheel did something but it didn't get it to the shiny part. Shiny is good.
I use white lithium grease to weatherproof the connection. I get a little carried away with it. I've seen other things like dielectric grease used as well. If you don't use anything, the metal will rust and eventually be a crappy connection.
The hardware - 5/16" stainless bolts, washers, lockwashers, and star washers.
This part is not necessary - I wrapped the first 10 inches of the 1/0 AWG wires with heat wrap just to show the heat wrap used near the resonator. The 1/0 AWG leads have 5/16" holes. The heat shrink that I used here is adhesive lined so the wire is sealed off from the elements.
And here's the almost finished product. After this pic I splooged more white lithium on the rings and wiped off the excess. I'm still on the fence if white lithium or paint is the "better" way to finish this type of connection. I have 2 grounds in my pickup that were done with one coated in white lithium and the other in paint. After this winter I'm going to take them both off and inspect them to see for myself which, if any, fared better.
(note to self - need pic of grommets here)
The #3 most axed question is how to pass grounds through the interior trim. Once the wires are in the cabin, you'll have to drill and add grommets or snap bushings to pass the leads through the plastic trim and then to your equipment..
(Note to self - add pics of last ground)
The last thing I'll add is there is one more wire to add. This would be one from one of the alternator case mounting bolts to the frame. It doesn't matter which bolt, but one of the top bolts are easiest. You'll need a ring terminal with a 3/8" hole for the mounting bolt to pass through, then route the lead to the frame. Which side of the frame is another debate - some say it has to be on the same side as the rear grounds, other say it doesn't matter. I've done it to the drivers side up front and pass side in the rear with no issues. This wire is important as it connects the frame directly to the alternator case. So amplifier(s) ground to rear frame, front frame to alternator case.
So why is this worthy of a thread? Well, on top of getting this question asked a lot, I've also worked with a lot of audio guys who cooked amps from poor grounds. Even guys who had rear mounted batteries would have issues when trying to pull serious juice while grounding through seat bolts. The seat bolts might pass enough juice to charge rear batteries at 7-10A but not for hundreds of amps of amplifier power. I learned the hard way that seat bolts aren't ideal when I discovered a 2v drop across the ground under load. After grounding through the frame, voltage drop was minimal.
Grounds are often overlooked but they are just as important as B+ leads. Hopefully with this thread some amplifier somewhere might not meet an untimely death. The next ext or 360 with RAS that I get in my shop will get a good look over to see what alternatives may be available. Or you guys may be drilling holes lol.
