Cleaning my grounds

[Rob S.]

Silly me. I didn't see "electrical," just saw the title, and thought this was a white trash post about junk cars and overgrown grass.

[Brendan W]

Which reminds me..... the big wire from my batt neg terminates at one of the rear engine mount frame bolts. Far from ideal. The wire itself is not pretty and on occasion the starter spins slower than usual. Can any kind soul enlighten me as to where the earth point on top of the crankcase is supposed to be so I can string a proper starter earth. Too many dissimilar mating surfaces for my liking using the mount bolt route.
Probably fair to say that out of every hours riding that earth path is used very little and deficiencies are not as apparent.

[rapidray]

It was good talking with you Julius. Hey guys, it is NOT Eric Bang in drag again! Just wanted any concerned to know.
Ray.

[JTGS850GL]

Which reminds me..... the big wire from my batt neg terminates at one of the rear engine mount frame bolts. Far from ideal. The wire itself is not pretty and on occasion the starter spins slower than usual. Can any kind soul enlighten me as to where the earth point on top of the crankcase is supposed to be so I can string a proper starter earth. Too many dissimilar mating surfaces for my liking using the mount bolt route.
Probably fair to say that out of every hours riding that earth path is used very little and deficiencies are not as apparent.

The ground goes to a screw/bolt about center rear of the transmission case. Make sure the surface of the transmission case is clean as is the lug on the ground cable. I'll try to post a picture when I get home. I happen to have an engine out of the bike right now so it should be pretty easy to show where it goes.

[posplayr]

FYI you can read about earlier write-ups and discussions on power and grounding here.

Some links to prior posts:

High Performance Power and Grounding

GS Stators : Helpful additions

Ground Loops

[Brendan W]

You guys are amazing! Why not PM me. I'll give you my phone number and you can give me a call. I am soooooo sick and tired of the paranoia around here. You guys must have been pretty beat up over the years.

Here's a start:

My name: Julius Tomsits thus the JT in jtgs850gl.
I live in Grayson GA 30017
My home number starts with 770 and my cell is 678

If you want the rest of the information you'll have to PM me to get it.

My guess is that the paranoia runs so deep that I will never see a PM or receive a call even if I do give it to you. Prove me wrong. I'd like to end this once and for all.

Julius, I for one am sorry that you felt you needed to defend yourself. I'm sure no one intends that. Yes, it appears some bad stuff has happened over the years and some could rightly feel offended. Most of it due to misunderstandings at some level which is all too easy with such a diverse bunch of people communicating with keyboards. That said, trolls exist but what a sad life.

[JTGS850GL]

Here are a couple pics to show where the stock primary ground to the engine is:

[JTGS850GL]

Julius, I for one am sorry that you felt you needed to defend yourself. I'm sure no one intends that. Yes, it appears some bad stuff has happened over the years and some could rightly feel offended. Most of it due to misunderstandings at some level which is all too easy with such a diverse bunch of people communicating with keyboards. That said, trolls exist but what a sad life.

No problems. Every family has it's quarrels. Just wanted to make it clear that any issues with me being a PITA is purely directed at me and not to be confused with any other butt head.

[RedBaron]

I don't know if it would be something the OP would want to do, but I like my larger Battery +, battery -, and starter cables. A popular mod on 1050 Triumphs like I have was to upgrade to larger, marine style cables. I think Decosse who discussed it over on triumphrat is over here too. It caused my Triumph to start with less effort and it sounds more like a normal bike turning over. Having had experience with it on that bike, when I was going over my GS's electrics last year (doing a lot of stuff from posplayr posts on grounds and such) I went ahead and ordered more cables from genuinedealz.com (6ga marine stuff). I can assemble my own cables, but for the cable they have being priced assembled I didn't feel like doing it myself. I really just thought it would freshen up the GS a little, but it ended up turning over a good bit faster. I'm probably wrong about doing what I did for reasons beyond what I understand, so maybe it's a bad idea. My compression checks will likely be 10lbs higher next time I check just because the darn thing turns over so fast.

[posplayr]

I don't know if it would be something the OP would want to do, but I like my larger Battery +, battery -, and starter cables. A popular mod on 1050 Triumphs like I have was to upgrade to larger, marine style cables. I think Decosse who discussed it over on triumphrat is over here too. It caused my Triumph to start with less effort and it sounds more like a normal bike turning over. Having had experience with it on that bike, when I was going over my GS's electrics last year (doing a lot of stuff from posplayr posts on grounds and such) I went ahead and ordered more cables from genuinedealz.com (6ga marine stuff). I can assemble my own cables, but for the cable they have being priced assembled I didn't feel like doing it myself. I really just thought it would freshen up the GS a little, but it ended up turning over a good bit faster. I'm probably wrong about doing what I did for reasons beyond what I understand, so maybe it's a bad idea. My compression checks will likely be 10lbs higher next time I check just because the darn thing turns over so fast.

That is interesting if a manufacturer actually produced bikes with too small of a starter cable wire. Generally the voltage drops are more likely in the connections. Could be that the cables you replaced had poor connections and the Marine type were better.

[chuck hahn]

I have also seen the grounds to the top of the tranny under that 10MM head bolt thats kinda in the rear right area if your sitting on the bike Julius. I still think an independent heavy wire from the battery ground straight to the frame would be a HUGE HUGE improvement as far as the frame ground points go.

Suzukis whole wiring harness wire diameter seems a little under sized to me as well...just sayin.

[chuck hahn]

And my apologize Julius...but the pattern of coming right behind whatever i wrote is so eerily reminicant of one of the forums azzhat trolls that it makes me want to strangle the SOB....

[JTGS850GL]

No need to apologize. Just wanted to clear things up so that I don't have to be responsible for things I haven't said or done. Maybe I need to add something to my sig.

The single large wire coming from the engine case to the battery - terminal is the most direct path for the current from the starter motor to get to the battery. The starter motor is mounted directly to the engine case. That ground wire is responsible for most of the return path from the starter.

[azr]

awwww......you guys should hug or something Nice addition to your sig. there JT, lol.

[850 Combat]

The ground for the R/R is one of the two starter solenoid bolts. That has a zinc plated sleeve which can corrode. I like to make up a little harness to connect this bolt directly to the battery and also to the frame where the battery box is mounted on top behind the fuel tank with another sleeve. I have seen this modification alone stabilize the voltage at 5000 RPM when it previously was dropping and fluctuating more than once. I have also seen that modification not correct that problem. Suzuki used black wire with a white stripe on my bikes for ground. Look at the ends of them, and make corrections you think are suitable. I would rather make up a ground harness than rely on the sleeves to stay clean after I clean them. The bikes I have done this with were shaft drive fours from 1979 through 1982. Your details may vary.