Pete 379 grounding stud???

I have never found a "grounding stud", I always use a test light to locate a good ground point and drill a hole; then I use that grounding point for any additional electrical circuitry that I add going forward.

 

Take out the glove box and look to the bottom right, there is an aluminum substructure and there is a heavy ground wire held in by a bolt with a star washer.

 

First question, what year of Trk? And almost all ground studs on all models are under cab drivers side bolt with 3 main grounds connected. It is right next to the cab mount vertical bolt. It the main cause of many issues. Most have broken at eyelet.

 

Technically on most from that point they consider cab to be grounded. All other grounds are supplied by direct metal contact surface or components

 

I've got the dash apart on my '89. There are two bolts holding the aluminum cross member to the side support. One has a beefy looking ground wire #239. It looks to be 8-10 gauge.

 

I always make my own grounding stud using one of these.

 

I forgot to show a picture of the tool I used to install the threaded inserts. You can find them on eBay and they're made in England or you can buy a Chinese made clone at Harbor Freight.

 

Riv nuts are the devil

Nothing worse than having one spin while trying to remove a bolt, especially when you can't get to the back side.

 

They won't spin if the hole is drilled to the proper diameter and it's a nice snug fit and it's compressed properly and you use the type with the teeth that bite into the surrounding metal like this one.



The biggest mistake people make when installing these things is thinking they can use a standard drill bit and it stretches the hole out too big preventing it from locking in tightly when it's compressed. I always use a unibit to cut a nice clean hole in Sheet Metal.
Maybe a little bit of Dielectric grease would be a good thing to put on the threads before putting the bolt in.