Steering Column Ground?
Thread Starter
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Trailering
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 24
Likes: 3
From: Ca, USA
Steering Column Ground?
Hey all, anyone know where the upper steering shaft gets its ground? Some time ago my horn and cruise stopped working due to loss of ground. I remedied this by running a jumper wire across the rag joint.
Years later I'm replacing the rag joint and can see that it never did provide ground originally, so I'm guessing there's a brush or a contact of some kind in the column to shaft?
TIA for any help!
1985 F250 SuperCab 4x4 7.3 IDI 5 spd.
Years later I'm replacing the rag joint and can see that it never did provide ground originally, so I'm guessing there's a brush or a contact of some kind in the column to shaft?
TIA for any help!
1985 F250 SuperCab 4x4 7.3 IDI 5 spd.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,114
Likes: 88
From: Merica.!
Not 100% sure, but kinda seems to me like it would ground through the dash then the body wouldn't it.? Or would the painted column not let it ground.? Now you got me wondering since I need to do some column work on mine too.
Cargo Master
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,560
Likes: 206
From: Washington
You have a horn relay, due to having cruise control. The grounding circuit for the horn relay is the power source for the cruise control push buttons on the horn pad in the steering wheel.
It is a complicated wiring circuit and difficult to wrap your mind around, due to using a relay grounding circuit as a power source.
I will find a link with info...
Good luck, Jim
It is a complicated wiring circuit and difficult to wrap your mind around, due to using a relay grounding circuit as a power source.
I will find a link with info...
Good luck, Jim
Cargo Master
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,560
Likes: 206
From: Washington
Thread Starter
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Trailering
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 24
Likes: 3
From: Ca, USA
The column would be grounded, but the shaft is isolated from the column via the bearings. The controls get their ground from the shaft as that's what the steering wheel is attached to.
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Trailering
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From: Ca, USA
That's what I'm thinking too, there really has to be one
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Thread Starter
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Trailering
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 24
Likes: 3
From: Ca, USA
You have a horn relay, due to having cruise control. The grounding circuit for the horn relay is the power source for the cruise control push buttons on the horn pad in the steering wheel.
It is a complicated wiring circuit and difficult to wrap your mind around, due to using a relay grounding circuit as a power source.
I will find a link with info...
Good luck, Jim
It is a complicated wiring circuit and difficult to wrap your mind around, due to using a relay grounding circuit as a power source.
I will find a link with info...
Good luck, Jim
Thread Starter
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Trailering
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 24
Likes: 3
From: Ca, USA
It should be, but that's a good point, I will check to verify.
Lead Driver
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 7,154
Likes: 1,166
I suspect the shaft is grounded to the column housing via the bearings. I can't see a Ford accountant authorizing the expenditure for a dedicated ground brush between the shaft and column. Unless you're actively pressing a speed control button or blowing the horn, the current is zero. So 99.9% of the time, no current flows through this ground path. When it does, this minuscule amount is easily passed through the bearings.
What of the system returning to normal with a jumper across the rag joint? I suspect the column was not grounded well to the cab, or the cab itself was not well grounded. Didn't OOTD (One Of The Daves) ask about the ground strap between the cab and engine?
Laughing Gas
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 774
Likes: 104
From: Elk Grove Village, IL
FTE Legend
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 30,828
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From: Angier, NC
Is this actually a thing? I can't see a jumper across the rag joint lasting for any length of time. IIRC, there are several grounding pathways that Ford installed. I'm pretty sure there are at least two between the cab and the engine/frame. I would have to think this is how Ford intended to ground the column (to the cab and then to the engine or frame).
Some manf. used a metal jumper that went from the metal part of the steering shaft to the metal side of the box of the joint.
The rag joint dose not really flex like a U joint dose or should not as that is not what it is made to do.
I have also seen some use a green 14 or 12 ga wire to do the same thing.
So yes a jumper across the rag joint is some what common but not on our trucks.
I say if the cab to motor and motor to battery ground is good and the rag joint jumper fixes it that leave the jumper.
Dave ----
Moderator
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 56,948
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From: Virginia
The shaft is not grounded through the bearings or the column. Some of the bearings are mounted in rubber. The shaft has the rag joint on the end. This is all because the steering wheel acts like a speaker right in front of the driver. Any noise in the truck that is transmitted to the steering shaft gets amplified by the steering shaft and the steering wheel right in front of the driver. The rag joint mainly keeps the hydraulic hissing noise that is generated by the steering box from being transmitted up the steering shaft.