To those with an incurable sputter in the mid-range.

[user_deleted]

^^^^^ eric: i'm doing a ulysses ground system in the morning and fabricating patch cable. i'll post up pics and dimensions of the cable and proper grounding points if that helps you. on many XB models it certainly makes an improvement. if you suffer from that sporadic "miss" at warm engine cruising speeds or rough cold start idle this usually helps.
john

 

[s0dhi]

RedShift42 - I updated the broken pic link in my post above. It might give you an idea or two.

 

[nicholas900]

Nice job Sodi. The grounding on XB's is an area where IMO Harley penny pinchers stepped in to save the cost of a copper cable to the engine. I made a new negative cable and ran it to my rear engine mount as well as many other grounding improvements. But where you ran it is perfectly acceptable if you didn't have your bike all apart.

I noticed this: Oddly enough, the engine case under the rear engine mount is the only part of the case not powder coated... hmmm. The bottom of the mount is left uncoated.... hmmmm.... the top bolt surface areas on the mount are carefully uncoated.... hmmm.... seems like someone was thinking about using that as a ground point.

If anyone wants one crimped, soldered, shrink wrapped and ready to go PM me. Give me the length and clock position of the ends and pay shipping. I've got a enough #4 welding cable and ends to make a few.

I don't suggest this as a "miracle" cure to existing running issues. But it will give better grounding to the devise that sucks the most juice... the starter. It will eliminate many mechanical grounding points as well that can develop issues down the road.

 

[donmrabbi66]

I own a cherry 97 S3 with 22k on the odometer.
it does the same thing at 2900-3200 rpm.
I will try this.

thank you.
Mine is carbeurated and the ecm doesnt exist???

 

[pantstain]

Just wanted to post and say I added this ground in my 04 bolt..went from battery to the braided wire. Used 4 gauge starter wire already terminated. Bike idles smoother (and about 150 rpms higher) and it starts easier. Smoothed it out a little as well when driving.

 

[Mwstevenson]

Just now doing this mod, for anyone that has used the 4 gauge pre-made wire from an auto parts store, did you connect to a different location than the coil pack bolt or how did you get that connector on? It doesn't seem like there is enough room for it.

 

[user_deleted]

Just now doing this mod, for anyone that has used the 4 gauge pre-made wire from an auto parts store, did you connect to a different location than the coil pack bolt or how did you get that connector on? It doesn't seem like there is enough room for it.

the 4 gauge wire they're speaking of will only mount to the dog-bone braided wire ground attachment point. a lighter gauge wire will mount to the coil pack rear hex head cap bolt.

 

[Mwstevenson]

Thanks lunaticfringe, I was messing around with it yesterday before a ride and I liked the idea of the 4 gauge wire (thickness and it was pre made for $8) so I loosened the the front bolt on the coil pack to give it some play and slid the tab of the pre made 4 gauge under the rear of the coil and tightened it down (w/ loctite). It seems like the bolt will be long enough to get a good bite in the threads, I did about 170 miles yesterday and am going got check it today or tomorrow to see how it looks. I feel like like the bike ran better having done this.

 

[user_deleted]

my pleasure. in essence there's no right or wrong way to run that auxiliary ground cable and sounds like your method successful and gave positive results. have mentioned this on here a ton thru the years: vehicle electricity flows from ground to the positive source.......NOT the other way around AND IMO the grounds on the XB models leave a bit to be desired. anything one can do to provide an additional grounding point from the motor to the frame in conjunction with assuring the battery grounding point is perfect always enhances rideability and alleviates most if not all of the stuttering and low speed jitters common with most XB's.

 

[midway]

Best I can gather from this post without images is you people want to ground a bolt on the coil to the frame OR directly to the battery. Apparently some like to ground the motor directly to the battery by way of the dogbone/stranded wire connection thus reducing reliance on the tail section fasteners to carry the ground... is my understanding correct? If not please check my work. Here is an example of both processes presented in this thread.

I don't have a problem with sputter but I don't want one in the future, if this isn't helpful for the concern of poor grounding it comes right off no big deal, I Enjoyed the mod thanks

 

[midway]

continued

 

[midway]

The only thing I don't like about this is the proximity of the heavy ground cable to the engine head (a zip tie is holding it up about and inch) I left enough flex in that coil ground wire I fashioned to manage engine motion and not rub on anything. So how can it be better?

 

[user_deleted]

So how can it be better?
nice choice of battery.
and since you asked: i strongly advise against all the connections you're placing upon the actual battery terminal attachment bolt.
the battery cable end ALWAYS goes directly against the battery terminal without exception.

 

[midway]

So how can it be better?
the battery cable end ALWAYS goes directly against the battery terminal without exception.

Thank you sir, I'll make the swap and remove the battery tender line.

 

[user_deleted]

Thank you sir, I'll make the swap and remove the battery tender line.

sure thing rob. what i always do with tender terminals is attach the ring connector from each tender harness wire directly UNDER the terminal bolt....then bolt thru cable end....then onto battery. works well and never works itself loose. when i run an auxilary ground i attach it to the cable end frame attachment point. serves same purpose as attaching directly to battery terminal without all the clutter and hassle.

 

[blackoutt]

Just did this extra ground mod yesterday which probably would have fixed my bike alone, but I also found that the previous owner painted the subframe, sanded off the grounds okay but didn't mask off or sand off the ends of the rails where they mount to the frame! Quick cleanup of those and all my electrical gremlins went away, just another tip for anyone else with ground issues especially on a painted or powder coated subframe bike.

My symptoms were erratic speedometer, tach was erratic once, slow starts, and poor charging. When the bike was running battery voltage was only 12.5.