I'm cleaning the rusty spots off the frame, fender wells, etc on the under side of waylon (my disco 2). in my haste, while cleaning near the filler neck on the
wheel well at the passenger rear, I hit a ground strap with a cable attached to the underside of the fender well. anyone know what that cable is for? ie: do I
need to re-attach it to whatever it was on to? cable is about the size of a brake cable on a bicycle.

 

5 hrs of using the drill, wire brush and grinder with the cup brush attachment. I used rust reformer spray where I took the undercoating crap off to bare metal and then applied 3 cans of AmSoil HD metal protector. Paid close attention to the new brake lines I had put on so they don't rust out like the last ones. I think waylon is good for another 20 years.

No rust thru spots found!! I was expecting the rear quarter to be a swiss cheese mess but nope. bonus! pretty much just surface rust. what a messy job...
still getting metal bits out of my hair and eye brows (wore safety glasses).

 

Here is what the end of job looks like.

 

The ground strap is a safety item. The neck goes through the body with a rubber grommet which isolates it from the body. The ground strap is there to protect against static discharge in the neck that could lead to a fire or explosion. If it were me, I'd replace it before refueling again.

Nice work respraying the undercarriage!

 

what I'm not sure of is where the end attaches to on the filler neck. if you have an 03/04 disco, can you take a pic of where it goes and I'll see if I can re-attach mine.

thx a bunch.

 

I have an '04. This is the best pic I can get. It's really cramped up there. It looks like it's on a small bolt / screw just above where the metal neck connects to the rubber. If it's intact above and you cut it, I'd personally strip the coating, solder it back together, heat shrink it and smear some RTV on the ends of the heat shrink to seal it really well against water. I wouldn't fight that tiny space to fully replace it.

 

Perfect! should be able to manage that. thx for taking the time to do that. appreciate it.

 

tried taking the mounting nut off the bolt the strap was attached to it rusted on. snapped off. so....I secured it using a knot around the bolt. hope that does the trick.