Ground wire in 18-105 lens

[NICK2491]

Greetings all, any advice would be gratefully received.
I have an 18-105 VR plastic mounted lens, where the spring loaded stud that comes through the plastic ring for the earthing wire appears to have vanished. It does not seem to be rattling around in the lens, and the lens itself works in both AF and MF quite happily at present. What is the likely outcome of continuing to use it without the earthing wire connected?

 

[doonhamer]

What leads you to believe it is an earthing wire?

 

[carguy]

Did you take off the bayonet mount to see if the wire is no longer connected?

 

[NICK2491]

I have a copy of the Nikon repair manual for the lens which refers to it as a ground wire, my physics exams are thankfully a long way behind me but I'm pretty sure ground and earth are the same thing in this context at least.

I haven't taken the mount off yet, that's scheduled for later tonight, but on closer examination what appears to have been done is that the end of the wire that should be attached to the stud has actually been trapped between the lens mount and the body of the lens itself, so that the wire will still contact the camera. if the spring loaded stud is not loose inside the camera somewhere, then I'm minded to pass the wire through the hole intended for the stud and replace the stud itself with a small blob of solder, let it cool and harden and then secure that from the back with a minute drop of araldite / epoxy, probably applied with a toothpick or similar, so I don't brick the whole thing by glueing it together and converting it to a prime lens by accident!

That said, if anyone with more technical understanding than me can say if absence of this wire connection would be fatal or not, it would help me decide if the above procedure is necessary.