Sweeper54

I was just about to pull away from a STOP when a car ran a Stop Sign right in front of me. I blew the horn at her, this is the frist time I've used the horn. I look around the the pregant roller skate that must have beat me to the punch. SURELY that sound didn't come from under the hood of this big, powerful truck!

I see a mod coming up.

Tom488

I haven't put a web page together for this particular modification yet, but here's a couple of pictures of the system I went with.

The compressor
The air tank
The horns

Here's how they sound:
Get Outta My Way

Matt400

Its funny you mentioned that, I owned a 93 Ranger that made me embarrassed to use the horn, now I get this big bad CTD only to find the horn sounds like my old Ranger

There should be a simple horn swap to fix this without going all out on the air stuff.

spots

That air horn would put the elderlies here into cardiac arrest. Gotta get me one.
A train horn, if you can dig one up, will surely blow the fenders off.

trailblazenyj

yep, gotta get me some of that. if you don't mind, post a few tidbits of info so we can see where you got your stuff and how much it co$t. thanks

Jeff in TD

Howard's Horn is a Harley aftermarket unit that is quite well built, with a compressor designed to fit behind the "Cow Bell" stock horn cover. They are AMAZINGLY loud, and I've been thinking about putting one on my truck.

http://www.howardshorns.com/

Gary C

Yesterday was the first time I used it, WOW it needs a LOT OF HELP......

Tom488

Sure. Here's a copy of a reply I just sent to someone who e-mailed me that very same question

It was a fairly expensive system, mainly because of the compressor. I wanted a complete on-board air system, with the ability to run air tools (the system will run a 1/2" impact gun without a problem). I got the compressor, tank, check valve, pressure switch, relay, circuit breaker, and pop-off valve from The 4x4 Connection. Total cost here was around $550.

The horns themselves came from Component Products Group - they're a distributor of Hadley Products (the manufacturer of the horns).

I had CPG put together a custom kit for me, since all I needed were the horns themselves, the solenoid, the air line, and the fittings that go into the air horns. The rest of the fittings I picked up at Home Depot (standard 1/4" compression fittings). The horns themselves are the round-bell single horns, 19" and 22". I think the whole package from CPG was under $300.

As far as the installation, the compressor was mounted on the transfer case skid plate (it fit perfectly there), and the tank was mounted on the inside of the driver's side frame rail, behind the transfer case, and just in front of the fuel tank. The horns themselves were mounted on the passenger-side inner fender liner. I made up a couple of brackets to hang the horns from the OE airbox mounting grommets (having gone with an aftermarket air box to leave enough room for the horns), and the secondary brackets for the horns were bolted right to the plastic fender liner.

Power was pulled right from the battery, through the circuit breaker (mounted on the firewall), through the relay, and back to the compressor (via 10 gauge wire - lots of amps here). Power for the relay's coil comes from the cigarette lighter circuit, through a switch in the cab (to disable the compressor if need be), through the pressure switch, and finally to the relay itself. This allows the compressor to switch on when pressure is low enough, but only when the ignition is on (engine running).

Power to the solenoid (to activate the horns) comes from two sources (selectable via an in-cab switch) - either from the output of the electric horn circuit (to trigger the air horns when the electric horns are activated), of from the 12V accessory outlet (to activate the air horns alone). This switch has a center-off position so that the air horns can be disabled.

spots

Wow. Expensive. The finger is cheaper...
Seriously tho nice setup.

Crimedog

Hey, for those who are interested, there is a complete Hadley system on ebay right now, 60 bucks, with 3 days left Check it out Used, but a lot cheaper than new!

murray

Sweeper54

Can't agree with you more about the weak sound of the stock horn. Had a set of Hadley Air Horns on my other truck. Spent $449 not including installation. After 2 months the first compressor burned up. It was covered under the warranty. 3 months later the second compressor burned up. That was covered by warranty. When the third compressor burned up I had to pay $149.00. Bottom line, when the smoke cleared I had almost $700 invested in that air horn.

Had installed today liam air hornes. Guaranteed for life $139.00 Installed.

Time will tell. Shop around.

Alan

mklucas

Tom,
Did you look at a belt driven compressor setup? How does the new setup treat your battery when you're running airtools? This is just about what I am planning to do with mine, but I am leaning toward a belt driven compressor.

Nice Job.

Tom488

I did, briefly. Brad Kilby at Kilby Enterprises wasn't ready with his '03 kit yet, and I wasn't really interested in doing much custom fab. work to get it to fit. As it stands, Brad's kit (based on the '98-'02 kit prices) is only about $100 more than what I paid for my electric compressor, relay, and breaker.

With my larger turbo and discharge piping, I'm not sure I could fit a York in there now (Brad had to go with an aftermarket airbox to just squeeze a York into an otherwise stock '03 engine bay).

Whenever I use the compressor for air tools, the engine's idling, so the batteries don't really get hammered (I think they get hit worse from the grid heaters, actually).

If you can make the room for a belt-driven compressor, that would definately be the way to go.

trailblazenyj

thanks for the info. I've looked at the kilby kit several times. I think he puts out a quality product. Every time I think about it though I find another reason to stay away from a belt driven compressor. Pretty much everything I have seen so far indicates that if you want to do anything with the turbo you will have to use a different intercooler tube. That would prevent using the Kilby kit. So, I am back to an electric compressor. I am curious to see how yours will work mounted where it is. Did you think about running the intake up to a place less affected by water?

Tom488

I did, actually. I was going to turn the compressor around, and run some flexible tubing up to the engine compartment, but so far, water hasn't been a problem. It seems the transfer case blocks the road spray from getting to the filter on the compressor, and the oiled filter handles any of the residual moisture. When I took the tank off last month (after being on for about 3 months or so), there was absolutely no water in the tank at all (which sort of surprised me - I expected at least a little condensation).