Mechanos

I've always thought the factory dual-note horn on my '01 was tad on the weak, puny and downright femine side. Big, powerful, rattling beast and all it can muster is a wimpy *beep beep* when you hit the horn button. Well, I picked up a pair of 24" Grover airhorns off of ebay for cheap. I gotta say, these things are freakin' huge!!! They showed up today and put them together and piped some air to them for a test. After a little adjusting, I got them dialed in let me just say that they are deep, low pitched and LOUD!!! They sound awesome and I can't wait to get them installed.

There in lies the problem... these things are huge and finding a place to mount them is going to be interesting. I have the Sport package and I'm looking at mounting them behind the front bumper on the frame crossmember. These horns were used and have a fair amount of pitting on the chromed brass trumpets, so I think I'm going scuff the chrome with some steel wool and paint them black so they will blend in with the rest of the black stuff behind the bumper. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to use as an air compressor to supply these things with air.

Shovelhead

I used these instructions for mine, but I installed the complete kit.

Air Horns - "stealth" installation

Jim Lane

I have a Grover Single on my truck 36" this horn really gets the attention of the rice burners next to you. I mounted mine under the cab on the drivers side. It is right under my seat and I can feel it when blow it. I have it set up with a grover air valve with a lanyard so you can control it from a low growel to a sharp blast and when you are next to a little car and blow it you can almost watch the drived soil his seat.. I am in the process of trying to find a good air engine driven compressor but since I have a serpentine belt I will have to do a bit of looking. I am sure brackets are out there. Would like to use maybe a Tu-Flo 500 compressor or else a GOOD electric unit, "Thomas PneuMotive" makes these.
But for now I have mine powered by a 20# Co2 cylinder in the back of my camper shell this last usually around 4-6 months of normal use. Be sure you use a Co2 regulator, Mine is the kind used on beer tappers and is cranked upto 140 PSI. Also be sure it is a vapor bottle and is mounted upright of it will suck liquid.
I found the ultimate horn but I cannot justify the price yet for my truck. It is a chime off a Southern Pacific Engine $500.00 Ugh....

Oh by the way, you can mount the Big Grovers like they are mounted on fire trucks, the trumpet comes off the diaphram and you can mount it through the bumper or core support with only the bell showing. This looks real clean.
Jim.

SoTexRattler

QUOTE "But for now I have mine powered by a 20# Co2 cylinder in the back of my camper shell"

Jim, do you notice any shift in the pitch of the horn's note as the CO2 fills the horn?

Many years ago in my teenage years, my dad brought home an old pair of salvaged 18" air horns.
Being a poorboy then and not having access to a real air compressor, I hooked them up to CO2. When sounded, they start out on-pitch(same as air) and then drop to a much deeper note as the denser CO2 fills the trumpet. This gave a very pronounced descending two note foghorn effect for at least the first blasts. Really cool sounding!

Keith

SoTexRattler

Oh! I meant to include something else! Everytime I am stuck in traffic with a multi-kilowatt audio system thumping in the scumbag's car next to me, I always wished I had one of those seriously HUGE Gamewell Diaphones driven by CO2 pointed right back at him from 8' away...
"HEY DUDE!!.. How about THIS bass note!!!" "BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT"

I'd probably get in big trouble with that much sound power but it sure would be worth the videotape of the dirtbag's face when that thing lets loose!

Keith

4doogie

Im lookin at getting a 5 chime real train horn. Does anyone know where to ge a good compressor? Im going to need more than 100psi, THIS IS A REAL TRAIN HORN and I want it to scare ppl. hehe 5 chimes are hard to come by but my friend hooked me up for 800 bucks. thanks for any ideas

DZLPWR

I think you need a biiiiiiiiig air tank and 1/2 inch air lines to get a reasonable note.

Jim Lane

**Re: 5 chime air horns , I have seen them at truck stops and the little specialty shops located nearby. I wonder if there is such thing as a wrecking yard for trains?

**Re: the change of pitch in the air horn is probably because the Co2 is actually freezing up when it leaves the regulator or you were freezing the diaphram on the horn if the line was short.
If you notice the regulator and lines are turning to ice. If you are moving alot of gas there is a heated regulator especially for this problem. That is the reason I have a 3/8" line from the regulator into an expansion tank that is in a warm location. But even with that I still cannot blast them for a long period of time.
If you direct the gas of Co2 into a bag and just open the valve you are making DRY ICE, this is basicly how it is made.
If you broke the valve off a bottle, after scaring the Cra* out of you, in a few seconds the flow will stop as the bottle will freeze solid. ( I have done this)
Also you do not want to have the bottle in the cab to keep it warm, if there was some problem and the rupture disk or valve broke it would displace all of your oxygen very quickly. You would have a carbonated taste in your mouth as you went unconsious.
Jim.

Shovelhead

Regarding the care and feeding of train horns from:
http://www.groverairhorns.com/train/train.html

I just hope, for your sake, that the driver in front of you "sleeping" at the green light has a HUGE sense of humor.

Jim Lane

Also other things in the world that have air horns are:

Old air raid sirens, some had a big compressor on a pole and this drove horn trumpets that were probably at least 6' long then the entire assy. would rotate around the pole. This sound was scarry...

Fog horns usually at the breakwater and were in big concrete buildings. Had one in Long Beach.

Ships although these are usually steam.
Jim.

jrs_dodge_diesel

Not as many as you think. Most use compressed air. The one on my old ship (built in 1964) was compressed air. The line that went to it was 1 1/2 inch pipe.

Jim Lane

Ill bet that used quite a few CFM's...
About what was the Db. rating on something like that?
Curious Jim.

jrs_dodge_diesel

Jim, the air horn (traditionally called the ships whistle) was 30 feet directly over the bridge on the mast. The horn faced forward. I'll put it this way if you didn't have your fingers in your ears, it would hurt. It would scare you to if you werent expecting it. And if you were at the stern about 250 feet away it was still loud.

Dodgezilla

Fire engines have some loud horns too.................

Jim Lane

What was the whistle used for other than for the obvious signaling, how did you know when it was about used? Was it used to indicate hours, call to stations ect . or did you have a bell or klaxton for that purpose. Was it an actual pull lanyard or have they gone modern with a button?
I guess the traditional phrase "Honk the horn" would not apply in this case.

**Were the engines on your ship diesel or steam? On a diesel engine that large what do they use to turn it over to start it? a smaller engine?

Thanks for the info . Jim Lane