I upgraded my truck in March and just finished getting the horns from the F250 installed on the GMC.</O:p>
I considered mounting them under the truck but ultimately decided to keep them mounted on the tool box. The compressor, tank, relays and solenoid were all already mounted inside so that was going to be much easier. When I had the truck bed Linex’d, I had them do the tool box too. It turned out great.
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I‘ve wanted to get a bigger tank for a long time so this was a good time to upgrade. I had a 3 gallon, upgraded to 8.5 gallon, 8 ports.
I also wanted replace the button with a manual valve. Since I couldn’t find a good place to mount it in the cab (the thing is huge), I came up with a way to operate it remotely. The valve is in the tool box too. I looked around but couldn’t find where anyone had done something like this so maybe it will be helpful to someone down the road.
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I bought some bicycle brake cable housing and used some stainless steel cable that I had to make the connection to the valve. The SS cable is 150 pound test but very small in diameter (fishing stuff). I mounted one end of the housing under the dash, ran it under the floor moldings along the door, out the back of the cab and into the tool box where it is anchored. There is only about 2†of it that is visible in the truck, down beside the back seat.<O:p</O:p
My initial tests revealed that there was too much pressure from the very stiff manual valve spring; I couldn’t get full throw on the valve. I hooked up a couple of pulley’s to lower the force needed to move it and that seems to have done what I wanted. </O:p>
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I have a ¼†ball valve on the bottom port for the drain with a tube (piece of airline) going out the front of the box. There is a ½†ball valve with a quick disconnect for an air hose and 165PSI safety valve. Two ports are plugged for potential future use; Nathan comes to mind.
Finished product and the business end.
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The compressor seems to take forever to fill this big tank so I may end up replacing that if this setup burns it up. <O:p</O:p
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Good work on the pulley system… although I don’t know about having a fish hook near the nether regions :eek:
What’s that compressor you’re running. I think you’re right, it looks a bit small for a big tank like that. You’ll want to upgrade that in due time I suppose.
But hang on a minute… with a monster truck like that… surely you’re saving up for that K5 right?
It’s 7 years old as well. I’ll see how it holds up, does seem small for this tank.
A K5 would be nice. With this setup I think it would be easy to go up to 1/2" lines and put a “T” and a valve on the output of the manual valve and switch between the Grover and a Nathan. That would be sweet.
Oh yeah, don’t call me Shirley.
Found another leak. Unfortunately, it was on the drain on the bottom of the tank. :mad: No way to get to it without taking the tank out. Not that bad just a PITA. It’s done now, used pipe sealer instead of the teflon tape. Wish I’d done that the first time around.
Thanks! I’m very happy with how it turned out. Nice and smooth. It’s about a 4" pull to full open.
Haven’t thought about a stainless hose, other than thinking they look nice in the pics I’ve seen here. The leader hose would go from the compressor to the tank, right? I can see where that would get hot. Does it serve any purpose other than the bling factor? (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
I left the tank empty today after I fixed the leak to let the sealant set. I’ll time it tomorrow and see how long it actually is. I’m guessing it’s around 15 minutes. It shuts off at 142PSI.
Question regarding hose size - the lines in and out of the valve are very short. The valve is 1/2", the tank port is 1/2", the horn manifold inlet is 3/8". All the lines now are 3/8" OD. Would I gain anything by going to 1/2" lines? Doesn’t seem like I would with the restriction at the horn. It would be easy to find out though.
Yeah I doubt it’d make any real difference. Increasing hose diameter really helps on longer lines especially. Given that you have a 3/8 throat on the horn and short lines all round I wouldn’t bother until you install an Airchime.
The horns are Grover 1275’s. The tubing is only 1/4" ID. Looking at the quick disconnects vs. the compression fittings, it appears I could gain some diameter with the comp fittings, they are slightly larger inside.
When I bought the kit it only came with the 3/8" plastic hose, no leader hose. Filled the tank from dead empty, just under 15 minutes. I have a laser temperature gauge and the top of the compressor head was reading in the 220 - 225 range by the end :eek:, needless to say the hose was HOT.
That high of a temp cannot be a good thing.
Point taken on the heat. Will replace that hose for sure. I’ve forgotten what low side pressure on the switch is, 60 or 80 I think but that will still have it running 5 minutes or more for a recharge. I was checking the temp on the compressor as it was filling and it was pretty high early on. As you said, add in the black box and our wonderful Florida heat, I can see a problem.
When I replace that I think I’ll bump the others to 1/2" while I’m at it.
OK… cool, but hang on… let me just fill in the required sound effects
“Hooooooonk… hooooooooooooonk”
Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you about the valve. it’s a HB Black Widow type right? Does that one have the dual stage metering like the Graham White? (i.e. half on… then full)
Something to keep in mind. I have about 15 - 18’ of cable to get to the valve in the box. If it were mounted closer, without all the turns I had to make to get to the box, the pulleys might not be needed.
Yeah, I think that would work. I initially was looking for throttle cable like what you would have on a lawnmower or power equipment but couldn’t find anything long enough. Never thought about car throttle.
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With this setup I think it would be easy to go up to 1/2" lines and put a “T” and a valve on the output of the manual valve and switch between the Grover and a Nathan. That would be sweet.