Hey all, new to the forums here
I was thinking about putting a train horn on my truck, 2003 Dodge QC SB 1500, and was wondering what problems I’ll run into if I take the truck offroad with a horn and compressor on it? Where can I mount the compressor, tank, and horns where they won’t get damaged and won’t have to take up space in the bed? Also, I’d like to use the compressor to blow up tires, rafts, etc, what equipment will I have to use for this without breaking the bank?
im sure your truck is a little prittier than mine but i mounted mine ontop my cab but i havnt run into any problems yet…i dont know where to mount on your truck but when i put all my stuff together, i just made sure the compressor would stay dry so i put it inside my cab. and put my tank in the bed.
the only problem ive had with the horns uptop is when it rains, they get water in them and they quiet down but once i hold it down for a sec, it clears out and theyre back to new!
Sounds like that would work best for an offroad setup for sure! How did you mount the horns to your roof? Just drill through and bolt it on or what? And does the compressor make lots of noise in the cab?
yea just drilled through and bolted…its more than less my wheelin toy, so looks or what ever isnt a big deal. but i still drive it almost daily just cause i like it. but the compressor can get a little noisey but if im cruising down the road at 50mph, my truck has so much road noise, i hardly hear the compressor.
or if i dont want to hear it, i just turn it out and go inside the house for a few and come turn it off. i didnt put a pressure switch on it…just a pressure gauge up front and a on/off switch
I dont know how high up your off-roader is. I have a K3 on my truck and EVERYTHING is mounted up front but you need clearance though if you are going to go off road. I say sacrifice the spare time and put everything back there and then you wont have to worry about the clearance in front. Here is a picture of my setup in the front.
You can see here that Im barely clear in the front but My tank, horna nd compressors are all up front. Nothing in the bed and I still have my spare tire.
The 2nd picture is after I cleaned it up a bit and put an elbow fitting on the press switch so it would stick out so far.
I think the spare tire might be the place to put it, usually spare tires under the bed like that are a pain, and I don’t have a problem with putting the spare tire in the bed. Those fittings just look so vulnerable up in the front lol. Also, how hard would it be to take the horns off for offroading and just keep the air compressor and tank?
haha i like how all that is crammed in underneath…i would of done it under but i guess it depends on the type of off road you do, i mostly do mud so i didnt want them under neath or they would just fill up with water/mud
Or if you have a tool box mount them all in there like I did. They’re out of the elements completely yet still LOUD. You just have to be careful nothing in the box slams into them.
You’re right, they are. The way I feel about it, is if I hit something, its gonna tear my plastics off the bumper as well. So far my only regret is not being able to fit a bigger tank under there. lol. I really got lucky. My horn manifold is bolted to a steel contraption I fabricated and its bonded with loctite, so to take the manifold off is a pain but dis-assembling the horn is fairly easy.
LOL. Yeah, thank God I dont know crap about off roading but you’re right. I dont even think about hopping curbs now because they are so low to the ground. I just pray I continue to see all the loose tire treads in the freeway before its too late. lol. If you look closely, you will see several component on the truck are actually lower than my tank. So I think Im in pretty good shape.
[QUOTE=4.3L5spd;35632]Or if you have a tool box mount them all in there like I did. They’re out of the elements completely yet still LOUD. You just have to be careful nothing in the box slams into them.
QUOTE]
Man I had to look at that twice before I saw the shockers in there. Great job.