I am considering the purchase of a Nathan K3LA. One problem for me is that the horns are so large. I don’t want to remove my spare tire and I don’t want the horns to be visible so I am limited on space for mounting the horns. In looking at photos of the horns on the web they all have a pretty thick manifold assembly which adds several inches to the overall depth including the mounting base for the manifold.
So I am wondering can the individual horns be removed from the manifold and mounted in separate locations on the vehicle, with a single air line running directly into each horn?
I have seperate manifolds for mounting. Install is very easy when compared to the nightmare that can be involved with mounting a K3 or K5 Under a vehicle. If I can do 10 horns under my Neon, you truck is limitless.
I have one of the biggest trucks on the market but space is still tight due to my unique requirements:
I do not want the horns to be visible from any angle. Only way you can see them is if you raise the truck on a lift and look up.
I do not want to permanently modify the truck in any way. No cutting, drilling, or welding.
I do not want to remove any factory accessories such as the spare tire.
I do not want the horns to be exposed to direct rain, snow, mud, or debris from the road.
I want the horns to point to an open air space so the sound will carry out from under the vehicle.
I do not want to put anything under the hood. It is too tight in there and I don’t want to cut down on airflow to the coolers.
So this left me with only one space which is directly under the cab below the driver seat area. The space is limited and bordered by the drive shaft, exhaust pipes, fuel lines, and gas tank. So it is pretty tricky to mount any horns let alone a K3 or K5.
I just barely fit my Omega AH-500 by making a custom mounting bracket which leveraged existing holes in the frame. I started to replace my Omega horn with the new Shocker XL horns today and I have to make another custom bracket to get them to fit. So I have ruled out a K3 or K5 for now and I am hoping the Shockers will be enough for me.
Couple of questions:
The longest shocker trumpet ends just about 4 inches from the exhaust pipe. The trumpet is angled down away from the exhaust so the sound will carry out fine but the lip of the trumpet is still within 4" of the exhaust. Is this too close? I am worried that it might melt from the extreme heat.
I purchased some very thin girls socks which are black 98% nylon and 2% spandex. These are just the right size to use as horn covers and they should keep dirt and debris from entering the horns. The main reason I got them though was to keep out the mud wasps from nesting inside the horns. We have a lot of those around here and they will nest in any tube or hole within 24 hours. Will the sound be muted by these thin covers?
I installed the valve switch in the truck bed near the compressor and tank. There is about 4’ of hose going from the valve to the horns. Is this too much line after the valve? I am worried about a delay when I first hit the horn button. I need them to blast right away without a delay but I want to avoid mounting the valve under the truck if I can help it.
The nylon tube pressure fittings made it easy to hook up the trumpets to the distribution valve but those fittings sure seem likely to leak. Even when fully inserted and locked down the nylon tube will turn and feels a bit loose in the socket. Would it be better to use air hose and standard NPT fittings?
Well I am headed out to finish my install in the morning so any late night or early morning advice is appreciated.
Yeah, I had thought of placing the horns in the bed but I have a locking hard cover so the sound would not get out. I don’t have a ladder rack and mounting anything over the cab would require permanent modification to the vehicle. Plus the truck is too high as it is and I am often just barely able to fit in parking garages so I don’t want to make it worse by placing stuff up top. And horns on top would probably be visible. I am happy with my current mounting location but it takes a lot of work to install and it limits my choice of horns. I am hoping the Shockers will be loud enough for me.
What kind of truck is it? I have a friend with a 07 Chevy Silverado 2500 and we put his ABOVE the spare tire lol. Took the spare out, put the horns in, put the spare back in. It’s plenty loud and VERY hidden. You can barely see it being under the truck. Oh and it’s a K3 on a low manifold.
There was a spot to the left side of the bed right by the spare. I had to reverse the 4a bell and point the 1 and 2 bells forward. We did have to drill 3 small holes for the bolts to hold the horn to the bottom of the bed but they aren’t noticeable when removed. I’ll take pics of it tonight and post them up for ya.
I just finished replacing my Omega AH-500 with a Shocker XL kit. I also upgraded from a 1-gallon tank to a 7-gallon tank and from 110 psi to 150 psi. I have attached some pics of the setup.
I still have to paint the compressor board black, mount the 60-amp breaker box on the bed wall next to the 20-amp service, and tie down the tank with a bungee strap but this job is 95% done and the horns seem to work fine. I haven’t tested it much yet but here are some initial obesrvations:
The air tank and compressor board are removable with quick disconnect fittings in less than a minute. Very handy when I need the full bed open to haul cargo or when I have to fill up tires or work with air outside of the vehicle.
There are 2 open slots on the main manifold so I can add connectors for power tools or my Air Zenith digital gauge once it arrives.
The dual Viair 400C compressors are fast! Even with a 7-gallon tank I can go from empty to full at 150 psi in a little over 2 minutes.
The Shocker XL horns are much deeper and fuller sounding than the Omega AH-500. This is exactly what I wanted but I am now missing a little of the high-pitched tones which the Omega provided. I might just need a few days to get used to the difference and I need to hear them from a distance to judge which I like better. I may end up having to install both horn sets to get the best of both worlds.
The Shockers continue to sound pretty good even down to 80 psi whereas the Omega horns really seemed to taper off much faster as the psi dropped. I can now get at least 6 full long blasts from the 7-gallon tank which is exactly why I upgraded to more air. I am not sure how well the duration will hold up if I add the Omega horns back in but I might try a test in a few days just to see.
The Shockers seem to take a little longer to kick in. Maybe 0.5 to 1 second after I press and hold the horn switch. The Omega horns came on nearly instantly. There is about 1’ of air hose after the Shocker valve switch and then another 8" of nylon tube after the splitter valve but this doesn’t seem like enough to cause such a long delay. It isn’t super long but it is noticeable and it prevents the Shockers from sounding when my vehicle alarm is set off, whereas the Omega horns sounded fine with the alarm.
Comments or suggestions welcome on how I can improve this setup further. Now to the pics:
We got the socks from the girls section in Walmart. Size 4-8, solid black, very thin and stretchy, $1.98 per pair so only $4 for the whole job. Made from 98% nylon and 2% spandex so they should be waterproof. I tried the horns with and without the socks and couldn’t tell much of a difference so I will leave them on there. I cut about 1/2 of each sock length off and just used the toe-side. This was just enough to cover the opening of the horn and allow enough fabric to gather on the back side. When you cut the socks they lose their stiff elastic edge but I didn’t like having a bunch of fabric bunched up around the front mounting bolts so I had to trim them. I ran a black cable tie around the cut edges of each sock just to help hold the socks in place against the horn tubes. Seems to work ok for now but if they get funky then I can remove them in a minute. Was worth the $4 to experiment.
