What goes wrong with air horns?

[Jim Stoltz]

The air horns on the Allegro stopped working. Not the fake electric ones up top, but a pair installed by the previous owner in the grille. I have plenty of air pressure, the solenoid works and I can hear the air whooshing through the horns but no horn sound. At least that I can hear. The sound they make is so high pitched that every dog in the neighborhood goes nuts.

I assume there's some sort of diaphragm for each horn, but could both fail at the same time? Maybe one has always been bad and now the other has gone? What goes wrong with these things.

[Jim Stoltz]

In theory yes, but in reality the pump never runs and the gauge never moves while I'm driving. I think it takes a pretty dramatic change in height for it to adjust. I know the Auto setting works because when I flip it to Auto after jacking the back up it will vent the bags until it's lowered again.

[Lakota Wolf]

I forgot you upgraded and replaced your air pump,,, and after reading up on the air bag systems with auto pumps,, they have an anti reverse pressure valve. So the pump doesnt continually run to maintain air pressure, which saves the pump from running for extended periods of time. So technically you can run your horns off your air tank.

See,,,,, you made me go read something and lernt something new,, which means I had to push something old out of my memory bank to hold new stuff. And wow,, a triple trumpet,, we will probably hear it way down here when ya test them.

[Jim Stoltz]

Yes I got a new pump with a decent continuous run rating. It fills the tank pretty quick. In auto mode the bags appear to be around 60-70 psi. The pump runs the tank to 110. I can adjust it up but I don't know what the bags can take. 110 brings it up high enough not to scrape coming out of the driveway. I can feel the difference with that much air in the bags. The auto setting brings it back down. I think it might need adjusted because I think it sits a bit low in the Auto setting.

[Rick Faunce]

That is the Jet ride isn't it? The bag should measure 11" from top plate to bottom. If not then you need to adjust the height adjusters on the axle. I actually set mine to 11.5 to compensate for the new front springs.

[Jim Stoltz]

Yes it is! I'll have to measure them next time I have it out on the level. It seems to sit low in the back, but it might just be the way it's supposed to be. It does have a bit of a lean to the left so at the very least I need to even that out.

[Jim Stoltz]

So here's how my day went. Bring the kids to the bus stop (15 minutes away) at 6:25 AM. As soon as I pull out of the driveway my daughter says she hears bells. I don't hear very well so I put the windows down. Sure enough there was a ding a ling ding ling sound coming from underneath.

Flashback 2 years ago. The rear gas tank strap on my Avalanche rusted through. I ordered a new one. It's held in with a bolt up through the frame via a retainer clip that the bolt goes through. First turn the retainer clip breaks off inside the frame. I "fixed" it with a big, red ratchet strap. I check on it once in a while - as recently as yesterday. Well it let go for some reason (perhaps because it wasn't meant to be mounted under a truck for 2 years).

I turned around and went home. Jacked it up, put a new red ratchet strap on it and raced to the bus stop. My son had already missed his but my daughter caught hers. Drove another 35 minutes to drop my son off at school. Got home and the mail chick brought my new parking brake cable, also for the Avalanche. I struggled with it for an hour before I realized it was just too short. They sent me the wrong part. I had to destroy it in order to remove it.

Later in the day UPS brought 2 packages. One was the carburetor gasket kit for the Allegro generator. The "gasket kit" had no gasket in it. Empty bag with the correct part number on it. They're sending me another one.

The second package made my day. New air horns. Installation was cake and they sound great. Finally a break!

https://youtu.be/m4--oUYf-6w

[Rich Thomas]

You sound like me Jim, I waited all week for a transmission jack I had to order on line because the Harbor Freight I frequent couldn't sell me the display model. I wasted a 45 mile one way trip so they could tell me they didn't know when they would get another one to sell. They said it would be wise to just order it on line. So I order it on line, one week later a lazy FEDEX driver manages to get it of his truck and onto my sidewalk. Box was beat to hell and back and all the tape was torn. I make him stay until I open it and see that it's not damaged. It looks like its okay so He leaves. Next day I put it together only to find a bushing and a snap ring's not there. No problem Ill run in town get one from T.S.C or Lowe's or Auto-zone "NOT". end up getting flat washers and a C clip to fix it until I get new parts from Harbor Freight. Monday! I call Harbor Freight for replacement part. I'm told you will have to send the whole thing back because we don't have replacement parts; hum I say but, there's a parts list on the back page of the pamphlet. Sir you can take it to your local Harbor Freight and they will exchange it he says. No I say because it's 45 miles one way and I bought it on line because THEY DON'T HAVE ONE! Thank You have a good day. It must be an epidemic.

[Lakota Wolf]

Horns sound great,, will get their attention,,, and hafta laff with the red rachet strap fix,,, almost as good as duct tape,,,,lol