[seapig]

Thanks for your running help. I was able to remove the highway bar top bolt after applying some heat and trying a different method. Question for you Dash did you have to remove the spacer to get everything installed? We are trying to do this by leaving the highway bar that is already installed in place and work around it. Just curious if you had to remove the spacer or uninstall the highway bars.

Are you talking about the upper rubber spacer between the bars and the frame? I trimmed a bit off the top of mine to make up for the lost space.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

Are you talking about the upper rubber spacer between the bars and the frame? I trimmed a bit off the top of mine to make up for the lost space.

Yes sir, the upper rubber spacer between the bar and frame. We were trying to push it around to push in the bracket for the horn (without removing the highway bars or loosening the bottom part of them) but just can't wedge it in enough. So we have the horn bracket we're trying to push into place underneath (and behind) the highway bar to use the same hole as the highway bar, but the spacer is making it tough. Sounds like we may need to trim as well.

Was your highway bar already on when you installed the horn? Thanks much.

 

[seapig]

Yes sir, the upper rubber spacer between the bar and frame. We were trying to push it around to push in the bracket for the horn (without removing the highway bars or loosening the bottom part of them) but just can't wedge it in enough. So we have the horn bracket we're trying to push into place underneath (and behind) the highway bar to use the same hole as the highway bar, but the spacer is making it tough. Sounds like we may need to trim as well.

Was your highway bar already on when you installed the horn? Thanks much.

I don't remember if I removed it or not. It'll probably be easier to just to take it off so you don't have to fight with it.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

I don't remember if I removed it or not. It'll probably be easier to just to take it off so you don't have to fight with it.

My hesitation of removing the bar was that the bottom part appeared connected to the gear shifter. Being a novice at this, I did not know if there was a wire or other parts that would be impacted by me trying to remove and then reinstall the highway bar. To be continued tonight or tomorrow as I resume the project after work. Thanks again.

 

[seapig]

My hesitation of removing the bar was that the bottom part appeared connected to the gear shifter. Being a novice at this, I did not know if there was a wire or other parts that would be impacted by me trying to remove and then reinstall the highway bar. To be continued tonight or tomorrow as I resume the project after work. Thanks again.

Could just back the bolts out a bit to give you some room to work with but not remove them all the way. I don't believe there's much to worry about on the gear shifter side, just make sure you torque the bolts properly when you're done.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

Could just back the bolts out a bit to give you some room to work with but not remove them all the way. I don't believe there's much to worry about on the gear shifter side, just make sure you torque the bolts properly when you're done.

Wife and I partnered up on this tonight. We removed the top bolt last night but the spacer would not permit trying to fit the mount in there. We have tried multiple methods to loosen the highway bar bolts to loosen it to get to the spacer--no luck. We used heat again for quite a bit. Tried tools to get leverage with gentle mallet/hammer to nudge it along--it's not budging. Feel foolish for admit it, but we're stuck again.

We had the bracket at a good angle but the holes were still far away from being lined up. No way to get it in there. Half wanted to glue the darn thing or use strong zip ties.

As it stands, I'm either likely to return this horn that I wanted, or one of our kid's basketball coaches is into bikes and working on them and we may see if he can help with better tools and knowledge than we posses to get this thing removed. What they don't show you on Youtube videos! Our version! Ha.

 

[seapig]

Wife and I partnered up on this tonight. We removed the top bolt last night but the spacer would not permit trying to fit the mount in there. We have tried multiple methods to loosen the highway bar bolts to loosen it to get to the spacer--no luck. We used heat again for quite a bit. Tried tools to get leverage with gentle mallet/hammer to nudge it along--it's not budging. Feel foolish for admit it, but we're stuck again.

We had the bracket at a good angle but the holes were still far away from being lined up. No way to get it in there. Half wanted to glue the darn thing or use strong zip ties.

As it stands, I'm either likely to return this horn that I wanted, or one of our kid's basketball coaches is into bikes and working on them and we may see if he can help with better tools and knowledge than we posses to get this thing removed. What they don't show you on Youtube videos! Our version! Ha.

That sucks, lining everything up is a pain in the ass. To get the bolts loose you'll probably need some good quality allen sockets and a long handled ratchet.

Any chance you're in AZ? I could drop by to lend a hand.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

That sucks, lining everything up is a pain in the ass. To get the bolts loose you'll probably need some good quality allen sockets and a long handled ratchet.

Any chance you're in AZ? I could drop by to lend a hand.

Very nice of you to make that offer! Thank you for that. We lived in Scottsdale for a few years but, alas, we're back in Virginia these days. I had some Allen wrenches but I think my sockets were not the right shape. It was odd getting access and the technique we used on the rear bolt didn't seem to budge the front side. I REALLY appreciate all of your advice/patience as I posed all these questions. Maybe the coach will have advice on site. No substitute for experience--experience here which I lack.

 

[seapig]

Very nice of you to make that offer! Thank you for that. We lived in Scottsdale for a few years but, alas, we're back in Virginia these days. I had some Allen wrenches but I think my sockets were not the right shape. It was odd getting access and the technique we used on the rear bolt didn't seem to budge the front side. I REALLY appreciate all of your advice/patience as I posed all these questions. Maybe the coach will have advice on site. No substitute for experience--experience here which I lack.

Bummer, VA is a bit long of a ride from here, though getting out of this damn heat would be nice.

I use these for working on the bike, they make removing most of the bolts a lot easier. 3/8 in. Drive Metric Long Reach Hex Bit Socket Set, 7 Pc.

Also, you'll probably have to beat the shit out of the ratchet to break those free. I've found a few bolts on the bike, (like the brake caliper mounting bolts) tend to glue themselves in place over time and need a lot of effort to break them loose.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

Bummer, VA is a bit long of a ride from here, though getting out of this damn heat would be nice.

I use these for working on the bike, they make removing most of the bolts a lot easier. 3/8 in. Drive Metric Long Reach Hex Bit Socket Set, 7 Pc.

Also, you'll probably have to beat the shit out of the ratchet to break those free. I've found a few bolts on the bike, (like the brake caliper mounting bolts) tend to glue themselves in place over time and need a lot of effort to break them loose.

Hello there,

Thanks again for all your help. So an update...

I have more projects than I have time and apparently knowledge, so I tried to outsource this (simple?) horn project. The dealer told me they could probably install it, but they are about an hour away and not the easiest people.

There is a place literally 5 minutes from me that is a repair shop doing odd jobs on cars and motorcycles. They ride I know as I've seen them.

I gave them exact instructions, even gave them photos of your job and some of our exchanges, along with the wiring harness and specific details.

Good news--they installed this in less than an hour for me at a reasonable rate. That's good.
Bad news-- They ignored my instructions, stating this horn was just plug and play, and they never took the wiring harness and fuse/relay (I think that came in the box) out of that box. I bought this all as a package. They insisted this was plug and play despite the mfg not agreeing with that. The plug and play version of the horns I found all sounded unimpressive. This one was louder.

He told me if it doesn't work right, just bring it back.....I asked why not just do it the way I asked while you had it here per my request, and got the "it didn't need to be done that way...it should be alright" approach.

So, yes this does honk and it does sound very loud. I assume it's as loud as it should be (not sure if doing it per the instructions would have been louder. Concerned about the blue eventually blowing, but it didn't so far based on me honking it about 30 times with the bike running and not, for different durations. Not sure if it will eventually blow the fuse.

Also not sure if this will cause future issues with the oil change. I believe you mentioned the old horn was in the way with oil changes. Looks like they removed the old horn, but just connected the wiring.

Thanks again for your tips.

One pic of the finished product:

 

[seapig]

Hello there,

Thanks again for all your help. So an update...

I have more projects than I have time and apparently knowledge, so I tried to outsource this (simple?) horn project. The dealer told me they could probably install it, but they are about an hour away and not the easiest people.

There is a place literally 5 minutes from me that is a repair shop doing odd jobs on cars and motorcycles. They ride I know as I've seen them.

I gave them exact instructions, even gave them photos of your job and some of our exchanges, along with the wiring harness and specific details.

Good news--they installed this in less than an hour for me at a reasonable rate. That's good.
Bad news-- They ignored my instructions, stating this horn was just plug and play, and they never took the wiring harness and fuse/relay (I think that came in the box) out of that box. I bought this all as a package. They insisted this was plug and play despite the mfg not agreeing with that. The plug and play version of the horns I found all sounded unimpressive. This one was louder.

He told me if it doesn't work right, just bring it back.....I asked why not just do it the way I asked while you had it here per my request, and got the "it didn't need to be done that way...it should be alright" approach.

So, yes this does honk and it does sound very loud. I assume it's as loud as it should be (not sure if doing it per the instructions would have been louder. Concerned about the blue eventually blowing, but it didn't so far based on me honking it about 30 times with the bike running and not, for different durations. Not sure if it will eventually blow the fuse.

Also not sure if this will cause future issues with the oil change. I believe you mentioned the old horn was in the way with oil changes. Looks like they removed the old horn, but just connected the wiring.

Thanks again for your tips.

One pic of the finished product:

I hate it when people get paid to do things and then don't follow directions. The main reason a different harness is used is because these airhorns can draw 20-30A of current and will usually overload the stock electrical system. The harness hooks up a relay to the stock horn circuit and uses that to switch power to the harness circuit that has a larger fuse that is capable of handling the airhorn's power draw.

The good thing is now that the horn is mounted, you can wire the harness in yourself. It should only take 15-20 minutes.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

I hate it when people get paid to do things and then don't follow directions. The main reason a different harness is used is because these airhorns can draw 20-30A of current and will usually overload the stock electrical system. The harness hooks up a relay to the stock horn circuit and uses that to switch power to the harness circuit that has a larger fuse that is capable of handling the airhorn's power draw.

The good thing is now that the horn is mounted, you can wire the harness in yourself. It should only take 15-20 minutes.

Thanks as always for your helpful info.

I mentioned to the guy that I Thought it only a matter of time before this blew the fuse. He felt like this rig would work and would blow immediately if it was going to blow. I admit I'm a bit of a novice and wasn't positive. I was positive my instructions were ignored and made that clear and I trust he could see my frustration at having to re-visit a project again. I may give this a shot running the wires the right way. Not sure if the fact that the horn is honking in my trials with no problem means it will work. If it blows, does that just impact the horn or something else in the electrical?
Another project for another day! Ha.

 

[seapig]

Thanks as always for your helpful info.

I mentioned to the guy that I Thought it only a matter of time before this blew the fuse. He felt like this rig would work and would blow immediately if it was going to blow. I admit I'm a bit of a novice and wasn't positive. I was positive my instructions were ignored and made that clear and I trust he could see my frustration at having to re-visit a project again. I may give this a shot running the wires the right way. Not sure if the fact that the horn is honking in my trials with no problem means it will work. If it blows, does that just impact the horn or something else in the electrical?
Another project for another day! Ha.

As long as the current draw isn't significantly more than what a fuse is rated for, most fuses will take awhile to blow.

I tried looking at the electrical diagrams in the service manual but the diagrams kinda suck. It looks like there are multiple splices that the accessory bus gets fed from and it shows it getting power from several fuses.

It's probably best to just install the harness since it's super quick and keeps the horn isolated from the rest of the stuff on the bike.

 

[MattyBoy]

I installed the mini using the OEM wiring... no problem. The big airhorn needs a dedicated line and dedicated breaker rated to the airhorn spec because it includes an air compressor.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

As long as the current draw isn't significantly more than what a fuse is rated for, most fuses will take awhile to blow.

I tried looking at the electrical diagrams in the service manual but the diagrams kinda suck. It looks like there are multiple splices that the accessory bus gets fed from and it shows it getting power from several fuses.

It's probably best to just install the harness since it's super quick and keeps the horn isolated from the rest of the stuff on the bike.

I'm back with an update. I decided to install the wiring harness with the fuse/relay. My wife was kind enough to jump in to help. I'd love to admit that it took us only 15 to 20 minutes, but as newbies (with 3 kids interrupting us) this turned into about a 1.45 hour project. Ha...we are sweaty but we got the wires connected. The wiring harness had a really cheap male end so we had to do some work with that as well.

Good news: It is now, I think, properly wired the way the mechanic should have done it.

Bad (or at least interesting) news: When this was wired the "wrong way" off the stock horn, my Apple Watch recorded consistently 121 decibels. It's advertised as 120 so that's about right. That's based off 4 or 5 tests in the same location. After we wired it the "right way" using the same test location/approach, it never went over 117 decibels. It consistently did either 116 or 117, never louder. I found that interesting. Not sure why it would be less.

The zip ties could look a little better with where we wired them. I'll probably do that down the road to clean it the wire locations.

So, using the old quote....it is finished!

I hope!

Really appreciate all the advice! Thanks!

 

[seapig]

I'm back with an update. I decided to install the wiring harness with the fuse/relay. My wife was kind enough to jump in to help. I'd love to admit that it took us only 15 to 20 minutes, but as newbies (with 3 kids interrupting us) this turned into about a 1.45 hour project. Ha...we are sweaty but we got the wires connected. The wiring harness had a really cheap male end so we had to do some work with that as well.

Good news: It is now, I think, properly wired the way the mechanic should have done it.

Bad (or at least interesting) news: When this was wired the "wrong way" off the stock horn, my Apple Watch recorded consistently 121 decibels. It's advertised as 120 so that's about right. That's based off 4 or 5 tests in the same location. After we wired it the "right way" using the same test location/approach, it never went over 117 decibels. It consistently did either 116 or 117, never louder. I found that interesting. Not sure why it would be less.

The zip ties could look a little better with where we wired them. I'll probably do that down the road to clean it the wire locations.

So, using the old quote....it is finished!

I hope!

Really appreciate all the advice! Thanks!

Glad to hear you got it wired up.