The truck is an 06 F350 XL CC LB SRW Diesel.

Originally I was going to bolt angle stock to the frame with the rectangular tube stock to it horizontal to the ground. I made a bracket for the tank with some angle stock and realized I could bolt everything to the underside of the frame and NOT need the right-angle drill I bought since a regular drill would not fit between the body and frame. Ah well, early xmas present. I already had the rect. tube stock (1" H x 1.5" W x 1/8 Thick) from another project. Bolting from underneath allowed me to use a full size electric drill. All bolts are 2" long, 1/4" thick, flat washer on top, lock washer underneath.

Lessons learned:
1.) Drill 1/8" pilot holes, then 1/4" holes for bolts in all the metal.

2.) Slow down when you are about to break through on the frame, I bent (2) 1/4" bits by getting the drill just a little crooked after breaking through. The frame is THICK.

3.) Have at least 2 C-clamps, one should be a 2-3 incher to hold the stock to the frame and mark holes through the stock onto the frame with the drill. The screw end of the clamp will go up to allow room for the drill to get into each mounting hole, and a 4" clamp with not fit inside the frame upside down. Putting the clamp on with the screw end towards the ground you will only be able to get to one hole at a time and have to move the clamp which will cause the whole bracket to shift on the frame. A center punch might put you off center.

4.) Putting the coil over the airlines and wires was annoying. Maybe beacuse in DC it was cold as ballz.

5.) The driver side horn is 29" L. In the pic you can see it just clears the body mount at the rear. The first front bracket hole is 9" from the frame end of the rect. stock and the rear is 10.5 inches, so it angles in slightly to clear the parking brake cable, bolts, and frame/body mounts.

6.) The schematic and parts from Hadley were great. The whole kit was $460 shipped from http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-mirrors/hadley-air-horns.htm

7.) The area where the front of each horn bracket bolts to the frame already has 2 holes drilled in the frame. I used one of them for mounting, then marked the other through the stock. So temporarily mounting it to the frame I used a bolt on the front and the small C-clamp on the rear. The holes were already drilled in the rect. stock. I just eye-balled it and drilled each hole in the stock at the work bench. The frame is like 2" wide, so I marked the stock at the 2" mark and drilled 2 holes diagonally in the middle of that 2 inch area.

8.) Mark the holes on the frame through the stock with a 1/4" bit, remove the horn/bracket assembly, drill 1/8" holes, then 1/4" holes then bolt it on.

9.) The tank stock is like 11 inches long from end to end, passenger and drivers side are 14.5 inches long. The passenger side horn holes are centered over a line drawn at 9 inches from the end of the frame side on the stock. That horn is 26" long and did not have not clear the parking brake cable or the body/frame mount.

10.) To reach the nuts through the stock to tighten the air tank to the stock you need a 3/4 inch hole for a socket to get in there, as the bolts are only about 3/4" long and the stock is 1" thick. If you have a drill that can take a 1/2 inch shank use a 3/4" bit. The don't make 3/4" bits with 3/8" shanks so you can use a cut-out bit but its like $30 bucks from HD and dulls in 2 seconds. It ain't meant for thick metal. I called mine a business expense.

11.) Tape the front horn supports to the horn to keep it in place.

It took about 6 hours on Monday to measure, cut (used sawzall), drill every hole twice (1/8 then 1/4), and mount the compressor, tank and 2 horns. Tuesday it took about 3 hours to run the wires, cut, crimp, run the air lines and cover eveything and zip tie it all in place. I covered the pressure switch and solenoid with electrical tape to protect the eletrical connections. Worked the first time. The tank holds air like a champ.The compressor is wired to the upfitter Aux2 and the factory horn/airhorn toggle is spliced to the Yellow/green wire for the horn behind the fuse box.

The air lines are covered in blue coil and electrical in black.

A Flash video/sound clip is on a server of mine at http://206.246.118.40 The first 5-6 seconds I am trying to see if the camera is on.


I bolted the compressor straight to the frame.







I have some 2" wide 1/8inch thick flat stock bolted to the tank mount for support. It seemed over engineered given the sturdiness of the rect. stock so I left it off the horn mounts. I may add it later. You can see the larger holes underneath where the socket needs to go in to reach the tank nuts.



Passenger side horn. Plenty o' room left and right. I have some nuts on the rear end between the bracket and the horn acting as spacers to give the horn a slight downward angle per the directions. The extra hole in the bracket by the body was from the previous project. I was too lazy to cut the extra inch off with a sawzall. That's pretty lazy.




Passenger side horn from the front. Clears the bolts on the frame by an inch.



Driver side horn. Clears the frame mount by about an inch. First horn hole is 10.5" from the frame end of the bracket (8.5" from the frame)




Driver side horn from the front. Clears the parking brake cable and bolts by an inch or so. First horn bolt hole is 9 inches from the frame end of the bracket (7 inches from the frame). It needed to clear the edges of whatever that huge bracket is where the air lines run to the passenger side.



Toggle for horns and pic of son urging me to use the horn anytime I see dumbness going on on the roads.

 

Great post! Thanks! I just pulled by Hadley set-up off the old Suburban and couldn't find a location for them. Yours is a great idea!

Later...
Brewster...