Any air horn experts here?

[FORDification]

My '75 F250 SuperCab came with a set of factory Ford air horns. They're currently not hooked up, and since I can't seem to find any info online on these and I've never owned air horns before, I'm turning to you guys for some assistance in getting it working again.

The setup appears to be pretty complete, with dual horns, a small compressor and air tank. Here are a couple pics of the setup (click to enlarge):



OK...from what I can see, it appears that the wiring hookups for the solenoid are as follows:

As marked in the above photo, #2 should be the hot wire, which goes to a toggle switch or horn button inside the cab. I believe #1 should be the ground hookup, and the black wire labeled as #3 connects to the bottom side of the tank and is just dangling there (out of view). I believe I should just be able to crimp a female spade connector onto the black wire (#3) and connect it to the #1 position of the solenoid to complete the circuit.

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Now...for the air hookup.



Does the compressor use vacuum as an air source? There's a barbed connector on the compressor (marked #4), and a plugged-off vacuum line right beside it (marked #5), and at first glance it sure looks like I can simply hook the vacuum line up to the barbed connector on the compressor. Does this sound about right?

If this IS how it's supposed to be hooked up, I'm not sure why the vacuum line to the compressor was plugged...maybe the compressor doesn't work anymore? I guess I'll find out when I start messing with it. However, as luck would have it, the last time I was at the U-Pull-It I found an '87 Ranger XLT with rear airbags, and a complete compressor/tank/solenoid setup, which I snagged. So I do have parts that I could use to make this work, should the need arise.

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And lastly...I wondering about the brass fittings coming off the solenoid, as shown in this graphic:

It appears that #6 is the remains of a drain valve and that the little 'T' part of the valve is missing. I'm guessing this is a moisture drainage for the tank, and that what I have marked as #7 is just the place for the drain tube to connect, and probably to extend down through the hole on the inner fender? It would seem to me that a drain valve in this position wouldn't be the most productive, and that it would work better on the bottom of the tank, as it's positioned on a standard full-size air compressor. Or would this drain be adequate for this horn setup?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[papabug71]

Been working on trains since I got out of High school. I've rebuilt train horns in the past. (Leslie & Nathan AirChime). I have a couple of sets of truck horns as well.

Your horns are made by Hadley. They are still in buisness. http://www.hadley-products.com/

1. I beleive you're right on the electrical part. Solenoids are easy to hook up, you should be able to trial & error that part! It looks like yours was just unplugged for some reason. Old air valve solenoids are bad about rusting up & getting stuck. That could be why it was unplugged.

2. I think you're correct on the compressor as well. I think it's a vacuum powered compressor. Im willing to bet it's locked up or no good. That could also be the reason the system was unhooked.

3. The drain on the air output has been added on at some point in time. I can't think of any outfit that would market a drain in that location. If it doesn't have a drain on the bottom of the tank, it didn't have a drain.

If you hook everything up & it doesn't work, I would retro fit the airbag system you picked up. Im willing to bet it's alot better than the stuff under the hood now

Im not much help I know, but I think you've got a pretty good handle on it

By the way, that's just a pretty cool setup. I know Ford offered them, but i've never seen them. Im willing to bet Ford didn't get alot of orders for airhorns on light duty trucks!

[FORDification]

Cool! Thanks, I appreciate the input! Maybe over the weekend I'll mess around with it a bit and see what happens. If I can get it working, I'll post a sound byte.

[fmartin_gila1]

Not an expert but I have had a set of those Hadley Horns in my possession for about thirty years and I have put on and taken off four or five different vehicles I have owned. I bought the set from JCWhitney back in the 70s but my set doesn't have the pretty "FORD" decal on them. The Compressor vacuum is plumbed directly to the intake manifold. Look carefully and you will see where the compressor has it's own air intake and will pump until the vacuum can no longer overpower the air pressure it has in the tank and is in this manner self-regulating. There was originally no provision to drain moisture from the tank. The single fitting in the tank has a "T" fitting plumbed in from the compressor - to the tank - and to the solenoid. The Solenoid can be wired with one connection directly to Ground and the other connection to a momemtary pushbutton to give it 12 VDC to activate it or it can be fed constant 12VDC and wired to the horn button in the steering wheel to ground it in order to activate it. It is a very simple total system with very little to actually go wrong with it. Chris(Ezernut) can attest to how well they do work as he has heard them when I had them on my 62 Unibody.

Fred

[papabug71]

Keith, if you hook them up & they sound wimpy, take the top covers off the horns & check for filth. Dirt dobbers & every other kind of bug LOVE to build homes inside the power chambers. The inlet jets can get plugged up real easy. As old as those horns are, the diaphragms should be stainless or copper, so you can clean them up real good. The newer horns have plastic diaphragms & don't last long.

[1971ford]

Woah!! Ford had factory air horns??? That's so cool!
I'm a big air horn fan. One of those things that you are so happy to have when you have a good opportunity to use them!
I have a couple sets of dual horns similiar to those factory horns, but no Ford emblems, darn.


A while ago I was given a weird thing and a small air tank. And there they are in your pics
Never would of thought they were parts of an original ford air horn setup!


Being that i've never seen factory air horns before i imagine that it's a pretty rare option? This compressor and tank i have worth anything?
Probably not being i dont have the horns and original switch.