Install Viair Constant Duty Air Compressor/Air Horns On My 2017 Ram 5500

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

Taking a short break. As you might guess, the horns are no simple circuits like the old days. Even the horn relay is permanent soldered into the power distribution center (PDC) and output from the relay to the horns is buried under the PDC and driver side battery, and the horns are mounted inside the left fender. I made up my mind to splice the air horn operate lead to the first accessible horn operate circuit. I had to remove the inner fender to access the horn circuit connector. Got'er done, installed the air horn, and ran the air horn control circuit, two camera feeds (multiple projects going on here). Still need to run the airline inside the cab. Here's a couple pics:
firewall entry.

Horn plug pulled through the fender

Air horns mounted

Air horn operate circuit and two camera circuits.

Gonna finish running airlines today and install air gauge/light dimmer inside cab and install protective loom around airlines and electric circuits tomorrow.

Cheers, Ron

 

[HPSimpson]

The joy's of adding air horns or air compressor in the crowd engine compartment just trying to get at clear spot to penetration of air lies or wiring. Half to always move something to gain access then remount using the same holes, good luck Ron.

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

Thought y'all might be interested in seeing the horn circuit:

Anyhoo, I'm pressing on.

Cheers, Ron

 

[HPSimpson]

Ron, How does the air horns sound down there,i hope real loud the know how some folks need to hear you coming.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Maybe I am missing something but I simply unplugged my horns at the front and tied into that with zero extra wiring???

 

[Wiredawg]

Maybe I am missing something but I simply unplugged my horns at the front and tied into that with zero extra wiring???

Well, these newer 4th gens Ram musta decided to MOVE the horns high INSIDE the driver's side fender. see pic.

This pic was very hard to take is how high they are AND I mentioned in my post above

"Even the horn relay is permanent soldered into the power distribution center (PDC) and output from the relay to the horns is buried under the PDC and driver side battery, and the horns are mounted inside the left fender."

It's all good though, just had to remove the inner fender, as revealed in the photos.

Stopped for a break, gonna finish this CAREER project today.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Cummins12V98]

Thanks for that! I guess I will have to look for the horn on my 15, the 11 was easy to access.

 

[Wiredawg]

Thanks for that! I guess I will have to look for the horn on my 15, the 11 was easy to access.

Ron,
My previous 93, 00, 02, 03 and 09 were too. Can't figure why FCA hardwired the horn relay when there are other relays old standard type. been TOO easy too tap the relay output to the air horn valve. Honestly, if I didn't already have two air horn sets, I'd not have done it. Fried one air compressor in the engine bay of the 09...sure was very high engine bay heat on that truck.

Anyhoo,, have fun when you do yours.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Wiredawg]

Ron/All,

I finished wiring and plumbing air horns and looked up to see a great shot of the factory horns. Here they are:

Tapping into the horn circuit with removing the inner fender, has been the most tedious part of this project by far, but is worth it. I also like the placement of the air horns too.

Cheers, Ron

 

[HPSimpson]

Great you complete the air compressor and air horns installation, and no smoked fuses, as I remember many moons ago at high attitude smoke filled the cockpit, really hard to see in pressure suit! Great job Ron, dam proud of you doing this job, now enjoy your vacation.

 

[Cummins12V98]

I am hoping my custom made tank and compressor brackets I made to fit between my Dad's 12 bed rails will line up on mine and make an easy install. Oh well if they don't I have a bandsaw, welder and plenty of metal on the rack to fab something new.

I may not add the air fitting under the hood this time.

 

[HPSimpson]

Cummins12v98 what is the purpose of the air fitting under the hood? I had couple up near the front and on right side.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Cummins12v98 what is the purpose of the air fitting under the hood? I had couple up near the front and on right side.

That was so I could air my tires or whatever I may need air for. It was a easy place to get at and keep the fitting clean. I had the small air gauge pushed into it so I could keep an eye on the pressure plus keep dirt out of it.

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

I'm posting a pic of my revised remote drain valve for draining moisture out of the tank. Can open valve just reaching between the cab and bed.

EDIT: In addition to easy access, this extended drain allows water to collect in the drain tube, away from the tank. BTW got about 10° tilt on the rear to flow moisture to the front and where the drain is.

And under truck view:

Tomorrow, I smoke test the pump and air horns and check for leaks. If all good, I'll run the protective loom over the air lines and wiring. Nice to be at the end of this project.

I'll post finished pics tomorrow.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends

Great news! I successfully tested the pump, switches, electrical, tank, lines, and controls. She airs up to around 152PSI pretty fast, I'll time it later. Very quiet. I had to unplug the electric horns to hear the air horns.... VERY LOUD. The electric OEM horns is the high end of electric technology IMHO, although they are louder with the inner fender out.

Thought I'd show you the in cab gauge, adjusted lighting, and relative clearance.

and here is the air intake filter high and relatively clear of dust.

Yes its tilted... the plastic is flexing as intake hose is very rigid. will fix it with a clamp or two.

Just a few comments to help anyone doing this project.

- PUMP Install the pump where it can have cool air.... my experience is they don't like engine bays on the EGR trucks. Also, locate it where you can access it. Two reasons I installed mine under the bed.

- Wiring. I didnt worry about current loss I'm about 12Ft with 10ga wiring, well within distance and current recommendations. If you have Factory aux switches, use 1 or 2 as they are 40 amp (28amps continiuous). Use dielectric grease on all your power and ground connections. Since I used Aux switch 1, I did not wire the Viair switch on the in cab gauge setup, and at the pressure switch located at the air tank, I wired the the relay operate for the pump through a 3amp fuse off the power lead feeding from the Aux SW 1. This will allow the pump to operate when you turn on the Aux Sw. I have Aux Sw 1 programmed off at startup, so I have to manually turn it on. my preference to have minimal systems drawing on the battery at startup and prevent pump operation while grid heaters running.

- Air Horns. This was almost another project itself... removing the inner fender to access the horns wiring. If I didn't already have the horns from a previous truck, I might not have bothered with them. I have another set from an even older truck going in my Jeep.

- Air Lines: Route away from heat, sharp edges, and protect them with plastic wiring loom... no chafing. I bought 100ft whe working on the LRE abd have plenty left. Cut the lines as square as possible to get good tight seals and use a razor knife to keep from deforming. Be careful about over tightening them, kinda like snuggling oil plug. With all the fittings I used, I only had one fitting at the air horn solenoid that had bubbles. I actually tightened a little more than I would have thought, but no more bubbles. I have some 20 year old bubbles in an old Suave hair spray bottle.

I'm about done today. Tomorrow I will position to debris shields, one for the tank and one for the pump and fixtures.... you'd be surprised how stuff flies around at spread, and I live down a gravel road, so kinda like a BB machine gun from the duals.

Happy for anyone to ask questions or help plan your installation.

Cheers, Ron

 

[HPSimpson]

Ron, Great everything works and you sound real happy with the results considering remove the left fender liner, I know that job is a total bear amazing how FCA puts all sorts of stuff behind that liner.

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

This is likely my last post on this thread as I installed the debris guard, pretty much closing out the project, unless answering member questions.

Here is a pic with the splash/debris guard in place.

This is a great kit with high quality. I highly recommend it if you want on board continuous duty air.

Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions and hopefully my sharing will help someone with thier project.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

Just had to mention, reinstalling the inner fender was the TOUGHEST part of the whole project.... I couldn't get the stupid holes to line up, thought installing the 3 plastic retainers in would help, but nope, had to remove them. remove the wheel, crawl iNTO the wheel well and contort myself as I used an awl to FORCE inner fender holes, fender flair holes, and the metal fender. I'm still sore.

Anyhoo, just like Morrison sang, "this is the end, the end my friend."

Chee-eers, Ron

 

[HPSimpson]

Ron, I installed portable winch and since cables come out the right side of the winch, i tried several different ways to get at right battery, I ended up jacking up right front put axle stand under, remove wheel assembly then something like 12 plastic two-piece pins, plus some screws to gain at the battery routing the winch cable. I never through any thing about putting on; was I ever wrong about that part, I know your pain!

 

[Wiredawg]

And Homer,

Not to be forgotten. I rotated the two front tires and installed the Centramatics from my 2009 Ram 4500. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can bring the spare down from above the cab, rotating it with the inboard duals, swap the outers side to side, install the rear Centramatics... might need my BIL help.

Nothing like projects, is there?

Cheers, Ron