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Kleinn train horns (wreck)

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Jbutch 
#1 ·
I was putting bigger tires on and decided that train horns and on board air was going to replace my spare tire spot. This is about 20 months ago.

It seemed Kleinn's were the best from some quick searching.
I bought an HK7 kit and upgraded to individual solenoids to make them louder.

Got them all installed and they worked good for a week. The pressure switch quit.

The service on the phone was great and they were sending one out the same day pretty much no questions. I asked if it was a common failure and they said sort of but not real bad. So I paid for another because I'm remote and it costs about $100.00 airfreight to get them here.

About a month after install only one trumpet was working. I spent an hour under my truck re-wiring every connection and proving voltage and solenoid actuation.

They told me to disassemble the horns individually and clean off the corrosion that they expected to be on the baffles. I did and found plenty of corrosion. This worked but I wasn't sure if two or three trumpets were working for a year and did that twice when it went down to one horn.

I got a flat tire, plugged the tire and found the compressor was only making about 36psi. Called them again and said this story being very corgile.

The tech guy was a complete butt. I told him I thought the pressure switch was bad or mis-labled because these horns never really worked loud except for the first week or so and I think it's because low pressure. He says it's probably the compressor shutting off on thermal because it's shot but I bought it so long ago he could only give me a break on price because I should have been calling for a year to the point where he knew me by first name.

This is where I got a bit pissed and said neither of us know why it's only making 36 psi yet so cool your trap and I'll do some investigating because he said I needed a new compressor and it wasn't warranty or partial or whatever.

I installed a pressure switch off a regular air compressor and the pressure comes right up to 150psi no problem so three pressure switches were complete garbage.

I drove down the street to not bug the neighbors and hit the horn.

Bang still one cheesy trumpet. Now I'm going to clean the baffles a third time from corrosion that shouldn't be there and hopefully it's fine.

I will NEVER buy from KLEINN again. If any component dies it will be replaced by a quality piece. The trumpets used on medium yachts are stainless and or plastic, cheaper and work great for more than ten years in a highly corrosive environment.

And my tank is clean of water. Nothing came out of the drain except in the first week when it was actually making some compressed air.

My $800.00 automotive ones are a Kleinn Train wreck.
 
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#3 ·
I had great service the first time when my pressure switch blew and
the second time when only one horn was blowing and they told me about cleaning the baffles.

It was only on the third phone call that the guy just turned into a jerk when he thought the compressor was bad. All of a sudden He was accusatory and I should have done so much more.

Have you ever had to clean the corrosion on the baffles?

Edit, I just remembered I had to change out the brass drain in the first couple months because it leaked.
 
#5 ·
I heard the same thing when I bought mine. Maybe they drop shipped mine from Taiwan.

Other than a flat tire a few days ago my luck is generally pretty good. That's why I fish.
 
#7 ·
I had a set from Horn blasters on my Durango back in 2007. Had a fair amount of trouble from their base kit. I went through 2 pressure switches, a trumpet and a compressor in about 18 months. The salt belt is hell.
 
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