On the road again; Buell Air Horns 101

[tom240842@...]

Hi all,

After 362 days in Springdale Ohio we are finally going to be turned loose in
the morning. We have watched (and protected) this Pappa Deaux Seafood
Kitchen (restaurant) being built from start to finish. If in your travels you
ever come across one, the food is worth trying. We are glad it is finished.

We started about a month ago, doing all the little maintenance things that
needed being done after sitting here for close to a year. Chassis lube,
systems checked, fluid levels checked, and everything eye-balled that could be
eye-balled.

One of the things I discovered, and my Buell Classic Model 4600 air horns
would only squeak. After asking the forum, and getting some good input, Jeff
Miller wrote and said he had the same problem, and told me how to in great
detail to disassemble the end piece where the brass diaphragm is. When the end
piece is unscrewed using a large allen wrench, right inside is the diaphragm.
The only thing holding it in place is the end cap so it has to be removed
with care. The right one came off and inside resided another HUGE spider and
elaborate web, complete with carcasses of dead flying insects. The spider by
the way beat feet for under the diamond plating after I prodded it with a
screw driver. The diaphragm consists of a round brass disc of about 1 1/2
inches across, with a L shaped fine wire that pokes through the round open
center. On this rests a second round solid brass disc the size of a penny.
When
these come out together they can easily fall apart (as happened on the second
horn). These were corroded together, and I cleaned them using #600 steel
wool. The second horn had a wasp nest in it preventing the diaphragm for
opening. When I took the second diaphragm out, it was stuck, and when I pried
on
it, it literally flew apart, bouncing of the awning. Peggy and I looked for
an hour on our hands and knees for the little center piece. Then the idea
struck me to come out at night with my 200,000 hand held spot light and see if
the light would reflect off of it. I had it within 10 minutes, under a pallet
of bricks. I could have made a new one with a penny though if I could not
have found that one. Now I have nice loud, "here come the truck" air horns.
I have specified Buell and the model number, because I think others are
probably different. And as I found out from Dave at Buell, these horns are not
tunable.

These forums have been good source of information and entertainment this
past year. Whereas I had to be up all night anyhow, I would leave the postings
for my early morning reading, some of the stuff would keep me in stitches and
awake.

Regards.

Tom Meservey, USN (Ret)
'81FC33' headed for Charleston SC and Savannah GA


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