mindtrip
Well-known member
Okay, this seems pretty simplistic, but as no one has posted any pics yet of a successful magnum blaster install on an '06, I thought I'd show how I did it.
I tried initially using the stock horn brackets, but found that these kept the larger magnum blaster horns too far up. The problem with that is that as you turn the forks, the fork sliders bump against the horns; there is no 'wiggle room'. I then tried using one of the metal strips that came with the new horns, but found it to be 1) too flimsy and 2) too thin; the allen bolt that holds the stock bracket on required a thicker bracket than one of the strips that came with the new horn, as it would bottom out in its threads while the bracket was swinging loosely. But the horns come with two strips, and I found that both strips together seemed to be thick enough and sturdy enough to hold:
So I tried putting the horn in with a straight bracket. Now the horn was lower and had clearance away from the fork slider tube--unless the forks were in full turn and being simultaneously compressed. Now if I'm riding the bike and the forks are at a full turn and I'm hitting something with enough force or velocity to compress the forks, I figured I had a more serious problem than the horns hitting the forks
but I wanted to get them out of the way so they didn't whack while pushing the bike around the garage, etc. I thought of zip-tying, or other ways to pull the horn away from the fork, and then in typical Homer Simpson fashion decided to bend the strips
A bend of about that much seemed to hold the horn back against the outsides of the radiator, helping to stick some of that horn girth in functional dead space. Bending the bracket gave this amount of clearance:
Right and Left Sides from above
The cyan arrows point to the fork dust seals, and the yellow arrows point to the horn bodies. With this amount of clearance you can pump the forks in a full turn either direction and never touch the horns.
To get the 'trumpet' end of the horn out of the way of the forks, I had to mount the horn such that the electrical connectors on the horn were pretty much right in front of the mounting brackets. Thus, I bent the connectors up so I could slide the FJRandy harness connections on.
Final install looks like this:
No dremelling of horn or fairing required, and cost me nothing more than the money I'd already spent on horns and harness. Like I said, pretty simplistic and nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. Thanks Randy, the harness works great. I might suggest adding some length to the blade connectors that go to the factory harness; I couldn't get the old ones out from under the battery without taking off the fairing. I decided it wasn't worth it. I was able to manipulate your harness around enough to make the connection with the factory harness without putting strain on the wires, but it would help if they were a bit longer, maybe 1-2".
Cheers!
I tried initially using the stock horn brackets, but found that these kept the larger magnum blaster horns too far up. The problem with that is that as you turn the forks, the fork sliders bump against the horns; there is no 'wiggle room'. I then tried using one of the metal strips that came with the new horns, but found it to be 1) too flimsy and 2) too thin; the allen bolt that holds the stock bracket on required a thicker bracket than one of the strips that came with the new horn, as it would bottom out in its threads while the bracket was swinging loosely. But the horns come with two strips, and I found that both strips together seemed to be thick enough and sturdy enough to hold:
So I tried putting the horn in with a straight bracket. Now the horn was lower and had clearance away from the fork slider tube--unless the forks were in full turn and being simultaneously compressed. Now if I'm riding the bike and the forks are at a full turn and I'm hitting something with enough force or velocity to compress the forks, I figured I had a more serious problem than the horns hitting the forks
but I wanted to get them out of the way so they didn't whack while pushing the bike around the garage, etc. I thought of zip-tying, or other ways to pull the horn away from the fork, and then in typical Homer Simpson fashion decided to bend the strips
A bend of about that much seemed to hold the horn back against the outsides of the radiator, helping to stick some of that horn girth in functional dead space. Bending the bracket gave this amount of clearance:
Right and Left Sides from above
The cyan arrows point to the fork dust seals, and the yellow arrows point to the horn bodies. With this amount of clearance you can pump the forks in a full turn either direction and never touch the horns.
To get the 'trumpet' end of the horn out of the way of the forks, I had to mount the horn such that the electrical connectors on the horn were pretty much right in front of the mounting brackets. Thus, I bent the connectors up so I could slide the FJRandy harness connections on.
Final install looks like this:
No dremelling of horn or fairing required, and cost me nothing more than the money I'd already spent on horns and harness. Like I said, pretty simplistic and nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. Thanks Randy, the harness works great. I might suggest adding some length to the blade connectors that go to the factory harness; I couldn't get the old ones out from under the battery without taking off the fairing. I decided it wasn't worth it. I was able to manipulate your harness around enough to make the connection with the factory harness without putting strain on the wires, but it would help if they were a bit longer, maybe 1-2".
Cheers!
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