juiceboxer said:
At those prices I will start with the "truck" style horn and if I don't like it switch to the stiebel.
Great. Let us know how the trucker horns turn out. I had hella air horns installed on my old '86 4Runner (many moons ago) and didn't really care for how they sounded either. They sounded too much like canned air horns. Trucker horns ought to sound much better IMO.
Just remember, like Pnut said, air horns do have a very small delay from the time you hit the steering wheel, to the time the air horns actually make a sound. Granted, I got used to it, but it was noticeable right out of the box. That's really my only beef w/ any style air horn. As far as the parts themselves were concerned, after 3+ years of use (sold the vehicle w/ them still installed), the compressor, all the hoses and fittings were still in great condition.
Two more points you might want to consider with trucker air horns -
Any idea how long the horns are themselves? IIRC, the hella horns I had were only about 6-8" long. On the other hand, the trucker horns I've seen at Truck Stops were much longer. Seemed more like 12+" long. Might make it a bit more tough on where to mount them in the engine bay.
Also, standard trucker air horns are mounted on the roof of the big rig itself, thus the horns have nothing hindering the sound waves from traveling out in front of them. Mounting these style horns in the engine bay will somewhat reduce the noise they produce, simply b/c the sound waves will be bouncing all over the engine bay trying to escape. I know this b/c my former hella air horns sounded somewhat muted when my hood was closed compared to with it open. If you can somehow find a way to mount the horns that they have the least amount of material in front of them that might hinder the sound waves from traveling thru, you'll get better results. Granted, mounting them on the roof of your 4Runner would be the optimal location, but who in their right mind would do that to a 3rd Gen. I know I'd laugh if I saw one w/ them mounted like that :bigok: