Dual Horn Installation - 2021 Sea to Sky

[Arion]

Yesterday I spent several hours, excluding breaks, installing Spyder Extras dual horns, sold by Sling Mods, on my charming wife's 2021 Sea to Sky. To arm myself with all the information available I read the Spyder Extra instructions several times and then watched the Sling Mods installation video several times as well. My first observation was that each offers a different and, as it turned out, less than fully detailed approach. In the Sling Mods video the battery is removed while in the Spyder Extras instructions it is not. Sling Mods instructs the wiring harness be inserted from below while Spyder Extra instructs the wiring harness be inserted from above to the left side when facing the battery.

The issue faced was which instructions to follow. The Spyder Extras instructions aren't as detailed as they could be and the photos are too dark and too small to be of significant value. The Sling Mods video, as is rather typical in my experience, glossed over a few steps that are not as straight forward as they appear. Perhaps a combination of both would work. And it did, after a fashion.

The first step was jacking up the Spyder and placing jack stands under the A arms to provide adequate work (and swearing) room beneath the machine. Removing the battery cover in the frunk and the right side access panel beneath the Spyder were the easy parts. The stock horn lives above said access panel in a very tight space, and it was hard to envision the twin horns fitting in the available space.

Removing the stock horn was not difficult; however, installing the pair of horns was a very different matter. Removing the OEM L bracket to which the horn(s) attach requires removal of the battery (as indicated in the Sling Mods video) but with the right tools installing the new horns without removing the L bracket is possible, although it does require patience, a bit of creativity, and a good vocabulary of words not spoken in polite company.

The installation sequence while laying under the Spyder, according to the instructions, is (from left to right): Spyder Extras-provided long 10mm bolt, left horn bracket, through the stock L bracket, then the provided spacer, the right horn bracket, and finally the 13mm nut (re-used from stock horn removal). Following that sequence, no matter what I tried, there was not enough space to reach the bolt head and nut with any of the tools at my disposal. However, if the bolt is inserted from the right side (following same sequence for the horn brackets, spacer, and L bracket) and the 13mm nut is installed on the left there is just enough room to tighten everything. I used a 13mm wrench and a 1/4 inch 10mm socket with a universal joint and a four inch extension and was ultimately successful.

The wiring harness came next. The package arrived with the harness attached to both horns. However, with the harness attached it is virtually impossible to mount the horns because there is too much in the way to be able to see or manipulate all the bits and pieces. Taking note that the ground connection is closest to the horn bell while the positive connection is above, I removed the wires from both horns which made mounting the horns possible in the very tight space. Then the longer of the pair of horn leads were taped to a 10 inch zip ties and threaded it down through the opening on left side of the battery (while facing it). Then, from beneath the machine pulled the harness through sufficiently to give access to the two pair of horn connectors and the two yellow connectors that plug into the stock horn wires. Sling Mods removes the plastic insulation covers from the stock two horn connectors and then tapes the connections while Spyder Extras instructs that the small tabs on the stock insulation connector covers be trimmed off to allow the yellow connectors to plug into the stock ones. That seemed the best alternative and it worked as advertised.

The final part of the installation dealt with connecting the positive and negative leads to the battery, testing the horns, then tucking the relay and wiring harness into the space above the battery, re-installing he battery cover, bandaging all the scrapes and cuts, and apologizing to anyone who might have overheard the creative language. The bottom line is that it was certainly worth the effort - the 118 db twin horns are MUCH more reassuring than the pathetic beep of the single stock horn.

As seems usual for me, this is another wordy explanation but too few words for installation instructions are often more trouble than very many, yes, no?

[UtahPete]

Congratulations on persevering and thanks for posting detailed info. Pictures would be a nice addition.

[Arion]

Congratulations on persevering and thanks for posting detailed info. Pictures would be a nice addition.

I thought about pictures but I had so little room beneath the Spyder that my phone wouldn't focus clearly. Anyway, there was so much blue language it fogged the lens! This is one of those "take it on faith" installations. Alternatively, the Sling Mods video is pretty good and shows the essentials of the installation. If I had it to do over, I would probably remove the battery and then remove the stock L bracket, attach the new horn assembly and then re-install the L bracket, with help of another person as recommended in the video. The L bracket bolt is not accessible from below the machine but is accessible from above with a long extension and a universal joint according to the video. But I'm not gonna do it over again to confirm that bit of info, at least until the scrapes and cuts heal!

[Peteoz]

Good job, Arion. Yeah, there is nothing worse than incomplete instructions that you don’t know are incomplete.

I’m confused though, with the need to remove the battery. I recently replaced the stock horn on my ‘21 RT Limited with the Wolo, and didn’t have to remove the battery to either remove the old bracket or install the new shaped bracket. Getting the new bracket in was tricky, along the lines you mention above, but not overly difficult

Pete

[Arion]

Good job, Arion. Yeah, there is nothing worse than incomplete instructions that you don’t know are incomplete.

I’m confused though, with the need to remove the battery. I recently replaced the stock horn on my ‘21 RT Limited with the Wolo, and didn’t have to remove the battery to either remove the old bracket or install the new shaped bracket. Getting the new bracket in was tricky, along the lines you mention above, but not overly difficult

Pete

Pete, I can't swear to the necessity of removing the battery. I was repeating what the Sling Mods video stated. On the '21 Sea to Sky the L bracket bolt head is on the upper side of the bracket and no matter what I tried I could not get a socket on the bolt head. The other apparent difference is that with this install the stock L bracket is used for the twin horns and with all that stuff attached it would be virtually impossible to re-install the L bracket from below, unless I've missed a basic trick. Out of curiosity, were you able to fit the Wolo into the small space where the stock horn was mounted?

[Quickdraw]

I changed my horn out for the dual horns from slingmods a few months ago. It definitely was a royal pain. Not a lot of room under there but I managed to get it. The one bolt that they said I'd need help with, was actually not as bad as I thought when putting it all back together. But I agree, better instructions would have helped.

[Mosess01]

hello would you know the decibel's for the dual horn setup.

[Arion]

hello would you know the decibel's for the dual horn setup.

They're advertised as being 118 db. I can't prove it but they're much louder than the toy horn that comes stock.

[Peteoz]

Pete, I can't swear to the necessity of removing the battery. I was repeating what the Sling Mods video stated. On the '21 Sea to Sky the L bracket bolt head is on the upper side of the bracket and no matter what I tried I could not get a socket on the bolt head. The other apparent difference is that with this install the stock L bracket is used for the twin horns and with all that stuff attached it would be virtually impossible to re-install the L bracket from below, unless I've missed a basic trick. Out of curiosity, were you able to fit the Wolo into the small space where the stock horn was mounted?

Yes, I was able to fit the Wolo into the stock horn space, but the supplied bracket changed its orientation from the stock direction to fit it, Arion. Spyderpops instructions did not mention removing the battery, but like you and and QuickDraw, getting those bolts/nuts in did require a couple of multi articulated ratchet sockets. I’m now wondering if it was indeed the battery bracket that made it so difficult. Like you, my skin grafts are just starting to heal

Pete

[mneblett]

I put this kit on my wife's 2021 RTL. The brackets required a bit of massaging to get both horns in without contacting one another or the RT's structure, but it all eventually went in.

The more significant pita was the horn harness -- there was a fault, so zero horn noise on the first test. A bit of snooping continuity and voltage with a voltmeter, testing the relay with 12V to confirm fits function, checking fuses, reinstalling the OE horn to verify the bike side was working, etc., I finally found the problem in the horn harness connected to the relay -- no reliable continuity on one wire. I believe it was either a hidden break in the wire or one of the crimp-on connectors. Why possibly the crimp-on connector? Because when I was (gently) moving the battery end of the harness to one side during my sleuthing, a crimp-on connector on one of the battery connection wires (standing free in the trunk) simply fell off. After futzing for a while trying to salvage the harness, I finally gave up and made up my own (robust) harness so I could finish the job and get my wife's RT back to her.

Funny thing is, I had thought about doing what I've done on more than a dozen bikes over the years: buy a pair of FIAMMs and make my own relay harness (never had a me-generated wiring failure), but I thought, hey, for $70-something bucks I'll go with plug-n-play to save me the build time. Mistake.

Bad enough that the mechanical aspects required quite a bit of fiddling to get everything in, but the poor quality of the wiring harness was a deal-breaker. I cannot in good conscience recommend this kit until SlingMods significantly ups the quality of the design and the quality of the harnesses.

[Mosess01]

i have one question . if you dont mind me asking, would you know if the horn you removed is the same as what's on a 2015 can am RT....

[ThreeWheels]

Good job, Arion. Yeah, there is nothing worse than incomplete instructions that you don’t know are incomplete.

I’m confused though, with the need to remove the battery. I recently replaced the stock horn on my ‘21 RT Limited with the Wolo, and didn’t have to remove the battery to either remove the old bracket or install the new shaped bracket. Getting the new bracket in was tricky, along the lines you mention above, but not overly difficult

Pete

I took a look at the SlingMods installation video. The dual horn kit comes with a relay that connects to the battery, so I'm thinking you need to disconnect the battery to safely install the relay.
Similar to you Pete, I also installed the Wolo Bad Boy. I got the SpyderPops kit. The new horn is connected directly to the existing power supply. As long as no one hits the horn button while you're installing the Wolo, you should be safe.

That's my opinion. I could be wrong, and if I am, I'm sure dozens of fellow posters will be HAPPY to point it out.