Front End Parts Recommendation

[Robert Daigle]

I took my 2006 H3 in for an alignment and was told all my front end parts are worn out and need to be replaced. I am having a hard time finding parts without getting taken to the cleaners by the dealer. I am holding off on purchasing my upper control arms for now and just focusing on the lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends, sway links, and the rack bushing. Any suggestions for where to buy parts? I usually use Advance Auto but they dont cary very many of the parts I need. Someone told me about RockAuto but they dont have the best reviews on BBB.

Does anyone have experience with the Mevotech ball joints that JC Whitney sells? http://www.jcwhitney.com/mevotech-ball-joint/p3038750.jcwx?skuId=1184217&filterid=g2 . The only issue is they are greased ball joints and I believe the OEM ones dont require greasing.

The Moog sway links also look like they have grease fittings :-/ http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=1831392&cc=1431872

I have had a hard time finding outer tie rod ends. Rockauto is the only place I can find them (except for the stealer... I mean dealer.) http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,c...+2006+HUMMER+H3+3.5L+L5+Suspension+Ball+Joint

For the rack bushing, I want to get something as close to OEM as possible. Most of the solutions I have seen require an over priced aftermarket bracket. $200-300 for a mounting bracket is outrageous. I could almost buy a new rack for that. Anybody have any experience http://www.ultimatepowersteering.co...k-mounting-kit-for-hummer-h3-wagon-8-07-4-10/

Thanks for your help and input!

 

[HIROLA]

Take a look on GMpartsdirect or GMpartswarehouse for discounted OEM parts. Depending on where you live, you may be able to pick them up directly and avoid shipping. Nothing wrong with RockAuto (my opinion), I have purchased a couple EMPI half shafts from them.

 

[Chook]

For the rack bushing, I want to get something as close to OEM as possible. Most of the solutions I have seen require an over priced aftermarket bracket. $200-300 for a mounting bracket is outrageous. I could almost buy a new rack for that. Anybody have any experience http://www.ultimatepowersteering.co...k-mounting-kit-for-hummer-h3-wagon-8-07-4-10/

No affiliation but my H3 is the first one he did (on his website and features in the video). I was just up the road getting my 35" Mickey Thompson Tyres and had a balance problem. Turned out it was the steering rack bushes worn. There was a poly kit that was close so Derek modified it to fit the H3. When he was done, he did all the measurements and had a new kit made up specifically for the H3. Derek said there is no need to upgrade the bracket as it is the 2 bushes on the drivers side that take up all the torque (the bracket & bush on the other side is just a holder).

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

In the very near future, I'm going to make bushings and either make a new upper control arm - or thread the forged, aluminum arm for a screw-in upper control arm ball joint.... I'm not certain there's enough material there to thread the arm - but if there is, that will be the solution....

but yes, I completely think its bs that you have to buy an entire new arm when some portion of the arm fails (in my case, it's the bushings that died).

 

[4speedfunk]

Ball joints?... The reason the factory ball-joints are worn out is because you can't grease them. Definitely replace them with some greasable ones if possible. The upper ball joints are cast into the aluminum A-arms, and that whole assembly must be replaced as a unit. There was some talk of somebody making a tube steel replacement (with a replacable ball-joint)...but I don't know if that ever came to fruition. The lower ball joints I believe can be pressed out and new ones pressed in, so you should be able to salvage your lower A-arms.

Sway bar links?... Not sure this would have any effect on an alignment. Several guys have removed the sway bar entirely. Moog makes good parts however, so that sounds okay. Most of the time you'll break these trying to disassemble the front end, so its probably a good idea to go ahead and replace them (or at least have them in hand if you need to).

Outer tie rods?... Around $35, available several places. If you buy a new rack, it will come new inners and outers. I've never seen greasable versions.

Rack Mount?... I just installed one from Outfitter Design and it works great (better than the original GM mount). The Ultimate PS unit is from Australia and I think you might be looking at an $AU price and not $USD price. Regardless...this is the number one thing that will grossly effect your alignment. There are several companies offering similar kits. FWIW...a brand new rack is only temporary if you are using the stock mount. The issue with alignment is not the rack itself...its the mount. So spend the money on the bushing kit (any of them)...its well worth it.

You may also want to look at upper and lower A-arm bushings, since you'll have them off to install new ball-joints...try to find some urethane replacements. Also check the intermediate shaft on the steering column for excessive slop in the small u-joint.

 

[alrock]

Steering rack - as 4speed said, you do need an upgraded solution. The advantage to solutions like the Preferred Chassis one that I have is that while you come close to spending the (eBay) price for a rack, you only do it once. If you don't implement a good solution you can end up replacing that rack again, or replacing that OEM mount over and over as the mount fails as the surface to which it mounts distorts. This problem is eliminated with the Preferred Chassis solution. It's a huge upgrade, not a fix that you'll have to repeat. I wore out one rack and another 2-3 mounts before I upgraded.

Lower control arms - like 4speed said, you should go ahead and replace the bushings too. However I think the OEM ones (non-polyurethane) are fine. They do wear out but they don't make noises like poly ones do, and those wear out too. Two different opinions, and I generally agree with 4speed, and either may be fine. A greaseable ball joint is an upgrade, consider that a good thing. If you don't want to go through the work you can buy whole new assemblies but even then you need to press out the rear bushing for the LCA as it's in the frame of the truck, not the LCA itself. I used an AC Delco ball joint, new OEM bushings and pressed everything out and back in.

Upper control arms - buy new ones. Trying to get an aftermarket setup going but there's no ETA on the development schedule. New upper control arms will have new bushings with the new ball joint so it's a very good repair to do.

gmpartshouse.com and gmpartsdirect.com use two different pricing structures and prices come out about the same. gmpartshouse.com has higher prices and lower shipping. gmpartsdirect.com has lower prices but very high shipping. How do I break that tie? gmpartshouse.com is a forum sponsor and is very good at supporting our members with good customer service.

 

[4speedfunk]

One more thing...

If you buy brand new upper A-arms...drill and tap your upper GM ball-joints and install zirk fittings. I did this to some old worn-out ones just to see if its possible...and its totally do-able. It almost pisses me off that GM didn't spend the extra $.65 it would've cost. The top of the ball joint is aluminum and drilling is easy. Just be careful and stop as soon as you penetrate the cup of the ball-joint. This will prevent shavings from getting into the joint area. You can buy a box of self-tapping zirks from NAPA for a dollar or so...it works good, and the grease does indeed make it down into the joint.

 

[mkmcgreg]

One more thing...

If you buy brand new upper A-arms...drill and tap your upper GM ball-joints and install zirk fittings. I did this to some old worn-out ones just to see if its possible...and its totally do-able. It almost pisses me off that GM didn't spend the extra $.65 it would've cost. The top of the ball joint is aluminum and drilling is easy. Just be careful and stop as soon as you penetrate the cup of the ball-joint. This will prevent shavings from getting into the joint area. You can buy a box of self-tapping zirks from NAPA for a dollar or so...it works good, and the grease does indeed make it down into the joint.

True statement

CJ when I took the old one out I saw no issues with having that zirk fitting on them. I can only imagine if it was there from the beginning my a arm would have lasted much longer

 

[Zach]

gmpartshouse.com and gmpartsdirect.com use two different pricing structures and prices come out about the same. gmpartshouse.com has higher prices and lower shipping. gmpartsdirect.com has lower prices but very high shipping. How do I break that tie? .

Uh, you call me? Lol

 

[alrock]

Yeah, that would be a good tiebreaker :emb:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

tie breaker - rockauto has them for less

 

[Schwarttzy]

I know this will sound weird to some of you, and I'm not suggesting anyone follow me, but I personally think greasable joints cause more problems than they solve. On my Jeep I used to have, I could always tell which one was bad or getting bad because I would see the grease. Were as greasable ones always had grease on them and it left me with a bit of doubt in my mind.

This isn't something I recommend, but I go out of my way for stronger non greasable joints.

 

[Robert Daigle]

I notice a lot of people recommend grease fittings and the after market rack and pinion brackets. My thought process is... the OEM non-greaseable fittings lasted 100,000mi without needing to be replaced so if I only have to replace them every 100,000mi, its worth not having to hassle with greased fittings. Also, the OEM rack bushing lasted 100,000mi as well so if I can get another 100,000mi out of a bushing then why replace the bracket with an over-priced, aftermarket bracket. I'm sure that the aftermarket brackets are better, I'm just not sure they are worth the sticker price.

 

[atvspeed4]

You say they are overpriced. What is your time worth? Do you wheel your H3? Do you have the ability to repair your frame when the rack mounting surface becomes deformed? Most importantly have you ever engineered a component like this and had to get a prototype built, tested and then a production run made? I am 100% confident that if I gave you the .dwg file for the aluminum clamp, delrin bushings and stainless crushsleeves you could not get it produced for less then Outfitter Design or Preferred Chassis is asking. Please do not take this as criticism just hoping you consider your options carefully no matter what route you plan on going. These are expensive vehicles to maintain and it makes sense to do a repair once and improve it in the process to avoid future failure. My current 2006 H3 had 58,000 miles when I bought it and had never seen offroad. The rubber bushings had cracked and were in rough shape enough to allow the rack to move. Now once I took it wheeling for the first time I had damaged the mount on the frame.

Break your steering rack once and you are out the cost of the rack and the time for you to swap in a new one. Have your alignment shift and you are out the cost of getting an alignment after an offroad trip. You have to pay to play just have to decide what you want to pay for.

 

[alrock]

Robert, you may be correct for your situation. For me, I need my second replacement of upper control arms at 128,000 miles, so each one lasted about 65,000. If I can ever stretch that time between repairs then I would like to do so. I already gave my rack repairs for your consideration.

There's no reason you have to follow our recommendations as they are just there for your consideration. You've gotta weigh your own pros and cons

 

[4speedfunk]

Found this today...pretty good deal if you're still looking...

http://louisville.craigslist.org/pts/3923223855.html