My H3 is now 8 years old

[Neo]

I can't believe it's been eight years since I drove it off the lot. 3 diffs, 1 front prop shaft, 1 tone ring, 1 right side rear axle, 1 diff carrier bushing and a six disc changer that committed suicide . replaced battery at 5 and a half years. 47,000 miles now and a dedicated grocery getter. Beebs, Sewie, TGL and I all got our trucks about the same time

 

[autumn walker]

Sounds like you have driven her hard before grocery duty!

Great to hear about a truck being used for its intended purpose.

 

[Gunner_45]

Damn, how time flies.

Seems like it was just yesterday that I was lurking on Ebola and following all of ya’lls builds, trying to figure out what I wanted to do my truck.

Learned a lot from you guys (whether you knew it or not).

 

[06 H3]

You bought your 3 on July 19th? We bought ours on the 18th! :cheers:

 

[06 H3]

Never mind I just double checked...we bought ours today too!

 

[Neo]

yep, t'was 2005 shorty and you were what ??? about 5 years old :giggle::giggle::wink: my bad maybe 12 :mock:

 

[06 H3]

13 years old and about 5 foot 3!

 

[Neo]

I just know it was mid July , I could check the date but i'm too lazy and it's too hot outside :cheers:

 

[Neo]

13 years old and about 5 foot 3!

you were taller than Timay :whaa: that's funny Shorty :giggle:

 

[j3jackson]

Thats cool, congratulations. Thats low miles too.

 

[Zach]

you were taller than Timay :whaa: that's funny Shorty :giggle:

:lmfao: I think my daughter is taller than Timay and she's 5'1 and 1/2"

 

[alrock]

6 years, 2 months, 128,000 miles and is now a dedicated wheeling vehicle. Or dust collector, depending on the week. One or two repairs in that time.

 

[06 H3]

Everyone's gotta make fun of the SBF...sure beats Zach picking on me

 

[alrock]

Here's a pic from your propshaft day

 

[06 H3]

I find it interesting that neo broke a propshaft and a rear axle shaft but never broke a 14mm tie rod.

 

[Neo]

I find it interesting that neo broke a propshaft and a rear axle shaft but never broke a 14mm tie rod.

and I still have the stock steering rack and hardware :horns:

 

[deserth3]

I find it interesting that neo broke a propshaft and a rear axle shaft but never broke a 14mm tie rod.

I always thought that was interesting too. Considering my April 06 build H3, wouldn't keep the front end aligned until I changed to 16mm tie rods. But I also still have original steering rack and original front diff (cross fingers). I'm over 150,000 miles too. One thing I am having problems with is loosing antifreeze. But I think mine is leaking where the heater core attaches to the engine block. I just haven't had that much time to track it down.

 

[Best4x4]

Just curious since I am honestly a new H3 owner, but why 3 front diffs? Did they explode, or was the damage caused by that cross member bushing biting the dust and causing the damage? I have an H3 Alpha I've heard the diff was beefed up and it's cast iron vs aluminum. My Alpha has 113K on it, and I just noticed the OEM front diff cross member bushing is going out. Other than that everything seems to work fine, and it drives like new. It's been off road, but it looks like the previous owner took excellent care of it.

I plan on using my H3 for everything from wheeling trips, to cross country trips on vacation, and as a D/D. I've owned Land Rover's and Jeep's, but I traded my F150 in for the H3 Alpha and I love it. Great SUV and the V8 is nice in an SUV of it's size (Jeep needs to throw a V8 in their Wranglers!!!).

 

[Zach]

I bet we can make it down potato salad hill in it. Some spirits before some sublime, and uh....... away we go. Lmao

 

[Green 1]

Congrats Neo, and the truck still looks great.

 

[f5moab]

Just curious since I am honestly a new H3 owner, but why 3 front diffs? Did they explode, or was the damage caused by that cross member bushing biting the dust and causing the damage? I have an H3 Alpha I've heard the diff was beefed up and it's cast iron vs aluminum. My Alpha has 113K on it, and I just noticed the OEM front diff cross member bushing is going out. Other than that everything seems to work fine, and it drives like new. It's been off road, but it looks like the previous owner took excellent care of it.

I plan on using my H3 for everything from wheeling trips, to cross country trips on vacation, and as a D/D. I've owned Land Rover's and Jeep's, but I traded my F150 in for the H3 Alpha and I love it. Great SUV and the V8 is nice in an SUV of it's size (Jeep needs to throw a V8 in their Wranglers!!!).

Because NEO, Beeps and a few others took their weak front diff H3s to places no early H3 should go! Early H3s had two serious problems with the front diffs; they had weak gear sets (that were eventually hardened in later models) and a case that could stretch like spandex causing the pinion to pull away from the ring. Many of us learned from these early H3 drivers on what NOT to do when crawling over boulders and or giant cracks in the ground.

That twisted front prop on NEO's H3 actually amazed a few engineers at GM when they saw the photo. They could not believe the stock 3.5L engine had enough torque to twist it like a pretzel.

Your H3 Alpha has a cast iron front end so the stretching problem is solved, and the gear set, like I noted earlier has been hardened to a higher spec.

 

[cbetts]

I am not too far behind you Neo. Mine just hit seven years old but it is still an '06 model. I have been surprised that I haven't gone though some of the part that the rest of you have, like ball joints. Mine are still pretty tight. Here is my carnage list:

• Transfer case (1 rebuild, 1 replacement)
• Front differential (2 rebuilds)
• Front driveshaft
• Tie rods (14mm)
• Half Shafts (2 sets, only torn boots)
• Front cross member (2, last one from PCF)
• Motor mount
• Sway bar link
• Clutch (replaced at 80K)

 

[Schwarttzy]

That twisted front prop on NEO's H3 actually amazed a few engineers at GM when they saw the photo. They could not believe the stock 3.5L engine had enough torque to twist it like a pretzel.

They need to hire me, I'll be happy to show them all the flaws and poor designs in a day.

 

[Best4x4]

Okay good info to know. Yeah my front diff cross member is bouncing over dirt/gravel roads due to it being worn out. I'm going to remove it and send it in for that upgraded unit with the new poly bushing as soon as I can.

My H3 Alpha came with either raised torsion bars or new keys, extended shackles in the rear (still has OEM shocks which I think are almost out of upward travel), an ARB front bumper, Warn M8000 Winch, 4 new 33 BFG AT KO's and completely new brake pads/rotors all the way around. Only issue I've had since owning it was the CEL came on after I brought it home on it's 5.5hr journey, and I pulled the code and simply found the throttle body dirty. I cleaned it, reset the throttle body position (read how on a 5.3L chevy forum), and the CEL hasn't returned. Since it had 111K on it when I bought it I went ahead and changed the plugs and wires. I used some Autolite plugs, and some 60.00 spark plug wires from Advanced Auto Parts. My MPG went from 13MPG on the highway to nearly 16MPG so it certainly helped.

I have removed the steps, and I recently just bought a Colorado Cluster, but they sent me an older unit with the DRL icon vs the Stability Control Icon so my message center is clueless about the traction control being enabled/disabled, but I am working on getting the proper model from 355 Nation. I'd love a cluster with everything but TPMS lol.

 

[jakesz28]

That's a good list of parts. It shows you wheeled it and drove with a lite foot and some thought.