Thanks for the responses guys.
Rancho shocks are great for two weeks. After that they suck hard.
I run Fox res shocks but they are custom valved. A stock IFS does not flex enough to warrant res's but some people still run them. Most Fox shocks can be rebuilt and/or valved to suit your rig.
Most likely you won't find a listing for the H3. Instead you'll need to take measurements, specify the type of connection, then experiment with valving (or have a Fox guy set them up for your vehicle weight).
Tell me about it. I needed an adjustable shock as the stock ones were blown out. We got the H3 with about 47k miles on it & whoever had it ran it hard. I can tell because I've already had to swap out the anti-sway bar end links. That's a little bit crazy at under 50k. Anyways, the Ranchos suck. I can tell they only have about 2.34 inches of travel (according to BEBE's posts on pirate & other places). I max them on our bad roads. You can just imagine. I didn't know they sucked at the time. I felt they were more of a stop gap. I'll probably ebay them as they only have 2k miles on them.
We have some bad roads down here, but it's not on the same level as offroading. The worst is several miles on the interstate of washboard conditions. I haven't driven it in a long time, but it was horrible. Her H3 won't really go offroad (it's my mother's vehicle), but I've noticed offroad shocks just seem to ride better than stock shocks, in general on almost any vehicle(truck/suv), other than performance cars.
You will need to call Fox and see if there is a difference in the valving, if not, then the reservoir does nothing but allow for more fluid capacity, which equals better heat managenment. So unless you are cycling your suspension over and over, there is not much of a benefit.
However, fox has also released a DSC control for some of their reservoir shocks. There will allow you to tune the dampening on the shock with the turn of the knob. Harder setting for small impacts, like street or dirt road, and softer settings for the bigger holes.
If the shock are the same diameter and the same valving, there should be no to little noticeable change, unless you are traveling long distances with a higher than normal amount of bumps.
Personally Fox has become my 3rd shock company. I have used their 2.0 montubes on the H3, their 2.5s with internal bypass and 3.0s with external bypass. Fox coatings and bodies do not hold up to the weather you see in some parts of the country.
BUT they are the only company to really look at the Hummer line up.
I have talked to King a few times, and they have been very good to work with, but until I finalize my plans and shock mounts, no point in buying yet.
Icon Vehicle Dynamics is my favorite shock company, for now, but they do not offer an H3 set up, and would take some investigation. However they use 100% Aluminum bodies, so they hold up really nice. The Icons I now have on my truck look just as good as the day I bought them, my Foxes pitted and rusted in under a month.
Oh I know the purpose of the res. That's not what I'm questioning. I have read that some state that the same shock with a res somehow causes the vehicle to lean less into turns. I have no idea if this is true. Seems strange to me, as I'd imagine valving would matter much more, but stranger things have happened, so I'd rather ask than assume.
I have a set of adjustable Kings on my H2. Both the front & rear are adjustable. According to King, no one's build a rear adjustable shock before for an H2, so I'm the first. I love everything about them, other than the price & the hassle of working with King. If it was easy, I'd have just emailed them & not bothered with the question here. Let's just say my experience with them was frustrating & nothing was done right, other than the actual production of the shock. I also don't want to wait 3 months to have a set of shocks made, while having to call them weekly to make sure they are building them & actually billing me so they will start production.
The Fox DSC adjuster was an option, originally. I looked into both the 8 click option and the 20-something options vs what King makes. My mother & I weren't really interested in dropping $2500 (for 20-something click of adjustment) again on adjustable shocks for an H3 that won't see anything but highway & roads with rather large potholes & bumps. The fox mono tubes set me back about $480ish, w/ res, closer to $1k.
I've seen good things written about Icon, but I've never spoken to anyone who's run that brand on an H3. It would be nice to know if anyone has. That way, I could just reference the shock & there would be very little time between discussing it & having it built. Custom takes time, but we all know that!
About the Fox body pitting/rusting, are you referring to salting the roads for snow? We don't have salt down here (I'm just out of New Orleans) & if we do have snow, they throw down dirt & everything shuts down. It's not in the budget. I don't drive near the beach enough to cause long term problems. I don't know if I'd have the issues you'd have & that's what making me consider them.
I know a lot of people will scream "buy bilstein," but I'll never deal w/ them again, so I'll just get that out of the way.
