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06 H3's Squeakin H3 Build

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
I also installed an ARB. I first tore it apart to make sure it had the new bonded seal. Not the old style that is prone to leaking.

9ce61ffe3f5f4e4d9357ce042ec7071b.jpg



checking for clearances.

15ce4784f787e769cac631b819cc299e.jpg



So now for KOH.

Hummer performed flawlessly!! I ran Jack, blueberry, chocolate a couple times, and clawhammer. I also did recovery at backdoor for the EMC race. I wish we got to run more but we had fun anyways.

fb37890b44d9dec479790a58e3c9c371.jpg

73077ca8b82660fe680bb58d1ecfdf3e.jpg


I don’t have a pic of it but I made “trapdoor” on blueberry. 2-3 years ago I had my closest rollover on it. I have seen plenty of denied attempts and rollovers on trapdoor on social media during koh so I am stoked to have made it!

On chocolate thunder...

c05de2c54ce8d5648994e73d0bc305c0.jpg


28cbf4cb2525005345f1915e7e06dffa.jpg


my buddy sheered his knuckle studs, we pulled the tires and springs and put it on the back of the hummer via shackles. We got from the end of jacks back past the mailbox and to the rocky section before the sand hill. Left it there and went to town to get parts and fixed it the next morning.

My rear leafs had a work out!!

Backdoor recovery.
a659f9b6234e3c790e5ba438ae91f990.jpg



3981ea77bd3d07d9e622983a028bee89.jpg


Overall it was a successful shakedown. Jackhammer was the most challenging trail we ran and I didn’t pull cable. I made the first part of the plaque with ease. 2nd part I made but had to stack a couple rocks, I took a bad line, after watching everyone after me I realized the line I should have taken...but ARB and 3 link did their job and I’m ready for the next run!
 

rascole

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,580
Location
Bellflower, CA
Heard there was a lot of theft and fights there. Had a friend wake up in his cab to someone trying to steal his tools out of the bed of his yota. The new Glamis.
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
Heard there was a lot of theft and fights there. Had a friend wake up in his cab to someone trying to steal his tools out of the bed of his yota. The new Glamis.

Doesn’t surprise me. This year was x10 worse then it’s ever been. I’m over it....

2 buddies and myself picked up 500-600 beer cans at backdoor Friday morning.

Sunday morning we ran into tread lightly and helped them. We collectively picked up over 1000 beer cans at chocolate thunder.

**** these people....they suck. Fist fights at turkey claw, theft, garbage....it’s despicable.

We have enough people wanting to shut down wheeling and these dumb ****s make it easy.
 

Gpcalero

Well-Known Member
Messages
234
Location
SW Florida
I also installed an ARB. I first tore it apart to make sure it had the new bonded seal. Not the old style that is prone to leaking.

9ce61ffe3f5f4e4d9357ce042ec7071b.jpg



checking for clearances.

15ce4784f787e769cac631b819cc299e.jpg



So now for KOH.

Hummer performed flawlessly!! I ran Jack, blueberry, chocolate a couple times, and clawhammer. I also did recovery at backdoor for the EMC race. I wish we got to run more but we had fun anyways.

fb37890b44d9dec479790a58e3c9c371.jpg

73077ca8b82660fe680bb58d1ecfdf3e.jpg


I don’t have a pic of it but I made “trapdoor” on blueberry. 2-3 years ago I had my closest rollover on it. I have seen plenty of denied attempts and rollovers on trapdoor on social media during koh so I am stoked to have made it!

On chocolate thunder...

c05de2c54ce8d5648994e73d0bc305c0.jpg


28cbf4cb2525005345f1915e7e06dffa.jpg


my buddy sheered his knuckle studs, we pulled the tires and springs and put it on the back of the hummer via shackles. We got from the end of jacks back past the mailbox and to the rocky section before the sand hill. Left it there and went to town to get parts and fixed it the next morning.

My rear leafs had a work out!!

Backdoor recovery.
a659f9b6234e3c790e5ba438ae91f990.jpg



3981ea77bd3d07d9e622983a028bee89.jpg


Overall it was a successful shakedown. Jackhammer was the most challenging trail we ran and I didn’t pull cable. I made the first part of the plaque with ease. 2nd part I made but had to stack a couple rocks, I took a bad line, after watching everyone after me I realized the line I should have taken...but ARB and 3 link did their job and I’m ready for the next run!


LOVE these trail photos!!!
:tongue:click:
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
UPDATE: I went wheeling locally and had a blast! It was a trail I havent run before and we were with some out of towner's that had rear steer buggies.


They are from Washington and stopped halfway to wheel for a day and rest before continuing the trek to Sand Hollow.


We started out on this quick little loop, It had 2 challenging climbs, this one doesnt show how tough and difficult it is, 2 out of the 4 buggies got it.


7-oecljbn-jpg.510578



We then went on to another trail. It started off here, a fun little rock garden that provided a good warm up but also tough enough to require a couple times ending up in reverse and picking a new line.




9-qtw7eud-jpg.510571





16-agrucdq-jpg.510577

14-xu5rits-jpg.510576



I didnt get many pics of the 4 buggies as they were ahead of us.


Here you can see the trail is very tight, it is one of the things I have learned about Idaho trails.


1-cmgk0ar-jpg.510579



Things were going all too well until they werent....


8-gifzfkh-jpg.510580



I was on a super steep climb and my rear tire slid into that crevice and the rear axle shaft went SNAP.


That is my 3rd axle shaft and all 3 have been on the driver side (short side)


4-b2oljqn-jpg.510581



I ended up winching up and tried to finish the trail in 3wd.


That was going fine until it also wasnt
laughing.gif



5-9zwajfr-jpg.510582



I was rear diffing, 100 yards from the end of the trail and said **** it, with one tire spinning out back I can hammer it to get over. well, I did and it didnt end well. First time I have ever broken a dana 60 shaft! Almost 5 years...factory 35 spline inners, spicer joints and a non chromo 35 spline outer. Not a bad life....


At this point it was time to make a decision. I had a broken driver front and rear shaft. I was 54 miles from home, I could limp myself through the worst 100 yards of the trail or get it fixed. My wife was at work for a few more hours so I called my dad and he was nice enough to go to my house, grab the shafts and bring them to me. When he arrived he said he doesnt understand this hobby and the buggy guys told me they were amazed the H3 was doing what it was doing. It was cool to be the underdog , since the H3 is so grown up a lot of times it is expected to do things but going with the buggies I can only impress, not disappoint
grinpimp.gif



Anyways, while we waited for the shafts we pulled apart the hummer.


6-tkq3kcn-jpg.510583



You can see the rear shaft out of the housing and the front end apart. It was cool to see the ease of a fix in action with the mods I have done.


Most traditional spindle dana 60's need the entire hub to be torn down, it is time consuming and a mess! Instead of having rotors mount behind the hub I have modified mine to slip over the hub. This allows me to get to the spindle nuts without pulling the hub apart so I can pull the hub off like a unit bearing. It makes quick work of the front end.


I also enjoy my rear detroit locker, a lot of lockers have a cross pin through the middle of it making it difficult to get the broken shaft out. My detroit doesnt have that pin so I can just remove the shaft from the other side, hammer out the shaft on the broken side, then put both shafts back in and never even took the wheel off.


I guess that is the silver lining.


Lastly, props to ARB. I broke my Eaton E locker (new 4 pin stronger design) before I broke a STOCK shaft, well the ARB didnt care, the shaft broke and the locker is fine.


I will also give a shout out to my 1950's Detroit Locker. Time and time again, I have seen first hand, a detroit and grizzly locker break when a shaft breaks. It is almost a guarantee. Well this good ole made in the USA when quality matter detroit has survived 3 shafts breaking and just keeps on tickin'.
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
So, I get fixed up and have 100 yards to go.


In this picture I had to make a sharp left turn. I flat out couldn't have done it without a front dig, I was just too big and too wide. The front dig worked flawlessly. I was behind the rock my driver rear was on (shown in first pic) I was facing my front end to the left which was up hill and off camber.


12-zzazxsm-jpg.510602







11-wzyeous-jpg.510601



Now it is time to fit 10 lbs of **** in a 5 lb bag. You can see there is one way to go, I have no line options, its straight....


6-dbpdslo-jpg.510598



5-awvmiu5-jpg.510597



Well, its time to move that rock with my bumper and tie rod
laughing2.gif



4-g4rxhwo-jpg.510596



Well, I pushed it about 5-8 feet off into the hole.




2-chrbid7-jpg.510594



With that rock out of the way I have one more rock to get past, I tried to get around it and got as far passenger as I could, to the point where the rear portion of the cage on the passenger side (that protects the glass) was just laying into the rock....I couldnt get further over. Well, option A is climb the rock, option B is to go around the rock, neither would work so I learned a new trick, Option C, go THROUGH the rock! Watch the video....
laughing2.gif





3-dn8jkv1-jpg.510595



https://youtu.be/9hbpXZC_7K8

Overall it was a FUN day. I am not sure if the pictures captured it but it was a ton of fun. It was challenging enough to end up on the winch once (not breakage related, it was just tough even with all 4 tires spinning, lol) but not impossible. I had to work for it and I think people were shocked that the H3 was even able to fit, I truly felt like a bull in a china shop.


So now its time for upgrades....I will keep wheeling since I threw some spare parts at it but I need to get some chromoly or 300M shafts thrown at it front and rear.
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
So the hummer hasn’t been wheeled since March, I wheeled my brothers Jeep in April at Moab but wheeling has been sparse this year with the wedding. Now that it’s over it’s time to get my shit together.

So there is a debate on Eaton HO72 strength and 14 bolt strength. Both are very strong axles. From a R&P standpoint I’d say they are similar but that is based on opinion. 14 bolt R&Ps have been broken but very few people break 14 bolt R&Ps and I have only seen 1 broken Eaton R&P in a sled pull truck.

The Detroit locker in an Eaton is stronger than the Detroit/grizzly locker in a 14 bolt and that’s based on personal experience. I know many many people who break a Detroit/grizzly every time they break a shaft. I know one guy who is on his 3rd 14 bolt grizzly from broken shafts.

I have broken 3 shafts and my Detroit still works perfect. So a point to the Eaton Detroit.

So now the last question is shaft strength, both are 1.5in diameter shafts. Different spline counts and probably different materials. The debate usually lies within the shafts because breaking a R&P is so rare.

So knowing an eaton Detroit is stronger I should have just had 300M shafts made, keep some stock shafts as a spare and move on….but in the name of science I installed a 14 bolt locker (necessary for 14 bolt shafts) and 14 bolt shafts into my eaton diff. Now if I can break these shafts immediately they are weaker, I know what breaks eaton shafts so I’ll know if it’s about equal or find out if they are stronger.

Some 14 bolt lockers need some machine work to work in an eaton diff and naturally mine did.

After measurements, I found out that I need .004 of material taken off each side gear.
C2C079B8-785C-4CDA-AD17-103C09AB5A1B.jpeg


This gear needed the machine work done.

I had .004 taken off each side gear at the local machine shop and put the diff back together. Technically it did work. They did disengage but the tolerances were so tight that it made crazy breaking axle shaft sounding noises when it would unlock around corners.

So I took it apart again….ughhh!!!

I had another .004 take off each side gear for a total of .008 taken off each side gear. Slapped it back together and now it works perfect! No more noise, locks nicely and now the testing can begin.

My only other concern is the front shafts. I broke one in March. I’m having a hard time swallowing the cost of dana 60 RCV shafts. They are stupid expensive…but have a lifetime warranty up to 47s.

I could buy chromoly shafts and Yukon super joints for half the cost from east coast gear supply, then have a 10 year warranty.

RCVs strategically price their products….just enough to make you want to buy the cheaper chromoly shafts but if you break chromoly shafts once you know you will probably do it again…and now your buying twice and crying atleast three times.

Then the super joints are much more maintenance heavy compared to RCVs, they don’t like high speeds, where RCVs don’t care. So I may rock the stock shafts and save for RCVs.

But it’s getting worked on, and will be wheeled again soon. I have my sway bar done. I’ll make a video on that.

I have 2 leaks to take care of. Rear main seal, which I’ll do when I have the trans out for a 6L80E swap and a t case to trans leak. The gasket went bad so I gotta fix that.
 

EndeavoredH3

Well-Known Member
Messages
371
Location
Arizona
So the hummer hasn’t been wheeled since March, I wheeled my brothers Jeep in April at Moab but wheeling has been sparse this year with the wedding. Now that it’s over it’s time to get my shit together.

So there is a debate on Eaton HO72 strength and 14 bolt strength. Both are very strong axles. From a R&P standpoint I’d say they are similar but that is based on opinion. 14 bolt R&Ps have been broken but very few people break 14 bolt R&Ps and I have only seen 1 broken Eaton R&P in a sled pull truck.

The Detroit locker in an Eaton is stronger than the Detroit/grizzly locker in a 14 bolt and that’s based on personal experience. I know many many people who break a Detroit/grizzly every time they break a shaft. I know one guy who is on his 3rd 14 bolt grizzly from broken shafts.

I have broken 3 shafts and my Detroit still works perfect. So a point to the Eaton Detroit.

So now the last question is shaft strength, both are 1.5in diameter shafts. Different spline counts and probably different materials. The debate usually lies within the shafts because breaking a R&P is so rare.

So knowing an eaton Detroit is stronger I should have just had 300M shafts made, keep some stock shafts as a spare and move on….but in the name of science I installed a 14 bolt locker (necessary for 14 bolt shafts) and 14 bolt shafts into my eaton diff. Now if I can break these shafts immediately they are weaker, I know what breaks eaton shafts so I’ll know if it’s about equal or find out if they are stronger.

Some 14 bolt lockers need some machine work to work in an eaton diff and naturally mine did.

After measurements, I found out that I need .004 of material taken off each side gear. View attachment 30949

This gear needed the machine work done.

I had .004 taken off each side gear at the local machine shop and put the diff back together. Technically it did work. They did disengage but the tolerances were so tight that it made crazy breaking axle shaft sounding noises when it would unlock around corners.

So I took it apart again….ughhh!!!

I had another .004 take off each side gear for a total of .008 taken off each side gear. Slapped it back together and now it works perfect! No more noise, locks nicely and now the testing can begin.

My only other concern is the front shafts. I broke one in March. I’m having a hard time swallowing the cost of dana 60 RCV shafts. They are stupid expensive…but have a lifetime warranty up to 47s.

I could buy chromoly shafts and Yukon super joints for half the cost from east coast gear supply, then have a 10 year warranty.

RCVs strategically price their products….just enough to make you want to buy the cheaper chromoly shafts but if you break chromoly shafts once you know you will probably do it again…and now your buying twice and crying atleast three times.

Then the super joints are much more maintenance heavy compared to RCVs, they don’t like high speeds, where RCVs don’t care. So I may rock the stock shafts and save for RCVs.

But it’s getting worked on, and will be wheeled again soon. I have my sway bar done. I’ll make a video on that.

I have 2 leaks to take care of. Rear main seal, which I’ll do when I have the trans out for a 6L80E swap and a t case to trans leak. The gasket went bad so I gotta fix that.
Looking forward to seeing the 6 speed swap. The H1’s benefits greatly from it. Can only be good news for the H3. First gear 4:1 is awesome.
 

rascole

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,580
Location
Bellflower, CA
make sure your leak is not the oil pressure senor. #1 mistake people make. It is right on top of the block above the rear cover. FAR cheaper and easier to fix. I used a cheap USB bore scope camera from Amazon to figure it out. You only need to buy a special $12 thin wall socket to get it out/in.
 

3Hummers

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
10,398
Location
Central Texas
UPDATE: I went wheeling locally and had a blast! It was a trail I havent run before and we were with some out of towner's that had rear steer buggies.


They are from Washington and stopped halfway to wheel for a day and rest before continuing the trek to Sand Hollow.


We started out on this quick little loop, It had 2 challenging climbs, this one doesnt show how tough and difficult it is, 2 out of the 4 buggies got it.


7-oecljbn-jpg.510578



We then went on to another trail. It started off here, a fun little rock garden that provided a good warm up but also tough enough to require a couple times ending up in reverse and picking a new line.




9-qtw7eud-jpg.510571





16-agrucdq-jpg.510577

14-xu5rits-jpg.510576



I didnt get many pics of the 4 buggies as they were ahead of us.


Here you can see the trail is very tight, it is one of the things I have learned about Idaho trails.


1-cmgk0ar-jpg.510579



Things were going all too well until they werent....


8-gifzfkh-jpg.510580



I was on a super steep climb and my rear tire slid into that crevice and the rear axle shaft went SNAP.


That is my 3rd axle shaft and all 3 have been on the driver side (short side)


4-b2oljqn-jpg.510581



I ended up winching up and tried to finish the trail in 3wd.


That was going fine until it also wasnt
laughing.gif



5-9zwajfr-jpg.510582



I was rear diffing, 100 yards from the end of the trail and said **** it, with one tire spinning out back I can hammer it to get over. well, I did and it didnt end well. First time I have ever broken a dana 60 shaft! Almost 5 years...factory 35 spline inners, spicer joints and a non chromo 35 spline outer. Not a bad life....


At this point it was time to make a decision. I had a broken driver front and rear shaft. I was 54 miles from home, I could limp myself through the worst 100 yards of the trail or get it fixed. My wife was at work for a few more hours so I called my dad and he was nice enough to go to my house, grab the shafts and bring them to me. When he arrived he said he doesnt understand this hobby and the buggy guys told me they were amazed the H3 was doing what it was doing. It was cool to be the underdog , since the H3 is so grown up a lot of times it is expected to do things but going with the buggies I can only impress, not disappoint
grinpimp.gif



Anyways, while we waited for the shafts we pulled apart the hummer.


6-tkq3kcn-jpg.510583



You can see the rear shaft out of the housing and the front end apart. It was cool to see the ease of a fix in action with the mods I have done.


Most traditional spindle dana 60's need the entire hub to be torn down, it is time consuming and a mess! Instead of having rotors mount behind the hub I have modified mine to slip over the hub. This allows me to get to the spindle nuts without pulling the hub apart so I can pull the hub off like a unit bearing. It makes quick work of the front end.


I also enjoy my rear detroit locker, a lot of lockers have a cross pin through the middle of it making it difficult to get the broken shaft out. My detroit doesnt have that pin so I can just remove the shaft from the other side, hammer out the shaft on the broken side, then put both shafts back in and never even took the wheel off.


I guess that is the silver lining.


Lastly, props to ARB. I broke my Eaton E locker (new 4 pin stronger design) before I broke a STOCK shaft, well the ARB didnt care, the shaft broke and the locker is fine.


I will also give a shout out to my 1950's Detroit Locker. Time and time again, I have seen first hand, a detroit and grizzly locker break when a shaft breaks. It is almost a guarantee. Well this good ole made in the USA when quality matter detroit has survived 3 shafts breaking and just keeps on tickin'.
The most likely half shaft to break on an H1 is the front driver side...you guessed it, the shortest of the three half shaft sizes used on an H1. Passenger front is the longest and rarely breaks. Two rear half shafts are equal in length. Fortunately all are easy to replace.
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
The most likely half shaft to break on an H1 is the front driver side...you guessed it, the shortest of the three half shaft sizes used on an H1. Passenger front is the longest and rarely breaks. Two rear half shafts are equal in length. Fortunately all are easy to replace.
Not surprised! The shorty’s don’t like the twist as much as the longer axle shafts.

Maybe it’s time to build an equal length housing so I run two long side axle shafts
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
Ok, time for an update on the rubicon trip. I had a blast! This was probably one of the more relaxing trips I have had in the past couple years.

Some trips are non stop wrenching or bad weather or whatever else a trip throws at you but this was the perfect amount of camping, wrenching, mcgyvering, and wheeling.

It was Me in the H3, my sister in my brothers JK on 1 tons and 40s, my buddy in his 4500 TJ, his dad in his TJ on 1 tons and 40s, a buddy in his YJ on 1 tons and 40s, our buddy’s grandpa in his wildcat UTV and our friend in a Willy’s on 35s. We also had a friend come out for a day in his Toyota on 37s.

I only have so many pics because the week after the rubicon I got my phone wet in a river and didn’t have my phone backed up
:mad3:


Here’s the group minus the Toyota and Willy’s.

84BE58B3-36C2-478B-8650-8F061C8C8945.jpeg


Our buddy in the Willy’s unfortunately was plagued with issues at the gatekeeper. We had a lot of fresh builds on this trip so it was a shakedown run for some. The Willy’s went to the rubicon in 2020 and broke a front and rear axle shaft in the granite bowls last time, he went all out with linking it front and rear and doing a ford 8.8 and Dana 44. Well the 44 he bought had a broken locker and wasn’t running right. So he parked it and he rode along.

The gatekeeper was kind of a shit show

DB282B43-1F12-4757-8091-25AF87433546.jpeg


Broken unimog with stripped out bolt holes for the knuckle, they were there for over a day. I learned from our friend that you can cut two slits in the bolt and it acts like a tap. A rollover and a PS line issue in the gold TJ. Luckily I had a spare high pressure line that worked and got him moving again.

Swam at spider lake and made it to soup bowl we all took turns hitting it or soup kitchen.

56C66A7D-BFF3-4BF9-AD52-D924AFBB30F4.jpeg
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
Here’s my sister on soup bowl. First time driving the rubicon but she wasn’t afraid. I wish she had some more fear

01802912-941A-4615-A82A-1E6D659549BA.jpeg


Around soup bowl the UTV broke a tie rod. Luckily he had a spare. Very shortly after he broke another tie rod. Without another spare we searched for solutions and luckily I had some galvanized pipe that I use as an extension to break tight bolts loose and it fit perfectly.

We ended up camping on the slabs above Indian trail. The next morning we found out our buddy had a PS pump issue and we couldn’t get a grinder to cut out a bolt but the premier power welder did the trick cutting it out

743BF63A-8557-4D51-B468-C09AF2916692.jpeg


The next morning we headed down to buck island and swam there.

D4325819-3DB0-48C9-9120-9BCD44520BE9.jpeg



Here I am playing on the ledge near buck. This has been my arch nemesis for years.

AC4C8568-E1F5-421D-B1FD-26FF54A57D41.jpeg
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
We ran into some cool Argentinians near buck. They are doing a 1 year round the world off-road trip. It was cool to run into them. I had a bunch of pics on my phone but they are gone.

We made our way to rubicon springs after buck and then headed back to buck to camp.

My buddy’s grandpa kicked ass in his little UTV. He’s 80 years old and didn’t skip a beat.

The way back up we went up old sluice. The cage really has kept this body in tact. Without it id have a crushed beer can look.

5F4960C8-13A7-4491-AEB9-CDF44DE7FB38.jpeg


We made our way to Ellis creek for camp and headed back to the tow rigs the following morning. Sorry for the lack of pics guys, most got lost in my phone debacle :mad3:

Overall it was a blast! Hummer did well, the 43in AG tires continue to impress me. They hook up well.

I always ask myself if there is anything I’d change to improve and I’d say I’d change my rear suspension. With 43s, 400 hp, and 5.33:1 low range the suspension is fine 98% of the time. It crawls fine, flexes fine, and climbs steep obstacles fine. It struggles on ledges. I think on ledges, especially if the tires aren’t hitting the obstacle at the same time it just deflects. All I listed above with big tires, good Hp and a good low range it’s a ton of load for leafs.

I’ve been looking into 3 link rears so I can keep my gas tank in its spot. My only fear is what that upper link will see in terms of load. Especially if I’m bound up and tugging/wedging the driver side tire (3rd link would be on pass side.) I’m in no rush, just contemplating future mods.
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
I have bent about 5 or 6 1.5in .25 wall tie rods. These are kind of “standard” heavy duty tie rods for solid axle setups. I keep bending them. So I have contemplated many options and I went with “stressproof” material. It’s 1.5in solid bar. Another guy on a forum kept bending the same tie rods and said this solved his issues so I finally got the stress proof tie rod done! Thanks to a local irate user for the recommendation. He sent me to a friend, he couldn’t do it but his neighbor has a lathe big enough to do the job. Both guys were super cool and even let me use the lathe….I want one now. They are cool lol

Just gotta build a tie rod clamp now.

So, will this work perfect? Bend? Crack? Break a knuckle? Time will tell!

E51E307C-4259-4310-BBF2-37309BD5BECE.jpeg
9F6F5CA2-1D11-4FB2-8836-56A3B4D8138B.jpeg
4CAD2C0F-8F9A-4309-A200-EF9B47B14E7D.jpeg
8EB1042A-5E2E-449A-AB18-6462181E8E50.jpeg


I machined the center down to prevent ram assist clamps from sliding
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
Now I’m up to date! Just got back from fordyce last night! We have been trying to run this trail for like 6 years. Each time something happened but it’s all over now.

We started at eagle lakes and ran the full trail.

5758A7AD-6FC6-4866-8206-CD33E53C79BD.jpeg


I was kind of surprised at how easy it was from the beginning of the trail to Winch hill 1. Lots of dusty roads dodging trees.

Driveline hill.

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Right after driveline hill our buddy in the Gold TJ had an orbital or PS pump issue so he parked it and rode with me.


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The water crossings had us worried but at 85-90 CFS it wasn’t too bad. Almost swallowing up a 37in tire.


We pressed on to winch hill 1,2 and 3. Winch hill 3 was exciting! I did the squeeze line (on the right if your looking at it from the bottom)

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I was stoked to have made it! This obstacle has messed up some rigs!

Then we cruised on to winch hill 3.5 which I didn’t even know existed and was super dug out

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06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
I didn’t get pics of winch hill 4 because we kept the rigs moving. I felt it was a very “pinchy” section. In double low 1st gear there were times I would give it throttle and it didn’t wanna move without some more throttle then normal. I’m sure my drivetrain appreciated it!

Winch hill 5 had us all getting a tire in the air for a second.

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From there we made our way to meadow lake and got in just around sunset.

The original plan was to head back down to committee and cross to get back to the Cisco exit where the tow rigs were at but the group wanted to get the tow rigs, one was almost out of gas and another had a creeper joint explode. I was the only road legal rig so I did the 50 mile on road drive to the tow rigs, dropped off my buddy’s to get their tow rigs and head back to meadow.

From there I took off for home. I am glad I finally checked it off the list!

The tie rod didn’t fail but I may have bent the new “stressproof” setup. I gotta get a straight edge on it. It may be slightly bowed :mad:
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
I threw a straight piece of tube on the tie rod and it isn’t bent. Give me a year max and we will know if this tie rod is good or not.
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
I’ll get pics later from Idaho Tuff Truck Challenge but I wanted to give an update on my front sway bar.

I finished my Currie anti rock sway bar back a few months ago but took it back off almost immediately, I didn’t want to be messing with it on the trips far away from home. When I did some road miles when I first put it on I felt a little difference but not much, with that said my rear sway bar was disconnected.

This week I put the front back on for testing and hooked the rear factory sway bar back up and WOW! On road manners are phenomenal. I can grab the wheel one way and then grab it back the other way and it comes back to neutral immediately.

Off road I disconnected the rear (which is the stiffer of the two) and left the front connected and I didn’t feel too much of a difference flex wise but admittedly I need more off-road time to know how I feel about it. On road I am more then satisfied.

I chuckle as the SAS was done 8 years ago now and I am still tinkering on getting it “perfect.” Admittedly I’ve been satisfied with it since the beginning but I am always looking for that extra improvement.
 
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