H3 Straight axle Swap

[Acer4LO]

Wow really awesome! Yeah you really gotta post some more pictures and videos! I keep forgetting how amazing this build is because there isn't that many pics!

 

[Dana60H3]

Finally put my bead lock wheels on that have been collecting dust in my garage for two years.

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[Dana60H3]

Not very good about taking pics. This one was taking earlier in the year after I had the CSF radiator put in. The guys at the shop wanted to flex it a little.

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[06 H3]

Looking good!

I’m curious to hear the feedback on gear hunting on the highway. I know I’m being picky since I have 40s and a heavy rig but it likes to hunt 3rd-4th near 80 mph, I’m sure holding 5th and locking the TC shouldn’t be a problem at that speed

 

[Dana60H3]

Got my MOVE rear bumper installed and added KC lights to it. I’m happy with the fit and look. I also added some side and rear KC lights to the GOBI rack I got off of 06 H3.
The stereo shop made a clean new dash panel to house the Alpine X009U head unit. They removed the Electronic transfer case switches and OEM locker switches.
Now I just need to design a center console to hold the Spod, gear indicator gauge, and Aeroforce gauge along with some cup holders.
I will be uploading some video of the acceleration and freeway speeds with the 6L80E trans.

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[Dana60H3]

Aluminum guy got the console finished up. I think it came out great. Best part about it I got to reuse my factory cup holders. Not sure if I’m going to powder coat it or cover it with material. Might need to put a tilt bevel ring on the gauges and some sort or leather or rubber boot around the twin sticks.

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[06 H3]

Looks amazing!!!!

 

[Dana60H3]

I had to head up North to Carson City Nevada today so I figured what a great way to test drive the new transmission. I haven’t driven more then 10 miles in it since it’s been in but I gave it the once over and headed 410 miles north up the US 395.
Have to admit I was a little nervous but I figured I have AAA and some some good friends that would come get me if needed.
Now that I just drove it for 8 hours straight and went up and down god knows how many grade changes I have to say I am more than impressed with what a difference the 6L80 made over the 4L60 trans. I’m not used to it being so quiet while going 80mph. With the headers and high flow cats it used to scream trying to pull 80 while shifting in and out of 2/3/4.
I am loaded down with tools, spare and luggage and I never felt like I had to get on it. I pretty much never went over 4,000 rpms the whole time. I was driving pretty easy since I had to go so far. I even used the cruise control for a while to see how it worked. Now that it has some miles on it time to get into the throttle some more.
I’m posting some cruising speed videos I took to show speed and RPM. I also took a video showing the trans shifting thru the gears.
I was probably 1/4 throttle and cruised up to 55mph. I’m running 5.13 gears and 40” tires and it was in 2wd High so obviously it would be different for other gear tire combos and AWD.
Here are the you tube links for the two videos I uploaded.
https://youtu.be/Auo1AI5_JTs
https://youtu.be/ztt4z7acl8E
I just need to fix my left rear ABS sensor so my lights go off on the dash.
I’ll post some full acceleration videos soon and downshifting at highway speeds.


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[Acer4LO]

Just wow! Incredible work! This is gonna be hard to top!

 

[06 H3]

Badass!!! I need me a 6l80e

 

[Schwarttzy]

I want a 6L80 in my H3. I'd like to know where you got the specialty parts so that I can have them ready to go in the future.

 

[Dana60H3]

I want a 6L80 in my H3. I'd like to know where you got the specialty parts so that I can have them ready to go in the future.

I got all my parts/ wiring harnesses needed from Zero Gravity Performance in Arizona.
Talk to Jim.
I bought a 6l80e harness from him that was used to tap into the stock harness. I also bought the tap shifter that he sells. You can either go with that or he sells a stand-alone tap shift switch that you can use and still retain stock shifter and mount the switch somewhere. He also sells a relay harness that you will need that triggers the reverse circuit so that all works right. You will need to take the TCM out of the 6l80e you go with and send him both the PCM (out of the H3) and TCM (out of the 6L80e) so he can make them communicate with each other and program for your gear ratio and tire size. I also purchased a standalone gear indicator gauge that will let you know that gear you are in.
Sounds like the biggest issue guys are having is adapting the stock transfer case shaft to the 6L80e trans. Obviously with the Atlas I didn’t have that problem it bolted right up.
Jim at Zero Gravity has over 30 years experience with transmissions and he was very helpful in making this work. As you know the H3’s are unique in about every way possible especially the electronics. I think I spent about $1200 with him.
You can either buy an aftermarket flexible filler tube or modify the stock one.
If you want to utilize the stock trans cooler then you can Tig weld AN fittings onto the stock fittings and make new hoses.
My 6L80e transmission is out of an 09 Denali. I would talk to Jim before you purchase a trans and ask him what years you should look for. I’m not sure if all years will work.

 

[Dana60H3]

Took the H3 thru Rattlesnake canyon up to Big Bear last weekend. Really liked the new trans and transfer case. I found that the Atlas in the 2.7:1 ratio and the 6 speed trans it was perfect for what I was up against. We ran the John Bull trail which was pretty hammered with Ice and snow. With the ability to select any gear and hold it with the tap shift was pretty awesome. I could keep it in 6th on the smoother parts on the trail and then downshift as needed going over the rocky portions.
Only casualty was my front sway bar link somehow it bent and snapped. Must not of liked the angles I was at. Its an Antirock with the threaded links. I’m going to switch them out with some thicker tubing ones like my Genright rear sway bar links. Ill probably take them off next time I hit the trail too.
Having beadlocks now I was able to air down to 10psi and it really helped out in the ice. Looking forward to a couple more trips before heading out to the King of the Hammers
next month.
Im going to look into a shave kit for the 11.5 AAM rear diff I have. I would like to take an inch or two off to increase my clearance.

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[alrock]

Great pics! Thanks for the update.

 

[RamRod]

Looks awesome!

Is the the high pinion d60 pass drop something that you can pick up in a scrap yard or is it only an option for people willing to go the full custom route?

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[4speedfunk]

Full custom. The only high pin Dana’s are drivers side drop (Ford). You can either cut up a stock Ford housing or build one from scratch using new aftermarket castings & tubes.
The cheaper and easier option is to use a GM Dana front housing which already comes in a passenger drop arrangement. However these are all low-pinion.
Another option is to run a stock Ford housing and swap the t-case to a drivers side drop...probably opens another barrel of monkeys. The only DS drop I’ve seen was the BullyDog D-max build.
Given all these options, the low-pin GM housing is by far the simplest & most affordable.

 

[atvspeed4]

Full custom. The only high pin Dana’s are drivers side drop (Ford). You can either cut up a stock Ford housing or build one from scratch using new aftermarket castings & tubes.
The cheaper and easier option is to use a GM Dana front housing which already comes in a passenger drop arrangement. However these are all low-pinion.
Another option is to run a stock Ford housing and swap the t-case to a drivers side drop...probably opens another barrel of monkeys. The only DS drop I’ve seen was the BullyDog D-max build.
Given all these options, the low-pin GM housing is by far the simplest & most affordable.

Just run the H2 transfercase which, in 2008 configuration comes with a 6l80. This is driver drop and I believe will plug right into H3 harness. Its been a while since I had both encoder motors in front of me but I believe the only difference was the bracket off the end of the encoder motor. But it would be a cheap test to take a H2 encoder motor and plug into the H3 harness and try to shift with the dash buttons

 

[4speedfunk]

That would be a good option. It’s probably a six-bolt t-case, so you would need the correct adapter to bolt it up to the 460 trans. Of course there are probably lots of other issues (exhaust & pan clearance) with swapping to a drivers side drop. Frankly, I think the pass side low-pin GM housing is the way to go. So much easier and cheaper.

At some point, it makes more since to drop an H3 body down on a 2500HD chassis. Dmax, Alison, 8-lug IFS, 14-bolt, etc. Nobody has done this yet but, that would be the ultimate H3. It’s pre-engineered, bulletproof, and cheaper in the long run. Plus you could use stock parts when it came time to maintain it.

 

[Dana60H3]

Not so short story how I ended up with the Currie RockJock 60 axle. It’s the end result of changing things around multiple times mainly because I didn’t really know what kind of money I wanted to spend and what route I wanted to go at first. I also didn’t know what type of trails I was planning on tackling.
After I did some looking around my original plan was to do a Rancho lift on 37” tires. So I bought KMC non beadlock wheels and used tires off Craigslist. Then I looked to order a
Lift off the internet. When I had trouble finding a lift for a decent price my friend that I’ve done SAS’s with in the past put the bug in my ear to just throw a solid axle in the front. Like any good friend he started sending me axle ads on Craigslist and started my mind wandering.
I bought a Low pinion Dana 60 axle for a decent price. When I put the H3 on the lift we said well if we are getting the plasma cutter out we might at well cut off the back suspension and do rear link setup as well. I was then on the hunt for a rear axle I came across the 11.5 AAM and figured it would do the trick since it came with disc brakes and E brake already. So I ordered 5.13 gears for the front and rear thinking that would be good enough for the 37’s. Found a used ARB front locker on eBay and I was off to the races.
When I bought my shocks I got 14” King coilovers and wanted to use all the travel so when I started to mock it I realized I was able to easily fit 40” tires so I bought a set of those and sold my 37” tires. With doing that I obviously made my front driveline angle more challenging with a low pinion. My first drive line would bind at full droop so I thought it would maybe work if I did some small Dremel work to get it to flex more and maybe add limit straps. Needless to say that it worked for my first trip only. So I decided I needed to bite the bullet an throw some coin down on a Front driveshaft from High Angle driveline. I ended going with a high angle 1410 joint that he offered and it did the trick except for one small problem. The larger joint would now barely touch my transmission pan at full compression which I found out the next time on the trail. So I ended up giving it some clearance with a little touch of a hammer and welded it back up.
I ended up running that for about a year and noticed the extreme angles at full droop were causing my pinion seal to start leaking and then it got excessive play in it. I then decided it was time to just bite the bullet and get a axle built that would fix all of the issues I was having since I planned on having the H3 for the long haul.
So I ordered a Rock Jock 60 from Currie that I could use my parts off the axle I had to save some money. I had them set it up to match the width of my rear axle since my low pinion was like 3/4” shorter on both sides. I also had them rotate the housing to set my caster right with my pinion angle. I had them move the pumpkin over to the passenger side another 1” to make sure the High angle driveline wouldn’t contact my transmission pan anymore.
Once I got the Axle built I installed ABS tone rings and sensor to both axles to make my ABS and traction control happy again. Everything was working good until this past April when I went out wheeling and something gave loose and put a hole in my transfer case.
So now it was time to put in a new T case. I already had money invested in an axle so I decided to just stick with a passenger side drop Atlas. Then I got to thinking if I’m messing with the T case I might as well swap the transmission while everything is out so I don’t have to do it down the road and make driveshafts for a third time.
So now I have about 2k miles on the new trans and T case. I’ve been on a couple trail rides and I’m happy with the end result but If I was to do it all over again I would do a driver side drop Ford kingpin front axle and a Atlas drivers drop transfer case from the start. I would also swap to the 6 speed transmission and go with an AAM 10.5 rear axle so I could get 5.38 gear ratio. They also sell shave kits for them to increase ground clearance.
You could even just swap in a 6L80 from a burb or truck with a driver side drop T case and start there too.