INITIATED - Snowball of destruction to the front end of my 06 H3

[crwalkerasla]

Check your steering-rack bushings! During a recent weekend outing, I had a series of complications that just keeps on giving. Somewhere in the past 175,500 miles, the bushings around my steering rack abandoned the rest of my rig. This caused the tie-rods to flex, bend, and eventually break. Which in turn allowed the wheel to get cocked which broke the axle.

I have replaced the all broken/missing components and their counterparts with beefer tie-rods, and life-time replacement axles, only to find there's a "clicking" in the front chunk when under load (i.e. initially accelerating - goes away at cruising speed). Been told it's probably the pinion or spider gears, but won't know for certain until they open up the chunk.

I have been scouring the posts regarding front-end gearing and have finally come to realize that YUKON gears, are not a swap from "GMC's Suburban", but still at a loss for a solidly stout alternative to weakest link in the H3's configuration. Primarily because I am unfamiliar with all the abbreviations used. ( I think I have also figured out that SAS is Solid Axle Swap, but not certain)

I love the truck & plan on keeping it for the foreseeable future. This is currently a daily driver, but would like to retire it to weekend recreational use. It has 33's and the 4.56 ratio front-end. Due to the mileage and desire to put many more miles on it, I'm inclined to replace everything inside the housing.

I am looking for recommendations on the best place to turn.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

get an 09-up housing, it's cast iron and substantially more robust. They also came in 08 Alphas but have a different gear ratio.

 

[crwalkerasla]

To make sure I understand correctly, '09 is cast iron and 4.56 ratios. '08 ALPHA is cast Iron and the 4.10 ratio.

Could order the whole chunk for an '09 & just swap out directly. Or If I was able to find/get an '08 Alpha, would I need to change anything else out?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

yes, direct bolt in and you are correct about the difference in ratios. If you find an 08 alpha, you'll have to change the gear ratio.... which isn't a huge issue since there is after market support for that setup.

 

[rascole]

If you are not into a lot of rock crawling then I would keep the housing you have and just rebuild it. It lasted this long for you. Finding a CI diff housing can be expensive.

 

[crwalkerasla]

Not as much rock around here, but a good bit of mud on these sand/clay hills. Not to mention the occasional tree stump. My only real concern about finding a used(pre-loved) front diff is the not knowing how it may have been used & abused and setting myself up for the same thing all over again.

Who makes the best replacement gears?

 

[Reloader]

The best replacement gears are GM or AAM. Next best are Yukon in my opinion. US Alloy should survive under a 5 banger.
The USAlloy install kit is good for the money ( I paid $60 for it), but it had wrong large pinion bearing and pinion seal. Correct bearing and seal cost me $70 at dealer this last weekend as I needed it that day.
The Yukon gear set for front diff in 4.56 was $260 ish on Amazon.
Remember those aluminum housings can get tweeked when chunks of gears run through them. I've heard of dealerships rebuilding them when they were under warranty only to have them fail again. Although part of that could be due to improper rebuilding of diff unit at dealership. I used to work at a stealership and witnessed some pretty crappy workmanship on thing like this to cut corners and beat the flat rate time. If and when it failed again they would blame it on defective parts cause they could get Toyota to pay again.
I think it's pretty important to service the lube oil in these differentials frequently so you can see what on the magnets on the drain plugs. Catch a problem soon enough , repairs can be cheaper as less stuff guts distroyed. If you pull drain plug and it's covered in pieces of teeth it's time to open it up. If you have Eaton locker the magnet may have little slivers of metal from the lock pins stuck to it but that depends on usage and a abusage.

 

[4speedfunk]

I prefer Yukon gears...5-cut teeth seem to be easier to set up. GM (AAM) gears are nice too but they are 2-cut and require less lash. Not a huge deal. I have my doubts about the GM gears, since they seem to come from all sorts of far-off places.

I prefer AAM rebuild kits...by far the most complete and highest quality...
http://www.demandaam.com/axle-results?vm=GM&q=7.6"+IFS+-+Front+Axle

Definitely install Outfitter Design kits on the new rack and axle mounts...best money you can spend.

Lastly the cast iron pumpkin is a great upgrade but does not make the axle bulletproof. I agree that pre-flexed aluminum pumpkins seem to have "memory", and I know of several instances where they failed repeatedly in the same fashion. This why I always recommend urethane bushings. Housing flex is what causes these things to blow and anything you can do to keep it from flopping around is a plus (with iron or alum).

 

[atvspeed4]

I am thinking of selling the cast iron housing out of my alpha soon if you are interested. It will need a regear to 4.56

 

[crwalkerasla]

Well, the saga continues. We tore apart the differential this morning and it looks fine. Very little wear/play especially considering the miles. Fresh gear oil and it is done. Have been able to determine that the "clicking" we hear is either one of the new axles or the wheel hub, but it is definitely in the side that got all jacked-up. I'll also be replacing the differential bushing and bump stops when I get back into it.

 

[crwalkerasla]

THANKS! to all those for your input with my '06 H3's front end issues. I think I finally have the situation corrected. One of the new axles was bad, but in the process I practically wound up with a whole new front end.

All new tie-rods, 2 front wheel hub bearings, new steering rack bushing, outfitter designs differential bushing set, 2 new front axles (1-twice), fresh grease in the front diff, a water pump & belt, trans cooler, and a full set of breaks. A much smoother riding and tighter handling truck now, but that right there was about a fourth of what I paid for the truck. GOD provides.

Thanks again for all the assistance.