Project WANAVEE

[WANNAVEE]

I want to share my ongoing H3 project with all of you. Since this website has been so helpful in my research, I'd like to give back any new info I may have learned along the way.
Last year I decided I wanted a dual-purpose SUV for my wife and I. For her, it was to be a bad-winter-weather commuter, and for me as an off road adventure vehicle. Long story short, I found out that H3's don't suck as I was previously led to believe, and the wheels in my head started turning so I came up with some ideas and a plan (spoiler: note my username), so the search was on. I had to have either an 09 Championship Edition (aka CE) or an 09-10 Alpha with the Off Road Package because I wanted nothing less than the V8, the 4:1 Tcase, and both front and rear lockers. Amazingly, it seems that the former was more common than the latter, and it didn't take long to find a bone stock CE that looked decent in Tennessee late last December. It had 108k on it and seemed to be a one-owner vehicle living in Texas for most of its life, so very very little rust. After talking with the small dealership and getting several pics, I decided to fly out to Nashville with a friend of mine and drive it home to Maryland. We spent several hours inspecting it and decided it was good to go. Of course it had a few of the minor problems that H3's are known for (primarily worn out stock front suspension), but nothing major and no show stoppers.

Before I had left home, I looked for an easy trail to hit up on the way back (because adventure). I found the ideal 12 mile long trail in Virginia, basically right off of the highway, called Peter's Mill Run. It's nothing difficult but just enough to get a taste of what the H3 is good at. So here we were in late December 2017 on my first full day of ownership...

Happy Veteran's Day weekend everyone!

 

[Bowser-II]

Welcome to the forum and H3 ownership.

Whereabouts in Maryland are you, I am out in Western MD (sorta)?

There are a few of us in the region who try to get together for camping and wheeling.


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[WANNAVEE]

Thanks!

I'm in College Park. You probably know Rod from Alexandria? I met up with him a couple times recently to trade parts. He said he's got a group just like you described, maybe one in the same? I believe I'm on his list now. Either way, that sounds good to me!

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong with uploading pics onto the forum directly, so I'm setting up hosting with Imgur, so standby for pics (I'll edit my first post then continue the adventure below).

 

[WANNAVEE]

Onward and upward!

So naturally, by the end of the 12 mile long trail which was very bumpy/rocky in sections and the heavily washboarded gravel road on the way down the mountain after the trail, the worn front suspension and steering was even MORE worn, but nothing had let go and I had already planned on the typical upgrades so I didn't mind too much. We made it home very late, but without issue, and I greeted my driveway and wife with a slightly muddy H3. First adventure, a success!

One of the first things I did (after painstakingly cleaning the caked mud from the underside) was to delete the "ZM6 ALPHA" badges. A Championship Edition isn't actually an Alpha anyway, so that didn't make sense. This was the first of many deletions to come.

The first real work done was at the local Chevy Stealership, where I has them change the oil with synthetic and fully flush the trans fluid, coolant, power steering fluid, and brake fluid. I also had them give me a Maryland state inspection, where it failed for worn inner tie rods and disintegrated bump-stops (kind of expected) and the front side windows being too dark... BY ONE PERCENT! They measured 34% and the darkest allowed is 35%. GAH. I removed the front tint myself and it took a long time to get all the adhesive off, but I did.

I have chronic health issues so I can't do all of my own work like I used to in the past (modding street cars of various types), so after collecting up a bunch of parts I took it to World Tour Off Road in Annapolis, who was highly recommended by a coworker of mine with a Jeep. World Tour does mostly Jeep work (because that's what everyone has, of course), but they will do pretty much anything with wheels.
I had them install Outfitter Design tie rods, a brand new OEM steering rack, Mayhem Metal Works steering rack mounts, PCF diff mount, Fox shocks all around, OEM bump stops (technically "Auxilliary Springs"), Outfitter Design front driveshaft, Shwarttzy high-clearance rear shock mounts and 1.25" rear lift shackles, and 315/75/16 Duratrac's. I had them crank the torsion springs to 23.5" and give it an alignment and change the transfer case, front diff, and rear diff fluids, and the spark plugs and front O2 sensors.

Now we're getting somewhere!

 

[svxr8dr]

Do your bump stops do anything after cranking the torsion bars? I ask as I originally wanted to get the old Trail duty extended ones so they would reach but with the demise of Trail Duty, I ended up sourcing an eom part number that fit and was a 1/2 longer, though it may be slightly different on the the durameter scale.

 

[amrg]

Do you have a part number for the longer stop and how does the ride compare to the stock (shorter) stop?



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[svxr8dr]

Do you have a part number for the longer stop and how does the ride compare to the stock (shorter) stop?



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GM Part #15153958....my old ones were rotted out so these were a 100% improvment especially under heavy braking, which while I try to avoid that when it happen these bump stops defintely work.
Here is a pic the original oem appears slightly taller because came apart and is in two peices with part one resting on the other.

 

[WANNAVEE]

The stock ones no longer ride on the suspension during normal street driving and over small bumps, and I actually wanted it this way for a couple reasons:
1) It theoretically has a slightly smoother ride in normal conditions
2) It has just >that< much more articulation since they don't start compressing until further into the suspension travel
3) They should last longer since they're not cycling all the time.

The drawback is a little more nose up on acceleration (unless you have a 5 cylinder. :wink: ) and a more nosedive during braking. Also, slightly more body roll in corners. I personally don't find these to be at all excessive, but I'm sure the Fox shocks help out a lot during the really abrupt transitions. I had to have them changed at the same time though, so I don't have a back-to-back with and without the shocks.
Overall, mine rides really nice over reasonable roads (easily passes the wife test, and she's sensitive to ride quality) and it still corners quite well enough for a body-on-frame SUV (this coming from a sports car guy).

Oh, and it might hurt towing capacity and towing handling just a bit, but I don't know for sure because I have a Silverado to tow heavy loads.

 

[WANNAVEE]

So after the first round at World Tour I took it back to the stealership to get my free re-inspection, where it then passed, and I started the state title/registration process.

I collected up some more parts due to some findings at World Tour and just for some preventative maintenance. Back to World Tour it went, where they installed new OEM CV axles, OEM front Wheel Bearings, OEM lower ball joints, OEM upper control arms, and Duralast replacement steering tie rod boots *designed for a Trailblazer* that properly fit around the Outfitter Design tie rods since the OEM boots had to be cut and I wasn't okay with that. These boots work and seal great! I don't seem to have a picture but I can get one if anyone is interested, and I'll have to look up the part number again if anyone wants it.
They also re-adjusted the torsion springs since the suspension had settled, and then sent it out for alignment again.
I also had them bypass the OEM locker buttons with an aftermarket Eaton harness and switches so that I can turn them on and off whenever I want rather than only in 4lo and only rear or both. This was World Tour's only real misstep, as the wiring was not terminated or routed very well, though it did work as intended. I fixed some of their wiring install mistakes, and have yet to fix the rest (though minor). I won't have them do any more wiring for me, but they are very mechanically thorough and I highly recommend them for that.
I then jumped the locker connections at the BCM so the service 4x4 light would go out. One person on the internet said that he just directly jumped the pins and it worked, another said that he had to use resistors in between the pins (I forget the value he stated). I tried various resistor values first (including his stated value) and it didn't work (service light was still on) so I directly jumped them and all is well that way.
I mechanically locked out the factory locker buttons so nothing would go wonky if engaged since I had shorted the connections to fool the BCM. Everything is working as intended.

 

[WANNAVEE]

World Tour noticed during that second visit that the rear sway bar links had flipped around and back again! They have no idea how that had happened, but I figured out what was going on, and it's something I didn't see mentioned in my research, perhaps because no one else has had this issue?

Essentially, with the 1.25" lift in the rear the stock sway bar links became too short. My theory is that with 1.25" of lift *in combination with* the Fox shocks' additional fully extended length over stock shocks (and maybe other aftermarket shocks too) *in addition to* slight extra nosedive from the stock length "auxilliary springs" (bump stops), the rear end was able to droop low enough during hard straight-line braking that the sway bar links stretched to their max travel (and ended up inline with the sway bar mounting sections) and then when the suspension re-compressed, the sway bars ended up pointing *upward* instead of downward. Then, when the same thing must have happened a second time, the process reversed and they ended up in their correct positions (unless someone drove it back to a lift and fixed it there). The mystery is that no one seems to know when this happened, and on the frame lift with the rear end just hanging in the air, the droop wasn't enough to fully max out the links so there's no way it could have happened then. It had to be while someone was driving it and braked hard enough and fast enough to allow the rear end to stretch the springs past their no-load resting point (because the weight of the rear end keeps it in place until the spring stretches enough to pull upward on that stationary mass). I suspect that it may have been the alignment shop playing around with it since they had it for a day, but I don't know. Either way, it bent the linkss which effectively shortened them even further and slightly bent the frame rails, and the links lightly contacted the shocks too, which seem to be fine (fortunately).
The fix was to buy adjustable sway bar links and make them about 2" longer than stock. I did that and haven't had an issue since.

Here's the aftermath of the wrong-way sway bar links. You can see a bent link, a bent frame rail section, and a scuffed up shock...

Edit: Here's a pic of the adjustable links, though I don't have one of them installed (they're black now anyway, so not much to see)

 

[WANNAVEE]

Wheel Woes

Now the steering and suspension was getting really buttoned down. So much better to drive! Next up:

When I bought the 315/75/16 Duratracs I knew that they would rub the sway bar slightly with stock wheels because everyone said they would. I also knew that cranking the bars would make it a bit worse since it pulls the wheels inboard at the new ride height. What I didn't know was how much "slightly" meant in my case. It was quite a lot. I believe this pic was with the wheel at full resting droop, but the wheel wasn't even turned all the way in the pic and it was still pretty bad at ride height.

Obviously the H3 was still driveable, but it took away a lot more turning radius than I liked, so I set to taking lots of static measurements but throughout suspension travel and also researching aftermarket wheels. I also knew that the the fender flares were already close to rubbing during compression on the rear side of the front fenders even with the stock wheel width and offset. Here are some fun pics taken during my clearance measurement process...

(I moved those out of the way on each side by bending the brackets to a 90* angle)

 

[WANNAVEE]

Clunk

No fun pictures in this post, just some mildly frustrating problems.
More on the wheels later. They worked well enough to make it a lower priority than some other things, and I still had more research and thinking to do.
The steering felt much tighter, but for some reason the center-point kept moving. The wheel alignment seemed to be holding as it performed exactly as it should, just the center of the steering wheel kept moving, mostly while hitting a series of bumps. After some diagnosing I figured out that the cross bolts in the steering rack were loose and allowing the whole rack to move left and right. I torqued them to spec after centering the steering wheel with a tire against a curb then all was well... until it started again. Checked again, had to retorque again (though they were not as loose this time). I believe that the Mayhem Metal Works UHMW bushings were 'settling' and allowing movement. I don't believe the bolts are actually loosening because they have some pretty stout oval locknuts on them. I need to check that again, because the wheel is slightly off center again, though it doesn't seem to move regularly anymore. I really hope one last torquing will do it.
Around this time I started getting a mild clunk from the front suspension. As it got worse over a short period of time, I was able to diagnose it to the right front suspension, and only during certain acceleration or braking. I figured something had come loose, so I checked torque on everything and found the the upper control arm mounting bolts were waaaay loose. Dangerous! I torqued them all including the left side, which were also loose though not as much. I haven't had a problem with that loosening since, but I still need to get a new alignment since the movement caused a mis-alignment on that side. Everything else in the front suspension on both sides was still torqued to spec.

 

[WANNAVEE]

I decided that this was a good idea, and it's a really nice fit.

 

[Ordieh]

HI WANNAVEE,
Great looking CE. The pin striping on your rig is the first I've seen with the LIMITED EDITION lettering. Last August, I ran into some H3 folks in Ouray and one of the guys claimed to be a GM employee and to have been involved with the "CE Project". His CE had the same pin striping as mine with one exception. His had a small HUMMER decal located on the tailgate where the ALPHA badges are located. He said there were a few anomalies on early shipped units. It appears that he knew what he was talking about. Does your build sheet have an SHV RPO code? I have thought about starting a thread for CE owners...... Would be interested in your thoughts.
I have found your thread informative.

 

[WANNAVEE]

Thanks Ordieh, That's interesting. I'll have to check on that RPO code when I go out next. I was thinking that the LIMITED EDITION lettering and pinstriping was a dealer or aftermarket add-on since I've never seen it either. It's not an uncommon thing to do. I'm pretty sure that the "ZM6 ALPHA" lettering was absolutely not from the factory.

Since you like CE's, I suspect you won't like what is to come in this thread! I hope you do though... heh. Not giving it up just yet, but I'll get there.

 

[WANNAVEE]

Good Times

Budds Creek Motocross Park in Southern Maryland allows a local off road club to host a 4x4 event at the track on Father's Day weekend every year which is shortly before they redo the track for the next motocross season. They allow full size 4x4's on the motocross track which has some awesomely steep grades and crests and they also make an obstacle course, small hill climb, rock crawling course, and a few very muddy trails. I went this year and didn't get a whole lot of pics because I was driving everywhere, but I have a couple, and there are a few more that a coworker took that I don't have access to at the moment. I'll try to get those up later.
As usual, plenty of Jeep guys were surprised at the capability of the H3. I got stuck in two places that nearly every Jeep was getting stuck in as well, and made it through plenty of stuff that some Jeeps couldn't. :shifty: It was a blast.

All cleaned up and ready to get dirty! You may also notice the lack of pinstriping and LIMITED EDITION lettering in these shots, right after the posts discussing them. :giggle:

On the track

Carnage after the Milkshake mudhole! There was a really deep dip on the left side RIGHT next to a tree. Lots of people were getting damage there, but I decided to try it anyway. YOLO, or something. :giggle: Sheared the gas cap clean off and ripped the filler cup right out! They're still buried somewhere down there in the muck. I replaced them almost immediately though, no worries. I made it through under my own power though, unlike several people. In the obstacle course I also bent the bumper, broke the fender flare and mangled the license plate and mount coming down into a big hole they dug out. Those situations have been since rectified as well. That is one of the two places I got stuck, but just barely (heh).

Just some pics of the mud...

...and the G2 diff cover that I forgot to mention earlier (I was talked into it even though I didn't feel that it was very necessary )

All safe and sound at home in one piece (actually... minus a couple pieces, lol)

Appropriately, my Championship Edition won a trophy! Please ignore the fact that they gave out a trophy for every "class" and I was the only one in my class... Domestic Midsize SUV... LOL (Jeeps had their own classes):

I definitely want to make this event next year, too.

 

[WANNAVEE]

So part of my early ideas had to do with camping, both solo and occasionally with my wife. Our health issues make tents impractical, so the idea is to sleep in the H3. I'm not very tall and neither is my wife so the length with the front seats slid forward is just enough to be relatively comfortable.
We don't (and can't) have kids, so we really only need two seats (plus we have a truck with 5 seats and a car with 4). I did let some people ride with me at the Budds Creek event, but extra people just mean extra weight, so I won't miss them. :giggle: (Still got through that mud hole with 4 people, heh)

My gosh that rear seatback is heavy. If I had realized how heavy and awkward, I would have waited until I had help to remove it. Oh well, it's only PAIN.
Look at all that room, though!

Stock sub and amp:

But I don't need a sub in this one. Look at all that storage space!

 

[WANNAVEE]

Gotta have a winch, but don't want one permanently mounted since there will be weather, and thieves, and extra weight. Therefore, it will go with me when I need it and stay home when we don't. I bought a Smittybilt XRC 9500 with synthetic line and a receiver-mounted winch mount. They aren't the heaviest duty things in the world, but they should do well enough in a pinch. I also have a snatch block and extra line in my recovery kit so I can double the winch's power if necessary.
I have yet to have the custom front receiver made, but that should be coming soon. I did test it in the back, though. Nice option to have.

First try... this mount wasn't long enough to clear the spare tire and I want to be able to use it with the rear door closed for safety reasons:

Second try's a charm. This mount has a longer stem (and more adjustability) and fits nicely in the rear, though I did have to get custom hardware to mount the winch to the mount to fit the larger holes in it, though (thick heavy duty washers and longer bolts, I also got higher strength stuff than the winch came with):

 

[WANNAVEE]

Wheels Wins

Since I had just spent what felt like a million dollars on new tires for my 16" wheels, I wanted to stay with 16" wheels. The problem is that the selection is limited. After months of ideas, research, measurements, back-and-forths, I decided to buy one Fuel Vector 16x8" with a 20mm offset to have my spare tire mounted to so I could do a fit check... hoping I didn't waste my money. My goal was to reduce or eliminate the sway bar rubbing while not causing a rub on the fender flares by going too far out... all while getting a .5" wider wheel so the sidewalls wouldn't be 'quite' as mushy. Also, 8" is technically the minimum recommended width for these 315/75/16 Duratracs. The fit check worked out (first the bare wheel to check caliper clearance then with the mounted tire). The winch still fit in the rear, too, even though the tire sticks out further. The sway bar rubbing wasn't eliminated entirely, but it was eliminated while at full lock in *reverse*, and reduced enough at full lock in forward that I can actually use full lock now. There was then a bit of rubbing on the fender flare at compression, but by this point I decided that I'd probably just remove the flares since I broke two of them at the off road event, so I did. I can reverse that decision with two new flares, though. Once I decided that everything would work, I ordered 4 more wheels then had them all mounted and balanced in the Duratracs.
I don't normally like black wheels, but they fit my theme (we're not there yet, but the posts are getting close now...) and this means that I didn't need to paint or Plasti Dip the stock wheels black, so it was a bonus.
Here are some pics of the fit check and the final product. I do hate fake beadlocks but it was a sacrifice I had to make due to the limited selection:

With flare:

Without flare (don't yet worry about the holes):

Full deal (prior to centercaps since I had yet to "de-chrome" the lettering":

 

[WANNAVEE]

Either I'm really sensitive to handling (I am), or it's all in my head (very likely as well), but it steers more solidly with these wheels, and that would be because of the additional 1/2" width. That isn't much, but the sidewalls do bulge somewhat noticeably less now, and a wider wheel will always have a firmer sidewall than a narrower wheel on the same tire. Either way, I like it. I now have a TPMS issue that I have to rectify, though (more on that in later days).

So to recap: Stock wheels rubbed hard on the sway bar. New wheels are .5" wider, but have an even lower offset than the width increase (which is .25" per side). I removed fender flares as well, and now they stick out just a bit but not too much, they barely rub on the sway bar at all, and clear 100% everywhere else. They also seem to help steering feel and response just a bit. They also look "right" (or... they will!)

Now on to the fun mod...

 

[WANNAVEE]

Q: What's that?

A: It's a 15x30 party tent.
Q: But why is it in an H40 build thread?

A: Because it isn't for parties.
Q: Then what's it for?

A: You'll see!
Q: Why are you posting a pic of the brakes?

A: Because red won't do!
Q: Won't do for what?

A: Just a couple more minutes and you'll find out!
Q: Is that a fan in a box with house filters attached?

A: Yes.
Q: But what for?... Oh let me guess... I'll soon know!

A: You got it!

 

[WANNAVEE]

Okay everybody... say goodbye to the Championship Edition!
However, if you are lifelong member of the Committee for the Preservation of the Championship Editions then fret not, because this mod is totally reversible. However, with proper prep and application, it could stay this way for several years. However, when the inevitable time comes to reverse the process... I may redo it permanently because I'm diggin' it!

I've been planning on this since day one. Weather didn't cooperate, then health didn't cooperate, then weather again didn't cooperate... so I made it work anyway.

About 3 weeks ago I found out that Paul, who is the owner of World Tour Off Road, was holding an event for Veteran's Day weekend and the Marine Corps birthday, since he is a Marine Corps Veteran.

He invited anyone who wanted to come, but of course primarily had his customers and off road enthusiasts in mind to first meet up at the WWII Memorial in Annapolis, then convoy to the Marine Corps Museum down in Quantico, VA.

Being a vet as well (USN) and wanting to show my support (and to get out of the house and meet up with people I don't often see), I was excited... and I thought "What better event to unveil the real WANAVEE then this one!" Better get that plan into action ASAP!

So I jumped into gear and ordered a tent and put it up

I ordered tons of materials and some new parts, like a headlight to replace that nasty leaky one, a new rear vent, a new antenna mount for the one I just broke, and more

I made the calipers black, removed all the emblems, cleaned it up really well

Started disassembling things, and more things

Pushed through the pain, the sleeplessness, the stress of things like exploding internal door latch assemblies

Got to work extra early just to get back to it while sun was out, mixed the custom colors

Fought with the weather some more since the heavy rain let in some water despite my feeble attempts at rainproofing the tent. And this pic is why you don't paint (or Plasti Dip) in high humidity. It makes the finish cloudy, or "blush":

But I persevered through the trials and tribulations of the hours, days, and nights and fixed the mistakes:

And shoved aside the ever growing urge to give up and go lay down to rest my weary body

Took even more time off work because this was one race I wasn't going to lose

And when it all started to grow foggy, I kept pushing through, because we're almost there!

Don't give up now, just a little further to go!

Focus... focus. Nearly there

Oh my, look at that! Is this a dream, is it finally happening?

Wow!!! Okay, relax... Take a deep breath, and get back to work because you aren't ready just yet! It ain't over till it's over!

It's the morning of the event! Bolt up the last items, apply the decals, install the spare and license plates, wash off the overspray, ignore the newly formed migraine and take all the Motrin, and get on the road! Ain't nothing gonna stop us now!

And that, my friends, is what Plasti Dip can do for you!

 

[WANNAVEE]

Say hello to WANAVEE everyone!

 

[WANNAVEE]

The event was just two days ago now. It was really nice, though I was so out of it that I don't remember much! It was great to see old friends and meet new ones and visit some of our nation's history. Everyone loved WANAVEE, too. I even won another trophy! This one wasn't just a participation trophy like the last one, though, I actually won one of the three "most patriotic vehicles". Paul made three trophies out of geartrain parts and painted one red, one white, and one blue. I took the white one because I'm going to Plasti Dip it camo. :giggle: I really appreciate the gesture, and it was a nice way to top off all the hard work I had just put in. I'll get pics later, I've actually been trying to recover all weekend so I can be a normal person at work tomorrow.

Hopefully you have enjoyed my build thread thus far, and just know that I'm not done yet! I'll post as things get finished rather than posting too much of what I'm 'going to do", because sometimes things don't get done! Ask any questions you may want, I'll try to answer them fully.

Oh, and if you've been wondering why my username is spelled differently than the project, it's because they only allow 7 characters on a personalized plate instead of 8. :giggle:

 

[WANNAVEE]

Oh, couple more things. I want to give a big shout out to my wife for running all over the DC area to get me materials I ran out of or didn't know I needed and also to my neighbor for helping me with the things I couldn't do on my own like removing and reinstalling the hood and reinstalling the brush guard and helping to reinstall the door panels in the dark because I was behind schedule and also for helping do some of the mildly dirty work like wiping down parts. Big thanks to both of you!!!

Also, I realized I forgot to mention that I removed the side steps and installed Rocky Road sliders, though you can see that in the posted pics. Same with the re-tint of the front windows. I just went with 40% on them which came out to 36% installed, which means they're legal.
There are probably a few other things here and there that I forgot but I'll bring them up as I remember.