What did you do with your H3 recently? NEW

[Nikal]

Interior tear down and carpet removal. Cleared out all 4 sunroof drains and now time to wash the carpet and get it smelling not so musty. Also found the dealership keychain tag that was sold with the h3 back in 07’

Sunroof seal on order, Az was hard on the original. But can’t complain after 16 years of useView attachment 31609View attachment 31610

How long does it take to gut the inside like you did?

 

[EndeavoredH3]

How long does it take to gut the inside like you did?

Took me an Hour and a half. The bench seat took a while, so awkward taking it out with one person

 

[lfootmatt]

Paid my detail shop an extra $100 to pull the seats and carpet to clean and get the musty smell out. Of course they didn’t do the drains properly so I had to fix those myself. Still was well worth the extra $$$s because they did a great job on the cleaning.

Later,

Matt L.

 

[USMC_315]

Better late than never!!! Finally, after years of searching I have a Rancho lift on my H3. Took a while to get everything sorted between sourcing parts, vehicles, and just figuring out the overall final plan.

About a year and a half ago Rascole hooked me up with H-D tie rods, a locking front axle, and a rear locker. Shortly after, I had the tie rods and a steering rack stabilizer installed which GREATLY improved the handling. I was also dealing with a pretty saggy rear end. Years of multi-hundred pound load outs for camping trips took their toll and I suffered from acute "Carolina Lean" syndrome. I had a set of Old Man Emu leaf springs installed which brought me up quite a bit in the back. Here's a pic to show the rake OME leaf springs cause with the torsion bars cranked to 23.5"...

After that, the truck stayed the same for a while. I started to despise the rake, just as I did back when the truck was stock. So I started desperately looking for a Rancho lift and found one in the absolutely CLEANEST 17 year old 200k mile H3 vehicle I've ever seen. I picked that rig up in the Fall of last year. In December, I parted ways with Nitto Mud Grapplers and went with Toyo Open Country M/T's. I was mainly sick of the vague and rough on road performance, although I do miss the look and the sound. I wanted to keep the OEM wheels, I like the look more than most aftermarket wheels so I stuck with 315/75R16's. That decision also gave my wallet a break with all the other work being done.

In order to keep the wheels, I went with 1.75" Bora spacers. They look and feel great, unfortunately I forgot to get a pic of them for this post. I torqued them down with red loctite. They put the tires out about a quarter of an inch away from the tie rods on the Rancho knuckles, plenty of room. The day before I took the trucks to a local shop, I also installed an S-Pod switch. Huge thanks to Acer4LO for your YouTube video, wouldn't have been able to do it without you... nor would I have ever had the idea.

I had the shop fabricate a mounting plate for the actual "pod" in the engine bay, right behind the battery.

The shop swapped the lift onto my truck and my stock components to the donor vehicle. They also installed the locking front axle from Rascole and the rear locking diff internals. Diffs are now up to 4.56 from the stock 4.10s. Sadly the rear locker magnet needs to get replaced, but for the mean time I'm just running an open rear diff. I'll get around to it in a couple of months. Shift points didn't seem bad when I drove, but the speedo is between 5-10 MPH off depending on the speed. I'm going to work with PCM to get a tune, hoping that fixes the low end lag too. I expected quite a bit more pep off the line, moving from 4.10s to 4.56s, but oddly it's sort of sluggish.

I personally thought the donor vehicle looked too high with the (what I believe to be) Rancho leaf springs. Considering I just put on new OME leaves, I left the rear springs on their respective vehicles. I also felt the donor truck was very stiff when I had driven it before the swap and anticipated the leaf springs were partly responsible. The shop "de-cranked" my torsion bars to the point where the H3 sits level front to back. My CV's are sitting parallel to the ground now, surprising amount of improvement on the suspension feel. I forgot how much of a sacrifice in ride quality that was when I initially cranked them.

Overall, I'm very happy with the look and feel. I drove it about 100 miles today and every minute I was smiling ear to ear. Just enough height and clearance with a perfect stance on the tires. I anticipate a lot more articulation on the trails and I'm very excited to use that/those locker(s) too. Thank you to Rascole, Acer4LO, and a few other members who've provided a piece to my rig over the years, this build wouldn't have been possible without you guys. Aside from a few cosmetic things and fixing the rear locker, my build is finally done.

My H3 started as a bare bones Alpha from CarMax with not a single inch on unpaved roads under its belt, nerf bars, and 31" radials to boot. She's sitting exactly where I imagined her to turn out when I bought her, almost 8 years ago to the day. It's been a fun journey building her up. Some things didn't pan out the way I wanted, but over time I dialed her into what I always imagined. I know the forum isn't as popular as it used to be, but I'm really happy to be able to share this with those of you who still linger around.

My rig and the donor before the swap

When I bought her...

Ironically, this was supposed to be a short post and I was going to direct you all to my build thread, but I guess I'll just re-post there for easy finding in the future.

 

[rascole]

Glad to see it all together. Was 3 years ago we meet at Camp Lejeune, hope all is going good.

 

[USMC_315]

Thank you, crazy it was that long ago! It's been good, hope you're doing well too. I need to get out west past Appalachia one of these days. I'd like to see that SAS in action in Moab!

 

[Alpha X]

Better late than never!!! Finally, after years of searching I have a Rancho lift on my H3. Took a while to get everything sorted between sourcing parts, vehicles, and just figuring out the overall final plan.

About a year and a half ago Rascole hooked me up with H-D tie rods, a locking front axle, and a rear locker. Shortly after, I had the tie rods and a steering rack stabilizer installed which GREATLY improved the handling. I was also dealing with a pretty saggy rear end. Years of multi-hundred pound load outs for camping trips took their toll and I suffered from acute "Carolina Lean" syndrome. I had a set of Old Man Emu leaf springs installed which brought me up quite a bit in the back. Here's a pic to show the rake OME leaf springs cause with the torsion bars cranked to 23.5"...

Congrats on getting a Rancho lift on your H3. I also went with 1.75" Bora Spacers. Your switches look pretty cool, nice job. You mentioned a steering rack stabilizer. Is that something different than a steering rack reinforcement kit, like from Outfitter?

Steering Rack Reinforcement Kit

Reinforce your Hummer H3 Steering Rack with this kit

www.outfitterdesign.com

 

[USMC_315]

Congrats on getting a Rancho lift on your H3. I also went with 1.75" Bora Spacers. Your switches look pretty cool, nice job. You mentioned a steering rack stabilizer. Is that something different than a steering rack reinforcement kit, like from Outfitter?

Steering Rack Reinforcement Kit

Reinforce your Hummer H3 Steering Rack with this kit

www.outfitterdesign.com

Thank you, the switches took a little bit of finese with trimming to get it exactly where I wanted. Slow and steady since I only had one shot haha. You're right about the reinforcement kit, I mixed up the name

 

[08H3]

Took a few photos pictures for posterity before I begin removing the wrap. The camo is just not my thing. I was torn. I know what the previous owner paid for it, and it wasn’t cheap so I hate to just rip it all off. I seriously considered offering it up for trade in case someone really wanted a camo wrap. Truck is just too nice for me to part with, though.

Anyone have any advice for removing a wrap? I would imagine it’s going to be a pain. Hot Midwest sun will be my biggest help, I’m guessing.

 

[Gpcalero]

PF63 time for the 6.2L LS3 H3T.

 

[High Five H2]

I brought mine home, finally. First project will be installing some LED headlights and fog lights, the winch bumper and front skidplate, black painted front grille, grill guard, and something else that I forgot. It's all front-end stuff in one job. I'm just waiting on a few parts to come in.

Also driving this thing from Colorado was such a pain. I had no idea the I5 was so weak. It could barely make it up hills. I don't know if there's something wrong if that was just from the elevation and steep roads or what. Engine swap plans have been moved up a LOT. It has 132K miles so maybe that's it? but for a modern engine that's not worn out by any means.

 

[EndeavoredH3]

I brought mine home, finally. First project will be installing some LED headlights and fog lights, the winch bumper and front skidplate, black painted front grille, grill guard, and something else that I forgot. It's all front-end stuff in one job. I'm just waiting on a few parts to come in.

Also driving this thing from Colorado was such a pain. I had no idea the I5 was so weak. It could barely make it up hills. I don't know if there's something wrong if that was just from the elevation and steep roads or what. Engine swap plans have been moved up a LOT. It has 132K miles so maybe that's it? but for a modern engine that's not worn out by any means.

Welcome to the I5, struggle. Stay a while!

You’re not passing anyone going up grades unless you make the I5 scream. Elevation doesn’t help. It’s manageable if your climbing grades below 6000ft elevation.

If you choose to do a SAS regearing helps a lot.

 

[08H3]

First camping trip of the season. I’m running behind this year. Camping at Charlestown (Indiana) SP with parents and sister for a few days. Also, first outing since removing the wrap. I was dreading that task, but it was super easy. Definitely helped that it was high quality vinyl and less than a year old.

 

[High Five H2]

Welcome to the I5, struggle. Stay a while!

You’re not passing anyone going up grades unless you make the I5 scream. Elevation doesn’t help. It’s manageable if your climbing grades below 6000ft elevation.

If you choose to do a SAS regearing helps a lot.

I'll take slow over engine problems any day And i'm planning on the SAS... eventually

 

[High Five H2]

duplicate

 

[Alpha X]

To quote Doc Brown from Back To The Future....
"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."

My setup for camping and bringing along my dirt bike.

 

[650Hawk]

To quote Doc Brown from Back To The Future....
"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."

My setup for camping and bringing along my dirt bike.

Nice bike. Yamaha?

 

[Alpha X]

Nice bike. Yamaha?

Yep, 2009 Yamaha WR250F. Usually they have blue plastic, but this has white plastic with red/black graphics as a throwback to my first two stroke dirt bike in 1985, which was a 1985 Yamaha YZ80.

 

[EndeavoredH3]

Nice change of pace this weekend. Fished for some native Gila trout in Arizona. Took the H3 to save 3 miles of hiking.

 

[H3Hummer]

Very nice place there

 

[patriotbrewer]

Not quite on the h3 specifically, but I scored a set of 2009 h3 service manuals on Craigslist, basically brand new too!

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

Do you still have these?

 

[cgalpha08]

Do you still have these?

I do still have them

 

[patriotbrewer]

I do still have them

Are you willing to sell them. I have an 09 H3 and the set I have is for '06 and has instructions that are applicable for 3.5 I5, not the 5.3 V8 I have.

Just curious if you're willing to sell them?

Thank you for the reply.

 

[08H3]

Went on a road trip to Savannah and Tybee Island, GA for vacation and a college visit for my daughter. Originally, I was going to take the IROC, however after further consideration, I was worried that forcing my daughter to ride in the back seat of a Camaro might be considered child abuse.

Since it was kind of a last minute switch of which ride I was going to take, there was a bit of a mad rush of projects. I washed, detailed and waxed the Hummer before the trip. I recently removed a wrap so I thought I would clean up and residue (which there was very little) and add some paint protection. Its definitely the cleanest H3 that has ever graced our driveway since day one when Hummer #1 came home from the dealer 15 years ago. Typically, there's a light coating of mud at least.

Also installed the leather seats out of Hummer #1 into Hummer #3. Whether it's just in our heads or not, my wife and I bo
th agree that the leather seats are more comfortable than the cloth. I've also got to say, even though these seats are never going to be mistaken for factory fresh, they have held up amazingly well compared to any leather seats from GM I have had in the past. They came a long way from the trash that was in the 90s.

Also moved the Rocky Roads over. In addition to using them for their intended purpose, my wife likes them as steps. If you have never done anything with sliders or steps, those 16 (of 12 depending on your accessory) bolts that mount to the frame are the biggest pain on the H3. I have wasted so much time extracting broken bolts, cleaning threads, and welding new inserts over the years. Especially after this many years, if you've never touched them and suddenly find yourself in a place to uninstall or reinstall something, good luck is all I can offer.

Also cut a vinyl decal to add to the hood with the Hummer's name. Yeah, we are a car naming family. The background on the name comes from the fact that it had a camo wrap when I bought it. My wife very quickly thought I should name him Sarge after the Jeep Disney's Cars. Equally as fast, we realized Sarge (in Cars) was actually Olive Drab and not Camo, but the name stuck. I left that one little spot on the faux cooler as an homage to its past life .

 

[cgalpha08]

Are you willing to sell them. I have an 09 H3 and the set I have is for '06 and has instructions that are applicable for 3.5 I5, not the 5.3 V8 I have.

Just curious if you're willing to sell them?

Thank you for the reply.

Sorry, i am holding onto these.