We started the SOA project on my H3 today. :D

The goal is to net a 3 inch lift, add more flex, get rid of the obnoxious spring hangers, and increase ground clearance by flattening the underbelly.

We are not raising the front anymore than it already has been with an HD torsion bar lift. 2 1/2"s.

We will not be changing the IFS in the front. We will be returning to the stock rake (2 1/2" difference between front and rear fender heights)

I have had some problems with the rear leaf springs going flat, and when I added the H20 gear I went through 2 sets spring packs in about 40K miles. (I'm at 88K now and they are starting to get very saggy)

We had it weighed on the corners to get an idea what type of hybrid spring pack its gonna take to support the vehicle with the amount of trail time and commute time it gets.

It weighed in at 5950 lbs. :eek:

So we are going to use some Tahoe springs (4WD with a tow package) with the H3 main leaf and overload.

There is a fair amount of work left to do:

Remove Gas Tank Skid and build an outer skid
Cut off those ginormous spring hangers and weld on a much shorter hanger
Go back to the stock shackle (to net less lift than with the current extended shackle)
Rework the top of the axle spring plates ubolt flip yada yada yada

We are going to use the same Fox shocks (relocate the brackets)

So lots of ramping and measuring.

BTW the ramp part was embarrassing, but read it was about the same as a stock Jeep score...445.

some pics of today's progress...

The new springs + the stock vs extended shackles

Oh, and my S/O speedy is doing most of the work :D

But I'm keeping the floor clean, getting tools, beers, margaritas, lunch and whatever else he needs.

yay me :D

Sweet!!! I can't wait to see it when you're done..:)

Carefull on that RTI ramp see my sig :D

nice to see a hummer project!! ever planning on doing an SAS on the front end? I dont know how difficult/expensive that is on H3s but jesus that would be cool.


Edit:

What tires are you running now and what tires will you be running? How much clearance are you going to gain? Are you worried about axle wrap? Nice fox shocks im jelous.

ha ha ha

my commander has more flex then that! :flipoff2:

bebe, we are winning the land battle in northern wyoming!!! thanks for your suggestions!

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/miniyota/morrison%20jeep%20trail%20aug%202008/001024.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/miniyota/morrison%20jeep%20trail%20aug%202008/001027.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/miniyota/morrison%20jeep%20trail%20aug%202008/001021.jpg

Carefull on that RTI ramp see my sig :D

nice to see a hummer project!! ever planning on doing an SAS on the front end? I dont know how difficult/expensive that is on H3s but jesus that would be cool.


Edit:

What tires are you running now and what tires will you be running? How much clearance are you going to gain? Are you worried about axle wrap? Nice fox shocks im jelous.

SAS according to Silly Fab would be 12K :flipoff2:

However I think it could be done for less on your own.

Not in my future for the next 2 summers, but who knows, Campbell is building and IFS for KOH.....maybe it's the wave of the future.

I have not had problems with the IFS yet, other than the Aluminum Front diff. But hey, if I have run the Rubicon and Fordyce without breaking a tie rod, either I'm a great driver or the IFS on this thing is stout. (I vote for stout IFS).

IFS has sucked in previous applications, but I think Hummer has done a great job on the H3.

An SAS is too involved with all 14 computers. Not saying it can't be done. but you would have to want it bad and get it cheap first.

With Stabilitrak, and Traction Control, it makes bypassing the systems a pain.

I'm runnng 35" KM2's, and will run them with Hutchinson Beadlocks I posted in an earlier thread.

I've been running 35's since I put my first set of BFG KM's on at 21K miles in Jan of '06.

ha ha ha

my commander has more flex then that! :flipoff2:

Dood, I'm running 35's with no lift. If I had my stock 33's on, then we could compare :D

bebe, we are winning the land battle in northern wyoming!!! thanks for your suggestions!

I hope it works for you. I'm a PM away if you need more help :D


Check out the stuff on this 35. :D

Glad to see you finally starting your project. I'm sure Speedy loves the idea of goin after a Hummer with a plasma torch:D. What did you decide to do for shock geometry or are you still working that out? Are you keeping the upper mounts in the same place or moving them inboard for more flex?

We are planning on moving them to the axle, similar to the pic below and keeping them in the stock location on the upper mounts.

We are trying to minimize the fabrication and expense, and if that doesn't work we'll change them up to something that does.

We are hoping to keep it simple enough that most folks can do it on their own.

In my mind those hangers are the worst part of the Hummer H3 Design.

Here are some pics of a SOA that was done on a test vehicle we saw in Moab...

how about almost 33" tires with only 2" of lift on a mall crawler!

but i may swap a solid axle under mine soon. the front end doesn't like being tortured like i torture it. but it has not broken yet.

how about almost 33" tires with only 2" of lift on a mall crawler!

but i may swap a solid axle under mine soon. the front end doesn't like being tortured like i torture it. but it has not broken yet.

:laughing::laughing::laughing:


lucky you, I hear the older style KJ had problems with the diff like us. They fixed their issues with diff collar. Ours...it would take a diff saddle. So now they make the H3 case out of CI.

SAS is a ways off for me. I really like the comfy ride, and I have an FZJ80. It's a straight axle and rides like crap.

I see now in your OP how much clearance you will gain didnt catch it the first time. Also you said you have a leveling kit you could probably gain another few inches by tweakin the front torsion bars downward like I did on my 04 chevy tow rig, but it destroyed the fuck out of the ride so keep that in mind.

I was on my way home from work today and saw a lifted hummer, thing was friggin massive... but he had 20 inch rims on it :mad3: Sucks that asshats like that with way too much money have to ruin it for the rest of you. Anyway he had a solid axle in the front looked to be a d44 possibly 6 inches of lift and about 38 inch tires. It didnt look very stabil at least by my judgement have you heard anything about destroying the center of gravity on these things with a high lift?

Sorry,

I already have the torsion bars cranked in the front and added HD 30% spring rate over stock SAW t-bars when I added the winch. Stock ride height sits at 37" from ground to the bottom of the fender flare. With the t-bar crank I gained 2.5" to 39.5".

In the rear I added an extended shackle, which at the time got me to 40" from ground to fender flare, but the springs are sagging again so now I am at 39". 05" lower than the front. The goal is to gain 2.5- 3" of lift in the rear. Stock is 39.5".

I would like to have the stock rake back. So total lift front and rear will net 3 inches +/-.

As far as ride, like I said in the above post, it rides great.

But I think the HD t-bars and the fox shocks helped a lot.

My friend has a similar set up w/o the fox, and mine definitely rides better.

As far as COG, I've got a friend in Utah that has a lifted H2....that thing rocks in Moab, which is one of the tippier places to wheel...here is a shot of him on Moab rim, which by the way is the first and last time I'll ever wheel that trail.:D:D

Oh yeah, he's running a 6 inch lift with 38's in that pic.

Bebe, what are you using for the new hanger? Is it something you two are making or is it an off the shelf piece from one of the vendors?


And if you guys need an extra hand, I'm right down the road.

Bebe, what are you using for the new hanger? Is it something you two are making or is it an off the shelf piece from one of the vendors?


And if you guys need an extra hand, I'm right down the road.


We picked up supplies today from Parts Mike.

U Bolt plates
Spring Hangers - may be too long....jury's out for now
Spring Perches - also may be too tall...we may be able to customize them
U Bolts
new Center pins

I'm in the garage now....grinding is stinky:D

Speedy said it was nice of you to offer, he may take you up on that...:D

the commander has an iron front diff case. AEV built one and put 38" tires on the stock front end. it held up to that. i think they are pretty beefy. the upper control arm ball joints tend to break. but we fixed it with some beefy 1" uniball control arms made from chromo.

i have bilstein shocks in the rear, 5150. they defiantly make the ride very nice.

nice hummer. i'm hoping to get some JK axles and do a SAS.

i've thought about getting an H3, but i can't stand the small windows. i feel like i'm in a coffin.

SO Monday night we removed the gas tank and plugged fuel lines...well speedy did that, I built the new welding cart :D

Removing the tank showed us how big those ginormous hangers really are....so it was time to cut them off...

Here is a pic of the new hanger, but we think it's too long, so I'm heading to Ruff Stuff tomorrow to see Gravel maker, and rummage through his hanger bins :D

Stopped in at Ruff Stuff and Dan was a big help, we figured out which hanger to go with. He took care of me....thank you Ruff Stuff!!!:D


And no he did not get a Hummer. :flipoff2:

more pictures.

i actually went and looked at an H3 today. but i still like my commander.

do you have the V8 or the I5? i looked at a used Alpha, i may get a used one this summer. if i can get myself to not care about seeing out the windows while 4 wheeling.

did you build your rear bumper?

how is the turning radius on the H3 as well?

more pictures.

i actually went and looked at an H3 today. but i still like my commander.

do you have the V8 or the I5? i looked at a used Alpha, i may get a used one this summer. if i can get myself to not care about seeing out the windows while 4 wheeling.

did you build your rear bumper?

how is the turning radius on the H3 as well?

I bought mine on June of '05, so it has the 3.5 Vortec I-5.

It's plenty of power for the trail, 225 lbft. of torque. I can only think of one time where more power would have helped, but I still made it.

Turning Radius is awesome. Better than my FZJ80 by a long shot. Less than 37'.

The windows take some getting used too. But I grew up driving big truck, 1 ton dually's and the like, so I'm used to not being able to see.

It takes some getting used to wheeling, but I've become a more 'intuitive' driver when it comes to the big rocks a picking lines.

I did not build the rear bumper or other stuff. It was built by H2O....http://www.h2ohummers.com/ mine was the prototype (the H3 on the website) for all the H3 stuff he builds. He was in Colorado Springs, now he is in Texas.

There is a big group of us going to Moab the week after EJS...your welcome to come out and join us :D

Ok as requested moar pics :D:D

We are ok to go!

OK it's spec'd and right on. Tomorrow/Sunday, clean up, painting, finishing up.

We did have to remove one leaf to get to our target height of 42.5" :D

The camera crapped out and we ran out of batteries, so finished product pics will have to be done tomorrow.

Some pics from tonight:

OK, got batteries??

I got to weld....a little

:beer:Nice job! I did the same thing on my X. The front hangers were a huge hang-up point on my truck, though I just modified mine hanger to sit flat with the frame. I also had to change my fuel tank skid to something higher.
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1079/dscf1431xk9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/dscf1431xk9.jpg/1/w640.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img266/dscf1431xk9.jpg/1/)

Nice job, that will help a lot. Those hangers on H3s really get in the way.

Last night Rick installed the gas tank while I reconditioned all of the Line-x on the truck with a product called "Restorz".

Anyway, all of my Line-x is new and shiny again.

So tonight we reconnected the brake lines, reconnected the ABS, and fitted a new brake line bracket.

All that's left to do is weld on the shock mounts, install shocks the stock gas tank skid plate, put the wheels back on, and take her out for a spin :D

Looks great Bebe. It's been awhile since I've seen pics of Jeff's 2

Looks good! Those hangers are way better.

OK, I can cut Rick some slack, thats more work then I thought, must be a Hummer thing :D Looks good girl! :smokin:
Rick-

He loves me:flipoff2:

We took her out last night. It's still a little high, so we made some adjustments and will take her out again tonight.

Well it's not perfect yet!

Rick tore the springs apart last night and put in a 2 degree shim. We did have some drive line noise at take off, maybe axle wrap but could not see it. The shim moved the driveline to 18 degrees which was too much.

We are going to drive it again tonight and if it reacts the way we think it will, we'll tear the springs apart again, and either reverse the shim or leave it out all together.

I'm sure it will work without the shim. If worse comes to worse we could always drop the transfer case.

But I don't think that will be necessary. None of the Rancho lifts require it.

I think we are just being perfectionists. :D

So what are you going to do with the front suspension?

Nothing. It is already 3 inches higher than stock. As per the OP, we are taking it back to the factory 'rake'.

Here is the stock, completed, and before:

Looks goos!! Didn't hear anything rattling on the phone so it must be okay.:D

BTW, good for you on learning to weld.:)

So here is the final set up. Shock mounts on the axle, new fabbed swaybay extended links.

Thanks to our WeBilt friend toyfamily for coming up with the chrome nerf bar from a go-cart to fab the new end links, I so wanted to keep the bling but speedy said NO.:( :D

Amazing job Bebe

Nice job! It looks great!:smokin:

Looks like a great set up. I had to drop my tcase on my K5 when I did a shackle flip on it. I also had to tune my springs and ened up going with longer and softer 2wd F150 Springs. They were 57" and stock was 52". It rode like a caddilac and flexed like crazy. IMO finding the right spings was key.

Did you get it back on a Ramp yet to see how much better it flexes?

Very nice Bebe! Now figure out how to mass produce it for the rest of us. :)

Very nice Bebe! Now figure out how to mass produce it for the rest of us. :)


Lol unless I send speedy out on a National Tour, you guys are on your own. :D

I'll put up a parts list and a tech how to. There is a lot of that here already though.

Nice job!!! I can;t wait to see that in action this Spring....get it? Spring? Moab? never mind...you know my humor. :flipoff2:

Nice FOX's hiding in their too btw!!!

So, we've been playing with it and decided the drive line is just a smidge too short and a little steep

If it were a street queen it would be fine, but for Fordyce and the Rubicon, it won't.

So the Bebehummer needs an upgraded drive line....so Jesse at Highangle driveline is working his magic for the beebster.


I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HE SENDS ME.

:bounce2:

Hey Bebe - Its looking good- But its missing something - hehe - How about those snow pic's huh ? Jess
http://highangledriveline.com/Copy_3_of_Picture_306.jpg

Nice....I spent some time online looking at that beast yesterday.

My all time fav, Fordyce 2nd creek crossing:

nice -And a little diff draggin action hehe- Jess
http://highangledriveline.com/images/my_build/small/Picture_314.jpg

nice -And a little diff draggin action hehe- Jess
http://highangledriveline.com/images/my_build/small/Picture_314.jpg

LOL....mine does that a lot....well, it used to.

We have a big run coming up off Hwy 80 on the 28th. You are welcome to come run with some of the "BigRigs":D

You might feel at home. Most of the h1's that run are on 40+'s and all have Duramax. They are fun to watch and play with...these guys aren't skeerd :laughing:

I tell ya what come on up this way we will run the deep snow and see how the ol hummer handles it- We also have high desert 5500 ft -degnerated granite best on a dirt bike in summer - Thanks for the invite- Yours hopefully will go out tomorrow- thanks Jess

Deal, thank you!

it shipped today - Jess

and a pick-

and one more -

from years ago in the high lakes running saddle -
http://highangledriveline.com/Picture_1278.jpg

and one more-
http://highangledriveline.com/Picture_1272.jpg

That looks like fun. :D

Ok, some girls are just spoiled rotten for no reason...

THANK YOU JESSE!!! IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!

Bebe, where did you get the restorz for the lineX. Mine wants that shiny look back.

A good product to use on line-x/rhino/diamond lining and canvas, exterior rubber/plastic trim parts is 303 aerospace protectant. It won't help that much with faded material but if your exterior trim and coatings aren't faded yet, it'll protect it from uv fade. Really awesome stuff.

I've used it on black canvas tops and after years in the sun they're still a nice deep black.

You can get it at marine/boat shops, in spray bottles or gallon jugs.. its a bit pricey at about 15$ a bottle.

Bebe, where did you get the restorz for the lineX. Mine wants that shiny look back.

If you are local I can help you out.

If not, go to your local Line-x guy or the local Vortex dealer.

You can try the local guy BrianD of Rockliner Coatings here in Rocklin, he is a PBB vendor, his website is www.rockliner.com

Some after wheelin pics:D

Snow Wheelin on Fordyce....

sweet pics, did you send any of these to nora? Do you have any more?

Very nice rig!!

I like to see that people are starting to dive in and be aggresive with the mods on these.

enjoy it!

Just curious.....What's your wheelbase and ground clearance under the t-case skid?

Never measured ground clearance there. I can guess it's somewhere between 12-14"

Wheelbase is stock 111".

Alright. I've always wondered. I just don't see how they don't get hung up on stuff being that low and long.

Alright. I've always wondered. I just don't see how they don't get hung up on stuff being that low and long.

They do when they are bone stock with the giant spring under spring hangers.

Now when I get hung up, a little gas gets me through it, or if needed a line adjustment.

I did wheel the crap out of it before the SOA, but I just got really good at picking my lines.