SlcHummer's Build

Probably a bit late on a build thread but here we go...

I bought my 06 H3 in 2015 with 112k miles, rig was pretty much stock. I was originally looking for an inexpensive truck but came across a local H3 that caught my attention. I'll be honest, I did no research into H3's nor did I have any intentions at the time to take it off road and if I had I would've looked/waited for an 08+ Alpha Adventure. My 06 happened to have the Adventure package but at that time I didn't realize it lol.

Within the first 5 months of ownership had to replace the front pinion seal, radiator, serpentine belt, and tie down a loose wiring harness which would occasionally cause "Serv 4x4" to show on the dash. The 2nd year of ownership went pretty smooth. Replaced my thermostat, took the rig in for the HVAC harness recall, and replaced the ignition switch to fix the pass lock issue. The final straw to fix the pass lock issue was when I decided to run down to a state liquor store (it's a UT thing) before they closed and after the end of the 3rd quarter of a Utah Jazz game. Let's just say I ended up having to listen to the rest of the game on the radio in the store parking lot lol. I also took my rig on two road trips that year, the first being in the California area where I put 2500 miles on my rig in 4 days, and then Portland Oregon with my friend, her 2 dogs, and my dogs...it was a full ride!

In 2017 things got a bit more interesting. After my road trips I was getting a bit worried about the higher mileage (135k) on the H3 and was considering selling/trading it in. In my search I came across several different type of rigs, those that mainly caught my eye were Jeeps and Toyota's because I'd been going to Moab with my friends for years but as a passenger in their Jeeps/Yota's or atv's. So I thought, rather than trade in my rig for just a daily commuter, I should find an off road capable rig and have some more fun. I couldn't find a Jeep or Toyota I fully liked or felt comfortable with, either because of reliability issues (Jeep) or too high priced (Yota). Eventually H3's were coming up in my research as capable off road rigs, this is when I realized I had an Adventure package and the H3 bug kicked in!

I started with a torsion bar crank, Bilstein 5100 shocks, Nfab rock sliders (regretful purchase), and a 1" Daystar body lift...the body lift was installed to fit the Nfab rock sliders which still didn't line up perfectly but better with the body lift. I also added a Solid Axle GM Corporate 10 Bolt diff cover, Warrior 2.5 Inch Extended Leaf Spring Shackles, Schwarttzy High Clearance Leaf Spring Bolt Plate and Underbody Skid Protection. The final addition was 315/75r16 Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tires...now I was ready for Moab, or so I thought.

First Moab trip went well, we did Metal Masher, Backwards Bill, Poison Spider Mesa, and one other trail although the name escapes me right now. I did bend the passenger side tie rod, luckily that was the one part I brought spares of because of the research I had done before hand. I ended up upgrading from 14mm to 16mm tie rods as the Outfitter Design HD tie rods were sold out at that time.

In 2018 I had to take care of some maintenance...control arms, ball joints, idler pulley, belt tensioner, spark plugs, MAF and TB cleaning, cracked exhaust manifold and 3 broken bolts, third brake light, hood shocks, motor mounts, re-boot cv axle, cv axle seals, and a vapor canister vent hose. That was an expensive maintenance year but didn't stop me from adding a few mods as well...such as an AirDoc intake, AFE dry filter, Outfitter Design steering rack and front diff bushing kits, and a PCM of NC tune. Made it out to Moab again but this time without anything breaking, although did have to replace my radiator shortly after. I also found some custom tube doors from someone local here in UT, by far the mod I've enjoyed most!

This year (2019) didn't require as much maintenance, front/rear brake pads, another cv axle re-boot, and replaced the intermediate steering and coupling shafts. For mods I added a Long Tru-Cool LPD external transmission cooler with a thermal bypass, a snorkel, and Outfitter Design HD tie rods. I again took the rig out to Moab in April where I finally got the use the tube doors off road for the first time, visibilty was awesome and a night and day difference!

I most recently added an oil pressure gauge, ARB front bumper, and 9500lb winch although have not had a chance to take it to Moab yet. Looks great but adds quite a bit of front end weight that I'm not sure I really wanted with the I5 and the type of off roading I've done lol. Although part of the reason I finally got around to installing this setup is my friends rig that we would often use for recovery or a tug he sold for a Tesla car so I wanted something to be able to winch myself out of if need be. I'm going to give the ARB bumper a try, but if I had to do it again I'd probably stick to the stock light weight bumper, synthetic winch, and the schwarttzy hidden winch mount...assuming THOR bumpers were still unavailable. The additional weight just feels a bit too much for the I5, maybe a synthetic rope winch with the ARB would help or maybe this will convince me to swap in an LS motor to help move this bumper

Edit: I've since upgraded the torsion bars to some from an Alpha, thanks Korby7. This upgrade made a huge difference with the ARB bumper which I no longer regret. The only regret is not going with a synthetic winch rope which I'll likely switch to by next year.

Looking good

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Made this video during my April 2019 Moab trip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBha_h6Zx30&t=28s