H3 lift kits in general???

hey guys
im new to the 4x4 thing in general and have only had my h3 for about a month.
im planning my first old road adventure soon and i found my self looking at lift kits
but heres my question:
which ones do u get the most bang for your buck?
which company should i stay away from it any?
and could i put one on myself (have worked on cars just nothing big)
also which lift are you guys running and how high and comments on them

thanks!!

I'm sure there will be lots of feedback to that question. Look a bit at 06 H3's build thread and see what that gives you.

My personal point of view: What type of wheeling do you think you'll be doing? Do you really, truly, need a lift kit? -Nothing against lift kits, but many drivers end up doing wheeling that don't really require the added capability of a lift kit.

well the only kind of wheeling around where i live is easy to moderate stuff and im sure i would be fine without it but im looking to just do like 2-3in.

I'm not trying to talk you out of a lift kit but here's another thing to consider:

You have the 3.5 i5 engine. It's got very limited power. With lift kits, owners often add larger wheels. Larger wheels with a 3.5 is not always a good combination unless you find a way to re-gear. But anyways: I'm sure there will be lots of other feedback and suggestions on this thread.

I would personally start out with the torsion bar crank and 35 inch tires and if if you are looking for more then I would do a rancho lift. the lift kit is a great kit in my opinion and offers a some added clearance which is a huge plus check out 3 threads the rancho lift review my 06 h3 rancho build and my spring over build thread.

I'd start small and build up. I wheeled in stock form with 32s then a torsion crank which gives about 2 inches and 35s then the rancho 4in lift. A main reason I chose a 4in lift was that I always chose tougher lines and tried to follow built jeeps in a much lower H3 compared to them

You can add 3" extended shackles on the back and crank the T-bars for a smaller lift, about 1 1/2". Not necessary, but helps with breakover angles. The 2" 'leveling' kits that you see all around ebay are not worth your time, you can do that yourself for almost free (see first sentance). Beyond that, you will be looking at a 4" lift kit from Rancho or Rough Country which will mean 17" wheels and tires as well as the big jump in price up from free.

Not necessarily...I'm still running stock rims with my rancho kit just using spacers

There's a lot of differing opinions about spacers and whether they are safe

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I am not a fan of lifts. The H3 doesn't need it and the I5 is just not well suited for monster wheels/tires.
The engineers at HUMMER spent a lot of time building it; not saying that some things can be improved because GM could have cut corners to save a few pennies. Generally, not a lot needs to be corrected on an HUMMER.

DJinCO said:

I am not a fan of lifts. The H3 doesn't need it and the I5 is just not well suited for monster wheels/tires.
The engineers at HUMMER spent a lot of time building it; not saying that some things can be improved because GM could have cut corners to save a few pennies. Generally, not a lot needs to be corrected on an HUMMER.

Click to expand...

"could have?":giggle:

If you run a quality spacer and it fails then its install error 99% of the time IMO. If a stud breaks or something then it's a spacer issue

An awful lot of Jeepers run them out here in Moab with no problems; except if they are plated in UT, they have to remove the spacers to pass state inspection.

But I also agree with Doug in CO, bigger tires and a lift on that old 3.5L is asking for slowness. Not sure if I would ever want to take one cross country, but I'm an impatient driver.:gaah:

Now when u guys say spacers ur talking shock spacers right?
Sry just making sure I get everything right

wheel spacers... they are needed so that the lift will fit or you buy new rims with the correct spacing

You've basically got 2 true "lift kit" options: The Rancho or the Tuff Country. Both have pros and cons.

For a quick, cheap lift, a t-bar adjustment up front and extended shackles in the rear will net you a couple inches for low dough.

Doug, I guess you caught me being "PC" by saying that GM "could have" cut corners to save what equates to just pennies per vehicle. I don't have facts that happened, nor do I know beans about auto design & manufacture. I just know that some aftermarket automotive products have proven improvements over the original equipment. I realize that the whole vehicle is considered in the manufacture process. The weight impacts the MPG and that impacts CAFE... on on and on... Tie rods and half shafts that break before damaging the engine, etc... and the whole torque management system...

It makes my head hurt.

06 H3 said:

Not necessarily...I'm still running stock rims with my rancho kit just using spacers

Click to expand...

Yeah, I purposefully left that out. I figured it would come up and get talked about anyway. I dont like spacers with big, heavy wheels/tires and thats what would go on if I lifted it. Stock sizes? I dont care either way.

reading a good amount of the posts on here I have pondered what I would have done if I had bought out my mom's 06 H3 luxury package when I had the chance to.

I would probably do this in a general order like I am laying out:

1. Crank torsion Bars,
2. Tomp/Hunner Shock Skid Guards
3. Rocky Road Rock Sliders
4. 35" mud terrain tires
5. Scorpworks Bushing front diff crossmember
6. Scorpworks steering rack mount bracket
7. UCP (Under Carriage Protection)
8. rear locker/cranium diff cover
9. 4:1 T-Case from adventure package
10. front locker (in a cast iron diff case)
11. Hutchinson Bead Locks

i have looked at the Tbar crank but the cv problem just doesnt sound pleasent
but in your option is it worth it? how long untill it wares out? is there something i can do to keep it from wearing out?

DJinCO said:

Doug, I guess you caught me being "PC" by saying that GM "could have" cut corners to save what equates to just pennies per vehicle. I don't have facts that happened, nor do I know beans about auto design & manufacture. I just know that some aftermarket automotive products have proven improvements over the original equipment. I realize that the whole vehicle is considered in the manufacture process. The weight impacts the MPG and that impacts CAFE... on on and on... Tie rods and half shafts that break before damaging the engine, etc... and the whole torque management system...

It makes my head hurt.

Click to expand...

Doug...makes my head hurt too. The H3 is a well designed vehicle that is as strong as any other off-road vehicle in the same price and model range. However, for a small amount of $$ it could have been a fantastic vehicle. But GM cut corners to make it a good vehicle vs. a fantastic vehicle. One fact that is very obvious to those who off-road is the front diff. It would have cost approx. 78 bucks more for a cast iron front diff. I talked with Brand Quality about replacing the aluminum with a cast iron and was told no. I tried another approach by asking for cast iron with the off-road package (adventure series to some) and was told no. Those conversations took place in Dec 2005 - Jan 2006. Actually, when I left in Nov. 08, the front diff was not as big of a problem as people assume.

To be fair, have to say that Jeep has their problems right now too. Engines heads are a disaster, warranty costs are sky high with the new engine they started to put into the Wranglers a year or two ago.

FWIW, here are my .02 cents on this topic. You have to start with the basic fact that all parts will eventually wear out. How quickly? It depends on many factors - how high you raise the torsion bars - the more you raise them, the more you change the OEM angles of the CVs and tie tods and the more stress you will put on front suspension components. This most likely will result in these parts wearing out quicker. How quick, who knows because a lot of other factors come into play - such as, how much and what type of wheeling will you do, are you one of those people who inspects and addresses issues after each offroad adventure (preventive maintenence) or do you tend to wait until something wears out?

IMO, if you don't plan to wheel much, spend your money on other things and mods because a lift kit only gives you more body clearance (and some diff clearance depending on how big a tire you go to) and you really only need more clearance on a 4x4 if you plan to drive offroad. An off-the-shelf lift kit like the ones discussed in this thread, don't make your rig any more indestructible nor do they do anything to truly enhance performance, IMO.

For now, go spend your money on UCP, rock rails, a front locker, a cast-iron front diff, Hunner skids, get a good set of offroad tires, raise your TBars to no more than 23.5", then go out and do some wheeling (at least a half dozen trails where you are in 4lo for 90% of the time) and then you can decide on whether in retrospect, a lift kit may have given you some major added offroad advantage. By then you will know if you truly should get a lift kit and you will be hooked on offroading).

If you wheel in stock form or not parts will wear. It's a guaranteed thing no matter what vehicle you have.

My half shaft lasted me 100k miles and that's a combo between stock, torsion bar crank and rancho. I felt that was a pretty good amount of time

I am running basically the same truck as you (2006 Adventure, 5-speed). I think you need to take it out in the stock configuration and see if you really need a lift. Over time, I found myself wanting to more difficult trails and have made mods accordingly.

First I did the t-bar crank but only enough to get it to look better. Too much cranking will cause premature wear on the half shafts, steering rack and tie rods.

Next came 35" tires. I ran on the stock 33s for a long time. I had concerns of premature wear on the clutch. I lost some power but still feel comfortable with this choice.

Recently, I added a 1" body lift. This does nothing for clearance but allowed a little more room for the bigger tires. The rear tires would rub inside the fender wells when I was fully articulated prior to installation.

I think the general consensus is wheel with a t bar crank and 35s and wait to see if u need more. In stock form it does well. Craig took a stock suspension through John Bull trail which is pretty impressive. You will be impressed with this setup, if and when you want more then lift it

I'd still stay start by wheeling it the way it is. Learn what the limitations are, and based on that decide which upgrades make sense for you.