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My SA hummer build

Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
Think its time to get my own thread build going :wink:

in 2010 I decided it's time for a decent 4x4 vehicle, something that was extremely capable out of the box :whaa:

After exhaustive research my final desision came down to a Hummer (obviously :thumbs:)

So here is the vehicle I started with:
2007 Hummer H3 Adventure Package with 59,000km (~36,600 mile)

hmm, so how do I make the picture's show up bigger :emb:
 

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M22KLARS

Unsafe At Any Speed
Messages
2,315
Location
Minnesota
Well you started with the right kind of vehicle that's for sure.

If you want bigger pics, use the IMG code from photobucket or something like that.
 

Portager

■ ☼▐▐▐▐▐▐▐ ☼■
Messages
1,506
Location
Silverado
Nice start.

Open a free account on photobucket.com, set the resolution to 800x600. Up load your imaes, copy the IMG code and paste it into your message.
 

Hans3T

Lif"T"ed
Messages
3,035
Location
NC
:D I'm sure a few people's hearts probably skipped a beat!

I'm still looking forward to the build though!
 

Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
Firrstly it was time to experience the Hummer in its standard trim :giggle:

So off I went on a weekend long geocaching trip to Pelgremsrus.

What a nice winding road to travel:
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and what a view (with the town in the distance):
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Visited the graveyard in town: (Whats interesting that all the graves are in one direction to see the sunrise and sunset, whereas the Robbers grave is as punishment layed out not to see the sunrise or sunset)
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Time for a rest in the town of Graskop:
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The beauty of the area:
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Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
Visited the Long tom Canon, as used during the Anglo Boer war against the Brittish:
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And then searched for the highest points in the area:
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The hummer performed like a dream
:20:
 

Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
Next I had to start testing the Hummers offroad prowess :wink:

Decided to visit my local "De Wildt" offroad track just to start with the mild stuff.

and as you would have it, I had a breakdown en ruite to the destination :whaa:

Was driving up a hill when the hummer just started loosing gears, just slipping, but at least I had first to get to the closest petrol station.

So I called the GM assist and they send out a towtruck to my location.

Tow truck got lost and took 3 hours to reach me.

the verdict after GM's inspection was that the tranny cooler had a leak, getting radiator water into the gearbox and stuffing everything up. Got repaired under warrenty but I only found out later that they were supposed to do an external oil cooler when they do the repair (so I have this on my to do list now)

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Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
So after the repair that took about 3 weeks, its off to the trail again to test the Hummer :)

and boy o boy wasn't it fun

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Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
Next up was the camping test :giggle:

hooked up my offroad tailer, and headed for the Hartebeespoort dam for a fun weekend :)

The hummer feels a bit "soft" when towing, as any movement/sway the trailer gets transmitted to the hummer, but I think its due to the soft suspension package of the H3 Adventure (might be something to look into)

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Portager

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Messages
1,506
Location
Silverado
Nice trailer.

Have you checked the tongue weight? Sometimes the load distribution can cause that.
 

Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
Nice trailer.

Have you checked the tongue weight? Sometimes the load distribution can cause that.

Thanks, the trailer works like a dream

I keep the tongue weight between 10 and 50kg's (22.5 - 110lb's) as I usualy do the hitching by myself I don't like to work that hard to get it hooked up

Edit:
When towing the Trailer with my daily driver pickup, I don't have this issue, thats why I'm thinking it might be the softer suspension :roll:

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Sennin

Well-Known Member
Messages
453
Location
South Africa
My first mod on the Hummer would be some Muddies :)

after some research the Kumho KL71's seemed like the best way to go, unfortunately the biggest they stocked this side was 33"

after phoning the importers and explaining to them that the Kl71 indeed is manufactured in a 315/75/16 size I got them ordered and installed :thumbs:

Got them just before X-mas, so it was a present for the H3

I then went ahead and started cranking the torsion bars to get the hummer more level, and instead of looking at the hight gain, I looked at the CV angles, and stopped once they became too angled for my taste, final hight from centre of hub to fender is 595mm or 23.4Inches, and afterwards I read on the hummer forum the max is 23.5 Inches :horns:

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Visited one of the 3 Tufa waterfalls in South Africa that December
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The drive of 700km (434miles) felt weird, but I put it down to the larger muddy the Hummer was sporting. This was untill I filleld up in Kuruman and checked the tire pressure it was at 3.6 Bar (52 Psi)!!!! and I instructed the fitment centre not to exceed 2.2 Bar (31 Psi). Mind You I did get 8km/liter (18.82).:thumbs:

Another thing I noticed whas the constant shifting of the auto box (our highway speed limit is 120km/h or 74.5Mph with a 10km/grace margin, so you can do 130Km/h or 80Mph). so guess what my next mod was going to be to get the shifting sorted .....
 
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