Chocflip201's (eventually) Expo Approved H3

Owners Name & City-

Chance - Springville, UT


Make, Model & Year of Vehicle-


2008 Hummer H3 w/adventure package
- Techno Grey


Engine-

Vortec 3700 - 3.7L Inline 5cyl - Stock

Transmission-

4L60E - stock


T-Case-

Stock, with the 4:1 from the Adventure Package


Axles-

Front - AAM 760
Rear - AAM 860 w/factory locker
4.56 axle gear ratio

Suspension-

Rancho 4" lift
http://www.gorancho.com/suspension.php?make=Hummer&model=05_10_hummer_h3#lift

Rancho RS9000XL Shocks
http://www.gorancho.com/suspension.php?make=Hummer&model=05_10_hummer_h3#shocks

Wheels and Tires-

LT315/75R16 (35" x 12.5" x 16") Goodyear Wrangler MTR Kevlar

MB Razor - 16x9.5 all black


Winch-

Warn VR10000


Favorite Trails-
Hanging Tree Trail
Rattlesnake/Constrictor
Poison Spider
Behind-The-Rocks
Pritchett
Moab Rim
Metal Masher
SteelBender



Other-
Sunroof


_______________________________________

I bought a bone stock 2008 Hummer H3. It has 39k miles and comes with a 3 year/36 month drivetrain warranty from when I bought it two weeks ago. This rig will be getting just enough body and undercarriage armor to keep everything safe, bumpers (homemade) front and rear. It will take me on my favorite trails and will be a rig built for expo camping and hunting.

My first mod- cranking up the torsion bars and having an alignment done. But the tires on it (smaller than stock, and junk, not even a good street tire) were not cutting it.




So I bought 5 Goodyear Wrangler MTR-K's and some aftermarket wheels, but the wheels had to be ordered.



after


and took it wheeling a little bit by my house. I can tell this is going to be one of my favorite vehicles I've ever owned.

(Sorry for the dark pics, you know I'll get better ones later. I just had the itch to wheel again after not having a rig capable of wheeling since 2009)


Stuffin that 35.



and the muddy mall-crawl shots

I got these switches a couple days ago and will be putting them in my dash for power to my LED's that I got from a local vendor, probably a front ARB or Eaton E-locker, not sure what else yet. But they are the most badass switches I have ever seen. They look way better than any of the Carling rockers or any other switch I have seen. If you have a Ford truck made in the last couple years you have a possibility of having them in your dash from factory. They are called Upfitter switches.

You ran Pritchett?

06 H3 said:

You ran Pritchett?

Click to expand...

Not in my H3 yet lol. But I will. I have ran it in other vehicles.
Those "favorite trails" are just trails that I have done in other rigs. so far the only of those trails that I have done in my H3 is Rattlesnake. Which I think is a 4 or 5 out of ten. Not too crazy.

hey, you're on RME4x4 too, right? you ever run any trails around here?

Climbing a local "Sand Mountain" that has a 600' elevation change from the base to the summit.

[video=youtube;xHl7-ibLEjE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHl7-ibLEjE&feature=youtu.be[/video]


This video was taken in 4hi and 1st gear. my 2nd time up was 4lo and 3rd gear and the 2nd one was a little bit faster..

Had a little OCD fit today, I had a dash light out on one of my heater controls.



Gettin redneck on it. Freakin tabs.



How many engineers does it take to change a lightbulb.



Hope I can get one of these lil guys. Don't mind my awesome iPhone camera.

jallen9 said:

hey, you're on RME4x4 too, right? you ever run any trails around here?

Click to expand...

Yes I am, also Pirate4x4, JeepForum, and OffroadFabNet, all the same username. Yeah I do a lot of trails around locally. And always looking to find new ones. I went and ran Rattlesnake and the start of Constrictor today.

Sick! I want to also run Pritchett. I'm setup basically how you want to be. Rancho front spring over rear. Front and rear lockers 35s and 4:1 come out to Moab during Blacksheep week!

06 H3 said:

spring over rear

Click to expand...

I actually haven't minded the spring under rear yet. I plan on a U-bolt flip though. And I've got some ideas brewing for front suspension, but for a while the torsion bars will do the job.

06 H3 said:

come out to Moab during Blacksheep week!

Click to expand...

Is that the April 21st week that was mentioned in my introduction thread?

06 H3 said:

Sick! I want to also run Pritchett. I'm setup basically how you want to be. Rancho front spring over rear. Front and rear lockers 35s and 4:1 come out to Moab during Blacksheep week!

Click to expand...

You're locked in the front? Since when??

Chocflip201 said:

I got these switches a couple days ago and will be putting them in my dash for power to my LED's that I got from a local vendor, probably a front ARB or Eaton E-locker, not sure what else yet. But they are the most badass switches I have ever seen. They look way better than any of the Carling rockers or any other switch I have seen. If you have a Ford truck made in the last couple years you have a possibility of having them in your dash from factory. They are called Upfitter switches.

Click to expand...

where are you installing those? I need to add more switches as I'm going to make my rack lights independent (they're on two switches now), and I am going to make my e-lockers engage by switch and remove the BCM from the decision making process for the rear locker.

SuperBuickGuy said:

where are you installing those? I need to add more switches as I'm going to make my rack lights independent (they're on two switches now), and I am going to make my e-lockers engage by switch and remove the BCM from the decision making process for the rear locker.

Click to expand...

I have two ideas, well three. The first idea was up overhead in between the sunroof and the sunroof switch, but with how big of a pain I would be to route the wires, I decided against that. The next idea was jus to the right of the steering column, level with the ignition switch, but there is steel behind that plastic that would need trimming. And the third idea was to remove that little cubby hole in front of the gear shift selector on the center console, and put it there.

Ideas 2 and 3 don't really have super easy access to the switches (idea 2 has the steering wheel blocking the view of the switches, idea 3 has the gear shift selector slightly in the way of easily flipping the switches) but they are the two locations that I have found that the switches are going to look good, and in an area where they are not likely to get accidentally activated. Not 100% sure yet but I am leaning towards in front of the gear selector.

Choclip201's (eventually) Expo Approved H3

Zach said:

You're locked in the front? Since when??

Click to expand...

By Moab I will be lol or I hope so..,still sitting in the garage

Chocflip201 said:

Yes I am, also Pirate4x4, JeepForum, and OffroadFabNet, all the same username. Yeah I do a lot of trails around locally. And always looking to find new ones. I went and ran Rattlesnake and the start of Constrictor today.

Click to expand...

i read about that this afternoon. I had to work today and i didn't see it until later today so I missed it. i missed the last run, too. ;-/ i don't get on much these days. i'm getting married in 2 weeks and working 2 jobs. hopefully things will slow down and i'll be able to do the next run.

Finally got around to switching out my drivers door handle from chrome to black, to match all the others.

Sore thumb:


fixed


an did a little driveway flexing to check for any issues, yes, back tire is off the ground.

Nice! Glad to see someone getting out and doing some wheeling despite the crappy weather. The sand dunes look like a good time in the winter.

Making my own fully aluminum Molle panel.


Measuring and Measuring

Inserted a Rivnut where I wont be able to get a wrench on the backside once the plastic panel is in place. (I only did one because I am using Nyloc nuts on the backs of the other bolts, I prefer them)

Whipped up some aluminum spacers out of 1" round bar stock to take up the extra room between the door sheet metal and the plastic trim panel, this way all the weight on the Molle panel is supported by the sheet metal, not the plastic.

And added some mock-up/prototype angle iron so I can design the table on BendTech SM and email it to my buddy with his CNC plasma table.

The pic doesn't show it very well, but there is actually quite a bit of extra room around the sides.. plenty of clearance.

My final dimensions of the table should be about 18" tall by 41" wide.. this is about as wide as you can possibly make it. There will still be full access to the jack panel when the table is dropped down.

Looking good so far!

While waiting on my camp table, I decided to start installing my CB antenna.

Took off the bumperette, and taillight


Which gained me just enough access to cut a 1.5" hole just underneath the lower swing-gate hinge.



and I spent about an hour at the local junkyard trying to find the perfect door-pillar grommet thingy.. I finally found one off some kind of older chevy car. The JY let me have it for free too ha. For the other side (the rear pillar side, not the door side) I just cut a 1.5" hole in the little body plug thing. Should work well.



and the view from the "outside" with the door closed (even though all of this will not be visible when the taillight and bumperette are back on.



and the view from the inside. BTW I couldnt route the CB antenna cable through the existing door-pillar grommet thing because that is already chocked full of wires for the wiper motor and 3rd brake light and stuff.



Then I popped the side panel back a little bit and gained just enough access to use a 90° drill adapter for a 1.25" hole.



and popped in a grommet (which you can't see when the trim panel is back in place) and ran the cable behind the trim pieces all the way up to the dash.



and ran the cable through the vent on the gate, and drilled a hole in the spare tire carrier for the antenna.



and finally drilled another hole on the other side of the tire mount for a flag-mount quick disconnect so I can easily and cleanly attach a safety flag (req'd) at the sand dunes. I will have to make some wedge mounts tomorrow so I can fix the crookedness of the antenna and the flag mount.



So I don't have to ductape my flag to my spare anymore haha

You can also see one of the "H3" emblems that I plastidipped.. this was my first time plastidipping, and either I suck at plastidipping, or that plastidip isnt what I expected.

When I did it it was only about 50° F outside, and that may have been a factor, but I'm really not happy with the plastidip. I want to rub it off and just use flat-black paint.

Chocflip201 said:

You can also see one of the "H3" emblems that I plastidipped.. this was my first time plastidipping, and either I suck at plastidipping, or that plastidip isnt what I expected.

When I did it it was only about 50° F outside, and that may have been a factor, but I'm really not happy with the plastidip. I want to rub it off and just use flat-black paint.

Click to expand...

How many coats of plastidip did you use?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bananatank said:

How many coats of plastidip did you use?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

4 I think. It just isnt as smooth as I hoped. If I went too thin of a coat then it looked a lot like bedliner, and if I went thicker to make it a smoother coat then I had runs in it. Plus I don't really "need" the ability for it to be peeled off. I want them black permanently. I bought it as a trial-error situation and I definitely don't love it, and don't want to use it on my grill.

Problem:

CB antenna is crooked (and touching the tire) due to where I mounted it:



Solution:
Buy two nylon spacers, and use the side of a bench grinder to taper one side narrower. (before left, after right)



Install with fat side downhill (and reverse on the bottom)



Outcome:

Enjoy straight CB antenna



I will have to repeat this again for the flag mount. Sorry for nothing too technical yet.