2016
WOW! We have been doing this thread for 6 years now. It is crazy to look at where we all came from. 2016 was certainly a whirlwind, squeaky was no longer a daily driver and on a personal level I visited 12 states this year and every square mile in CA. I travelled a lot for work and because of that squeaky spent much more time in the driveway but from a wheeling stand point I wheeled the piss out of it after July. Before July was just working on it, and working on everyone’s rigs to get ready for the dusy.
I started out in January camping and wheeling at big bear in the snow, then seized a wheel bearing going to KOH GAHHH! After that trip it was time to get wrenching. After breaking my 10 bolt shaft I wanted a 1 ton rear end. I didnt want to do a 14 bolt, keeping with the theme of oddball I got an Eaton HO72. The 14 bolt big brother. 5.14 gears and a detroit locker. I was concerned about the streetability with the detroit but once I got it all figured out you cant feel it! It rocks!!!! No one has ever done a junkyard rear axle ABS compatible swap so I had my work cut out for me and luckily it all worked out ABS works, the brakes work great with the MC and Brake Booster. I also converted the front to 8 lug which was quite some work as well. Then I put some RCV D44 shafts in and ram assist. I wheeled locally at Gorman, rowher, and drinkwater to make sure the new setup worked. Then I spent many weekends doing a D60/14Bolt swap on my brothers JK and helped my buddy put in a new motor in his ZJ, regear a TJ. I put on 40’s and ran the dusy. The dusy was a letdown in difficulty, it wasnt that difficult. We had good camping and good times with friends (friends who were there in the moment might say otherwise for me lol.) Then I wheeled it with no problems at hammers and locally a lot. It all worked out great! Ran sunbonnet, chocolate thunder, sledgehammer until my bad luck bit me. An ox locker bolt on the front diff came loose flung around and chipped the pinion, my explorer 5.0 fan (which supposedly worked with an H3 alpha) didnt and hit the radiator when flexed out, then also had a trans cooler line that was on for years decide to randomly come off lose all fluid and blow up the trans. Overall it was a great year, hit hammers 3 times in a month and half, 2 with squeaky one with my brothers JK. Unfortunately this past month, the joke continues as its better to have bad luck then no luck. On the bright side, its a vehicle its fixable and I have a lot in life to be blessed with so some bad vehicle luck is just a part of the game.
To summarize my essay
Wheeled:
-Big bear snow wheeling
-Gorman as usual
-Locally a lot (drinkwater, rowher)
-Dusy Ershim Trail
-Sledgehammer (Hammers)
-Sunbonnet (Hammers)
-Chocolate thunder (Hammers)
-Resolution (In bro’s JK at hammers)
-Wrecking Ball (in Bro’s JK at hammers)
Broke:
-I DIDN’T BREAK A R&P OR SHAFT THIS YEAR!!!
-Seized wheel bearing going to KOH
-Radiator
-transmission (bad luck)
-I DIDNT BREAK A R&P OR SHAFT THOUGH!!!!
Upgrades:
-New factory gas tank skid that I reenforced
-new winch again
-RCV D44 shafts
-Revalve shocks, which is AMAZING
-new draglink to allow better turning radius
-8 lug front swap retaining H3 brakes
-Eaton HO72 axle swap with detroit locker
-Aluminum radiator
-I would say an upgrade is not breaking axle shafts or R&P!!!!
Next year, 2017!!!!
What will happen? I want to hit fordyce, hit hammers alot, obviously in the process of fixing the trans but that should be still before 2017 and within the next week or so. Rear bumper/armor and cage for real this time...I am also building a D70 front. The D44 is on a chipped pinion (from a freak accident) and I wheeled it hard with no issues but I gotta have a back up going. I still cant believe I didnt grenade a single shaft or R&P so lets keep that streak going...O and not a huge priority but convert the factory 4:1 t case to a 2wd option so I can stop unbolting my driveshaft on long road trips...
Lastly on a Hummer world basis I feel like we are all making big strides as a community! More SAS going on, the low one without a spring over from Australia is awesome!!
I found out outfitter has a new front diff in his rig for testing, AWESOME!!!
I saw real badass tubular rebuildable control arms hit the market for H3s
If you ever have rear axle issues I have found out this year that ABS compatibility is a non issue and I got it to work so that's an option for the future.
These additions on top of the existing upgrades such as diff bushing upgrade, steering rack clamps all this stuff is making the H3 better and better!!
Rancho discontinued their lift which sucks but I hope someone can fill that void.
We all start somewhere, I started with painting emblems and little stuff but it's cool to see as a community the mods are getting more focused to real performance!
Everyone have a great holiday and new year!
