H3 Front diff crossmember bushing fix

[mkmcgreg]

so I have started to notice a clunk noise going over ruts but only when the wheels are turned, either way. I feel it in the floor board/pedals mostly. Not sure if it is my bushing or not but here are some pictures for the experts.





Click for larger view

the top side of the bushing appears to be missing a small section of the bushing, maybe a 1/2 inch, normal?

Thanks for the help!

 

[H3slate]

I had similar symptoms when mine went bad. It looks like the bottom is cracked around the middle and getting brittle. Probably time for a new bushing before you cause damage to other components as this one gets worse.

 

[alrock]

That "missing" rubber at the top is normal - it is the OEM design. I agree that it sounds like your bushing is failing.

 

[supsam86]

I just purchased an OEM crossmember from a salvage yard ($50) and ordered the ES kit ($25) and plan on doing this fix next week. But I have one question: Why did you have to press off the keyed head and attach it to the ES sleeve? Why not just bore out the ES bushings to accept the OEM sleeve? Wouldn't you avoid a whole lot of work that way?

 

[08SolarFlareH3]

Here's mine. Welded a straight section of square tubing into the cross member and drilled a 1-1/4" Hole sideways, welded a piece of 1-1/4 round tubing into that hole, ground everything flat, press-fit a polyurethane bushing, attached a U-bracket onto the diff and then sent a 5/8" bolt through the crossmember tube on the inside of the bushing. The old design that everyone has been using is basically a thrust bearing/bushing made out of rubber. This method allows the same degrees of freedom and uses the wall of the bushing as a support.

I found a similar fix on an over seas Hummer forum

Sent from my iPad mini using Tapatalk

 

[H32NV]

Its worked great for me so far!

 

[kamikazi]

I know this is an old thread but just replaced my bushing this morning with my son using the suspension.com bushings. I think I posted last week that he is going out of business but still has his hummer line available. This kit was $25 + $7.25 Flat Rate Shipping Box. We didn't have to burn the old bushing out just worked the housing with a chisel and got it out in less than 30 minutes. The whole job didn't take more than 1 1/2 hours. I kind of used the outfitters.com instructions but didn't bother to jack the Hummer up or disconnect the drive shafts... don't know why they had that in there.

Thanks for the help Guys!

 

[hummer68]

I know this is an old thread but just replaced my bushing this morning with my son using the suspension.com bushings. I think I posted last week that he is going out of business but still has his hummer line available. This kit was $25 + $7.25 Flat Rate Shipping Box. We didn't have to burn the old bushing out just worked the housing with a chisel and got it out in less than 30 minutes. The whole job didn't take more than 1 1/2 hours. I kind of used the outfitters.com instructions but didn't bother to jack the Hummer up or disconnect the drive shafts... don't know why they had that in there.

Thanks for the help Guys!

Wow awesome do you have the link or the part number?