SOA is done!! well all most

[Corey Barnes]

Are they going to lengthen your drive shaft? Or are you going to buy a new one? Sorry for all the questions trying to get prepped up for my soa!

 

[Pappibri]

Are 325/60r20 35.5ish x 13ish not big enough for you on a 3 for ya?? ;-)

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

Ah, dont get me wrong. I love your truck and think it looks awesome. What would the equivalent size tire be that has less rim and more meat..

 

[4speedfunk]

The rear driveshaft on the H3 is made from an odd-ball size tubing (probably metric). Normally, you can simply add a small piece to extend the length to whatever you need but, the issue is....nobody stocks this strange size of tubing. For this reason my driveline guy made me an entirely new one, out of traditional-sized tubing. Now in the future if I need to make any length adjustments, its an easy fix because all of the shops carry this standard size. To make one...cut-off the U-joint saddles from the factory driveshaft...put em in a lathe, and turn em down a tad (the new tubing has a slightly smaller ID). Then re-install them into the new standard-sized tubing...index them to proper phase...and weld em up. Finish it off with new U-joints and re-use your stock yoke. Good to go. Its a $200 (max) job at any driveline shop.

FWIW...I lengthened mine about 1-1/2" after the SOA. The stock yoke is a MONSTER, and it's got plenty of length...I wasn't worried about pulling it out. But, I was worried about it "wobbling" and possibly wearing out the output bushing inside the t-case. I don't have any proof that this would be an issue but, it just seemed like the thing to do. I stuck with the single u-joint arrangement but, you can convert to a Cardan joint if you feel the need.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

With the amount of work involve, especially for those who do new springs.... has anyone done a coil-over conversion to the back? I've been really, really considering doing the spring over conversion - but I've stopped myself by saying "why don't I just do a coil over"...

 

[06 H3]

Cost for me was a factor and seeing how well the SOA works particularly for an H3 I saw no need. I may not have the most up travel but I have more droop then any of my jeep buddies coil sprung rigs. The first time they saw their jaws just dropped.

For rock crawling you want the droop and for high speed you can help remedy up travel with a good set of air bumps.

 

[4speedfunk]

To do a coil-over on the rear, you'll have put hoops up thru the floor...or flip everything sideways and cantilever it like Recon did.

I agree 100% with 06H3...leafs work great. I wheeled XJ's a bunch before I bought the Hummer, and the H3 shares the same basic tail-heavy SUV-body and rear leaf layout...this seems to make for a very well-balanced wheeler. Now that I've gone solid up front with coil springs...its even more XJ-ish. I would love to see a coil-over rear...but, I think it needs to be a full-bore IRS. As long as its a solid axle...I see no benefit of ditching the leafs.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

To do a coil-over on the rear, you'll have put hoops up thru the floor...or flip everything sideways and cantilever it like Recon did.

I agree 100% with 06H3...leafs work great. I wheeled XJ's a bunch before I bought the Hummer, and the H3 shares the same basic tail-heavy SUV-body and rear leaf layout...this seems to make for a very well-balanced wheeler. Now that I've gone solid up front with coil springs...its even more XJ-ish. I would love to see a coil-over rear...but, I think it needs to be a full-bore IRS. As long as its a solid axle...I see no benefit of ditching the leafs.

I'm thinking truck trailing arm style - like NASCAR suspension - that solves axle wrap problems

 

[5gn-h3t]

They get in the way off-roading.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

They get in the way off-roading.

I'm not buying that - they parallel your driveshaft (thus, if they hang up so would your driveshaft, your leaf springs are far worse (and its attendant hanger) for impediment, and the arms are hidden by the frame at rest... add to the benefits, most trophy trucks use that style of rear suspension because they have amazing, vertical travel capabilities.

I have a friend (had? we haven't talked in years) that built a flat fender jeep with opposing triangle links (draw a pentagram and attach the axle at 3 points, and the frame at 3 points)... its biggest issue was it had too much compliance in the suspension. You could nearly put the tire on its side on the ground at full flex... problem was it was like riding a bicycle, as long as the load stayed balanced you would be fine; but the moment you unbalanced the vehicle would dangerously tip (so he stole minivan seat belts and made limiting straps - but that's another story)

and now I'm leaning towards a 3 link or non-parallel 4 link.... hmmmm...

 

[5gn-h3t]

Trophy trucks are generally built for a different goal than what we are looking at with the H3. They need lots of travel to go fast over obstacles. They use very beefy lower links. IMHO, I think this style of suspension would do a lot of dragging when driven where the average H3 off-roads. I don't think there is enough real estate under an H3 to make the lower links hidden by the frame at rest.

That being said, a 3 link with a shock tower sticking up into the cargo bay would be awesome.

 

[06 H3]

the leaf springs and sprng hangers always used to be a huge hangup for me now the new hanger is up above the gas tank skid, 5.5 in of more clearance with the new hangers and the leafs are no longer a hangup. It doesnt have the most uptravel but tons of droop. Perfect for crawling.

 

[justin94tt]

This might seem like an odd question but is it possible to do an SOA and keep the stock ride height in the rear. I like running my 33's and don't want to raise the front any higher.

 

[Mb30sdl]

You will need different almost flat springs and your load capacity will change.

 

[4speedfunk]

is it possible to do an SOA and keep the stock ride height in the rear?

You could possibly "french" the front spring mounts (recess them into the frame), to gain a few inches. You also might look into mounting them further inboard, to the sides of the frame instead of the bottom. This will require you to move the spring pads on the axle further inboard. Same for the shackles at the rear of the springs...they gotta be moved inboard so everything stays in alignment.

In summation...Nope.

 

[06 H3]

in boarding the spring would give you issues with the gas tank on the driver side. You would have to outboard them. I think the F250s are outboarded springs.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

This might seem like an odd question but is it possible to do an SOA and keep the stock ride height in the rear. I like running my 33's and don't want to raise the front any higher.

and then you'd have axle wrap issues

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Trophy trucks are generally built for a different goal than what we are looking at with the H3. They need lots of travel to go fast over obstacles. They use very beefy lower links. IMHO, I think this style of suspension would do a lot of dragging when driven where the average H3 off-roads. I don't think there is enough real estate under an H3 to make the lower links hidden by the frame at rest.

That being said, a 3 link with a shock tower sticking up into the cargo bay would be awesome.

I'm thinking about getting out the painter's tape and finding out (no, not the painter's tape my wife screams.... she knows that ends up into another project)

 

[05Mudiak]

This might seem like an odd question but is it possible to do an SOA and keep the stock ride height in the rear. I like running my 33's and don't want to raise the front any higher.

you Probably Could Mono Leaf DeArch Add Air Bags And A Torque Arm Or Traction Bars To Stop The Axel Wrap