SAR H3

[superbuickguy]

Nice to see another SAR truck here... mine is basically a stock CTD. I grew up in the Seattle area but now live and do SAR in Central Arizona. The Red Rock area near Sedona.

Maybe you know Darin, Emmons I think is his last name he's a memeber of King County SAR and is their radio guru.

I'm pretty sure I met him at Oso - KC 4x4 was doing the LZ control and I'm pretty sure he was one of them. I was all goo goo over the Series 90 Land Rover that one of their leaders had... I think he had a Subaru or something equally boring

I keep trying to get to KCSAR's 4x4 meetings, but it seems the world conspires against that each month... this time it was because of mechanical problems with 2 of my cars - only 1 of which is now fixed.

 

[Woofwagon]

Great pics! Gives me ideas on layout for the equipment switches on the Suburbillac.

 

[superbuickguy]

since you waited for the end of the commercial break, we now continue with our trashing on Rancho
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - mother nature screams when I pound on her


the new shocks are long enough... yet only cost 25% of rancho products


the front is really obscene... see the washers on the rancho shock? that was to get the shock almost long enough for full drop - but you only have 2" of travel... the lower shock is its replacement...


installed


what I didn't get a picture of is I think I need to replace a CV boot at minimum and a CV joint worst case... fortunately, GM build both sides the same, and I have a spare... so I'll wait until it gets noisy or breaks.... though I may need to buy another spare so that I have another fuse... errr, cv joint (they're actually pretty cheap - like $50 cheap)

 

[Colorado_Outback]

I dig that curved light bar!

 

[superbuickguy]

So I don't think I've ever done anything but a slight highlight of the H3

Right after I got it, I started getting involved in Search and Rescue - so a winch was a mandatory addition

nice look a/c core, huh?

it doesn't last

so I welded a cheap winch plate to the frame horns... mind you, that's the crumple zone (no more)


there it is with the winch, the only down side is you can't easily see how the rope is winding - however, it's rope so it's a lot more robust if you cross it while pulling


look, crappy rancho shocks... I also used these with the central inflation stuff - the hose got torn off and that was the end of that


I also should talk about exhaust, it's aftermarket something or another... it works, it's stainless, it wasn't as expensive as going to a muffler shop... too quiet for my taste


replaced a skid plate - that transfer case is the 2nd one for this vehicle, the first lost 2 links in the chain... one got caught by the magnet, but the other was free, free as a bird to utterly screw up at least 2 gears... so the case is good, and some parts are good - and I've saved it for if I break the case. In hopes that I don't do that... I built a more robust skid plate


yeah, it's stainless because that's what I had.
another point of entry for rocks


which I did fix, and I'll find the picture later

after we take another break for what probably was the most expensive snow trip I've ever had. On the same trip I blew the t-case, I also slid into a log... I had talked myself out of mud tires... which was dumb



I glued it back together so it wouldn't look terrible for the month or so it took to get new parts

I removed the rear sway bar.... which is fine unless you're hauling a RTT


now I have lockers front and rear so the need for more droop is lessened
day playing in the snow with new mud tires.. actually day cleaning an access trail for SAR vehicles


it was a long day


but in the end we won


this is where I found out that most portable air compressors are garbage

 

[superbuickguy]

air compressors


safe exit


I did a manifold where the air compressors run through different pressure switches... so they don't both come on at once (30 amps each at max draw)


oh GM
this is an airbag controller.. it thought my vehicle had rolled... it hadn't, but nearly $1000 later, it's now fixed


and cooling fans on the compressor


then rock sliders... and they have gotten a work out




and GM again.. when the TPS goes, you get to replace both the throttle pedal and the throttle body....


and how I get away without a front license plate - though I've done the legwork and know it's simply a matter of stopping by the WSP office and getting a "bye" letter


I've build more roof racks, and the one that's on there now isn't permanent..




that's enough for tonight, thanks for looking

 

[superbuickguy]

So I have a leaky boot and noise coming from the right front of my H3.. no worries, I'll just order new CV joints (cheap) and install them
Here it is apart, now picture this picture 6 times.


if there is anything good out of this, I do know how to do this swap pretty quickly now.

the leaking one is in the middle


the problem, the APWI joints don't have the same length of slot for the CV joint, so, if you H3 can do full travel, means it will make noise like a ratchet as the balls it the end of the slots....
which means tomorrow I get genuine GM ones delivered, and Sunday I'll go for the magic 7 times and replace the joints.

So what did I learn?
1) it's pretty easy to take it apart, you need a 18 mm wrench, 18 mm socket, 21 mm socket, a 21 mm wrench or a vise grip, a screw driver to pop the abs lines off, a jack and a chain to hold the jack to the frame while you compress the lower a-arm. (all this is from memory as I had this car apart 6 times in 2 days).
2) I'm at 23.75 (max is 24.5 inches) from the centerline of the wheel to the fender - and that is too much for the APWI CV joints
3) Amazon has the best deal on GM CV joints (you know, the ones that work and lasted 120,000 miles) at 190/each
4) I'm saving my driver's side CV for a spare
5) rebuilding CV joints for this cost nearly $1,200
6) pay close attention to how the lines are routed.... otherwise you may be bleeding brakes or finding the abs connection on the back of the metal fender well.

 

[Woofwagon]

Are you concerned about those cooling fans getting filled with moisture and rusting solid? Or are they IP67-68 rated?

 

[red06xlt]

I've been trying to track done some decent shocks for my H3 what part #s did you go with?

 

[superbuickguy]

Are you concerned about those cooling fans getting filled with moisture and rusting solid? Or are they IP67-68 rated?

1) they're cheap
2) they've been there for 3 years and still work great
3) they're weatherproof (whatever that means IRL)
4) they're not, actually, needed according to Viair, so even if they don't work - the air compressors are still warrantied.

I've been trying to track done some decent shocks for my H3 what part #s did you go with?

Skyjacker Nitro 8000 N8003, N8029. In answer to your next question, I don't remember who I bought them from, but the total cost with shipping was less that $135 for all 4.

 

[Woofwagon]

1) they're cheap
2) they've been there for 3 years and still work great
3) they're weatherproof (whatever that means IRL)
4) they're not, actually, needed according to Viair, so even if they don't work - the air compressors are still warrantied.

Works for me! I may have to do something similar for the AC pump I'm installing in the spare tire recess. Those fans are probably rated at IP66 which basically means that they can take splash but not complete immersion or direct high pressure water streams.

 

[superbuickguy]

So I finally got the new cv joints in place... no pictures, I figure the ones from before should suffice.

And the rack, I hated the latest lights I had on the rack - they aren't very bright, and they showed signs of water leaking inside them - so it was time to do a few upgrades...

add rails back on to protect the light and get my RTT over the lights


and update the lights... one of the things sorely missing is being able to light up around corners - so my clever way of solving that problem is to turn the rack around... it removes lights from the back - and puts them on the front at a 45* angle. I have lights down below the backup lights; if I need more light, I'll know soon enough and I have a couple ideas for that (such as putting the lights on the pillar. I'd put them back up on top; but they always were in the way when loading stuff on top....



I have another set of the new lights that I might put on as well.... dunno, I think these should be more than enough

 

[underdrive]

Neat truck, doesn't look over the top yet it functions well for what you need it for. I only got one suggestion - police-style spot lights, on both sides. Lots of light where you want it, pretty much none where you don't.

Also have you thought of building something like a half-exocage, pretty much hoops that run between your sliders and the bumpers so next time you slide into a tree it is them that take the brunt of the impact, and not the fenders or the wheels?

 

[superbuickguy]

spot lights? I've thought about them, but they don't clear the parking garage or my garage.... carrying one of these and putting it on top when the need arises...

I probably should put better fender protection on it (as I have already knocked a fender off), but since, with the gear, I'm at 6000 lbs - another few hundred more for fender protection doesn't seem worth it... this is my daily driver - I'm building a FJ40 for more extreme stuff - with that said, I've got a couple hard scratches where someone hit my H3 in a parking lot, so perhaps I should for the adze holes.

 

[SDDiver5]

I envy your garage.