Sway Bar

Pages: [1] 2

2zRescue

12/12/2007 9:21:08 PM

What do you think about a sway bars? Has any one installed one on their H3?

GarrettMoore

12/12/2007 9:28:40 PM

As in installing a thicker one to decrease roll / increase handling?

If you took that route, I think you'd be polishing a turd.

Hummer Guy

12/12/2007 9:33:24 PM

I'm with GMoore - I don't think you'll notice much of a difference from the factory sway bar -- but maybe someone on here has done it and can say different.

D VADER

12/13/2007 4:10:18 AM

I'm an advocate of better handling. The H3 does lean a great deal in cornering. The front sway bar on the H3 is massive but doesn't quite get the job done. I'm not aware of any aftermarket front and rear sway bars for the H3.

duckstu

12/13/2007 7:01:00 AM

The H3 understeers a ton. I.e. the front tires squeal and slide WAY before the rears do.

To correct that you'd want to install a larger REAR bar. That would decrease lean a bit and improve the handling a chunk.

Here is a link to a company that makes a larger rear bar, and includes stiffer front bushings. $264.00
http://www.teakatoys.com/Hummer_H3_Sway_Bar_by_Hellwig_p/hw-7682.htm

To save a few bucks (and because I have a welder) I did this instead. I modified the stock bar, so as to make it adjustable. Then installed the endlinks into the new inner hole.

The stock bar is solid and pinched at the end. I added some weld to the top and bottom of each end an inch or two from the ends,..and then ground that part of the round bar flat. All this to extend the flat and wide area where the endlinks attach to further in on the bar. Then I drilled a new set of holes an inch inboard of the origionals,..and hit the bar with some black spray paint. The endlinks are actually closer to vertical than before.

Another thing you can do is add some negative camber to the front. With the stock adjusters you can easilly get over 2 degrees negative. I've tried that and it goes around freeway cloverleafs like it's on rails (believe it or not). But it looks odd. I'd suggest -1 degree (zero is stock).

My recomendation is an alignment with -1 degree of camber in front and the Helwig kit. I'm confident it will make a night & day improvement in your H3.

I also lowered my car a good bit. If you'd like to flatten out the rake of yours a bit, there are 2 ways to go about it. The more common one on this forum is to jack up the front. Simple to do,..but it should make the car handle a tiny bit worse than it does stock (raises ceter of gravity, raises the roll axis and changes it's angle, and messes with the suspension geometry).

A different approach would be to drop the rear a bit. It's just a solid axle on leaf springs,..so lowering it does nothing to the suspension geometry except add an almost unmeasurable amount of caster from the front. I have had mine at -2" for a long time and lately at -3". Starts to look odd there though. Most people on this forum wouldn't like it. You might find that a 1" or 1'5" drop makes the car look really good and even improves the handling a touch. You'll need a set of spring blocks (1" might be best if you want it to still look tall and manly,..but just a bit flatter). and you'll need some new and longer "U" bolts. Stock "U" bolts are 3 5/8" ID and 7.25" long. So you'd add your desired drop to the 7.25" length. (So with 1" lowering bnlocks you'd need 8.25" or longer "U" bolts).

Here is a link to 1" lowering blocks ($12.95 a pair) http://www.gcustoms.com/product_info/category_id/5/subcategory_id/139/subcategory2_id/4009/products_id/263/

And to "U" bpolts. You can trim off the excess if you don't want anything sticking down. $12.50
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/u-bolt-58-x-3-58-x-10-p-215.html

So bottom line (bottom line #2) The helwig kit,...1" rear drop,...and alignment with -1 degree front camber. Helwig kit, lowering parts and alignment should run you a grand total of $355.00

RealJeep

12/13/2007 7:34:45 AM

Let me get this straight...You're wanting to make a 4,700 pound truck shaped like a brick a sports car?

duckstu

12/13/2007 7:40:23 AM

No,..just handle safely. It handles like a stuck pig in stock form,...always squealing the tires all over the place.

Just because it weighs 4,700 lbs doesn't mean it has to handle badly. If I can do a few minor things to make it drive better,,......WHY NOT?

KS Trekker

12/13/2007 7:41:44 AM

Post Deleted

duckstu

12/13/2007 9:37:21 AM

quote:

ORIGINAL: D VADER

On a tight turn the H3 drags it's door handles. Not everyone buys an H3 to climb rocks.

Exactly. Just because a car is 4wd doesn't mean it has to drive poorly. Some 4wd vehicles drive very well on the street (which is where 99.5+ percent of all Hummer H3 miles are logged I'd bet). Disconectable swaybar end links and stiff aftermarket swaybars are common in offroading. A friend of mine was the manager at a 4x4 shop and that was one of the first things he would do to his Jeeps. It allowed the vehicle to drive much better when on the road,..and by pulling out a couple of pins, also allow it to work much better off road. There's no rock piles or muddy roads that I have to drive down to get to work from my house (I live in a city), so I haven't bought any disconectable endlinks.

I don't understand how making a vehicle work well is anything like dating a transvestite. I should think making your vehicle work its' best for the type of driving you do would be more like dating a model,..and insisting it drive badly would be like settling for a fat chick.

duckstu

12/14/2007 10:42:05 AM

quote:

ORIGINAL: importkiller
Why even buy one if all your going to do is change the trucks entire make-up to make it more like other pos fake 4x4's....JMO.

Because I needed a station wagon and wanted something that didn't look like a minivan. The H3 works fine for that purpose. It has a few flaws,...some of which were corrected by the '07 and '08 model year.

About every car you have ever seen was designed to have a larger rear bar than it ends up with in production. It's a result of how letigious our society is. Too many shady lawyers.

When some ding-bat gets in an accident,...the lawyers try to blame anyone they can,..especially someone with deep pockets. So GM like every manufacturer, must take steps to protect themselves.

With a bigger rear bar,..the car will handle more neutrally, and have more overall grip. Evasive manuvres will be more successfull. However,...if someone that doesn't know how to drive makes too agressive a move with it,...it can tail slide and even spin out.

In a lawsuit,....if the ding-bat runs into another car because they couldn't avoid hitting them,...it would be impossible to proove that the avoiding manuvre would have been successfull if the car had a bigger bar. But it would be very easy to blame the manufacturer if the vehice spun out. So the manufacturers' legal team makes them use really small rear bars and let their cars understeer massivly.

So the way I see it,...I'm just trying to make the car drive the way it should. No reason a 4wd car has to have massive understeer. Regardless of what it weighs or how knobby it's tires are. It's no less capable than it was before. It just drives better, is safer and more comfortable.

I don't have any areas that need compensating for,..so I don't need to jack my station wagon 6" up in the air and install swamper tires to feel good about myself. I also don't have any deep mud pits between my house and my business. If I'm going to have to drive it 8,000 miles a year,..I want it to drive as well as is reasonably possible. If I can do a couple small things and have it drive very nicely,...I'm going to do that. It's my choice. And if one of the other 99% of H3 owners that uses their H3 as daily transportation asks for advice on doing the same,....well, I'm happy to share.

It's fine with me that you think of your H3 as an offroad vehicle primarilly. I enjoy looking at pictures of ones where people have tried to make them look as big and menacing as they can with brush guards, lift kits, roof racks, oversize tires, black spray-painted rims, etc. None of that will help me pick up supplies from Sams Club of course, or make it ride better, so I don't do it,..but it fine for them.

No reason to get on my case for modifying mine the way I like (I don't criticize the way you modify yours). If GM only sold H3's to people that offroaded them,...they'd only sell 1-5% as many. Then they'd have to sell them for $80,000 a copy. Then you wouldn't have one. So really,..it's the vast majority of street-only H3 drivers like myself that make it so cheap for you to have one. You're welcome.

duckstu

12/14/2007 11:53:03 AM

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheGunnyRet

Well, let's see if your tires squeal around corners you might want to check your Tire Pressures, or go with a lower profile tire will get you better handling too. Swaybar is for Body roll the stock one is 25mm, anything larger is an improvement and will stiffen your ride, you could add a leaf to increase your stiffness more, SAMCO makes torsen bar upgrade. You could go with custom valved shocks as well. I notice the old argument with why would you want to improve on perfection (Persay). Usually when you purchase your vehicle you take more than looks into consideration, but I might be wrong. Yes, its not a Porsch, but I don't take exit ramps at 70mph. I wonder if eibach makes springs for the H3? MLITI.

I do check my tires regularly with a dampned LongAcre tire guage. I keep a high pressure nitrogen tank around for tires. I've tried a few different pressures. The factory recomended 35 seems to work as well as any.

I found the front tires were feathering a bit on the outer edges (from moderate cornering) on the stock alignment. I dialed in a bit of negative camber in front. This not only increased grip,..but tire life as well. Working out great.

Everything's a compromise. Those that off-road a lot want bigger diameter tires with more agressive tread, taller ride height, front lockers, stronger diffs etc,..and those that drive only on the street want more grip, ballance and comfort. Hummer did a good job of finding a happy middle. Each of us can tweak that middle a bit to their own tastes.

I'd be all into better shocks and perhaps fiberglass rear leaf springs. They'd weigh a lot less, so they'd give a much better ride without compromising street or off-road handling. Better shocks are always good.

I'd love to do lower profile tires too. Like some 18" wheels with the Bridgestone h/L tires instead of the A/T's. Perhaps 31" diameter.

But it all comes down to money. Mine is a lease,..so there's not a lot of money that I'm willing to dump into it. But for those that would like their H3 to drive much more competantly on the street,..the $150 rear sway bar, a $50 alignment with -1 degree of neg camber,..and a 1" drop out back for about $25. would go a long ways,..and doesn't cost much. Mine drives very nice now. I can't imagine it is any less capable offroad than it was stock,..and my freeway cloverleaf speed is up from 55 mph to 65. That represents an almost exponential increase in handling.

If more wheels were available 2 years ago,....I might have done that and then ebay'd them off when the lease is up. Discount Tire now has a good selection of nice rims pretty cheap,..but alas,..my lease is up in 8 months or so. Too late now.

If I lease another one I'd definately be up for it. A 2008 or 2009 I5 base,...bright orange. Order up that $149 swaybar,....install the rear drop kit I have installed on mine now (down 1.5" in the rear,..front at stock height probably). Then the 18" rims and some higher grip tires. It's be my urban assault vehicle. Kind of what the H3x was designed to be,....but better.