Brought home another Hummer pickup today. This one an H2. The wife sent my search for an Alpha H3T sideways. Super clean Florida truck that was brought up to Michigan 2 years ago. 37x12.50 tires on 20" wheels.

The steering is completely trashed. I see DMAX tie rods and Moog stock replacement idler/bracket and pitman arm are recommended. Are there any heavier duty dropped idler and pitman arms? Are these interchangeable with 2500HD Chey?

Bilstein shocks the way to go?

 

Look at DMAXstore, they have all sorts of steering and suspension upgrades. That's where I bought most of my stuff, them and Amazon for MOOG Heavy Duty steering parts.

 

Yes. I read your build thread and went to their site. The tie rods are the only thing they list H2 compatibility for. I'm looking at the steering geometry on this truck and it doesn't look very good. The tie-rods have a big angle down to the knuckle which would result in a lot of bump steer. I have done some searches for H2 high steer or dropped pitman arms but haven't found anyone that has done this yet.

Edit: Did some more searching. Not finding any tie rod flips, or dropped center link solutions. I did come across Cognito bracing for the pitman and idler.

 

After staring at the front end and a little more research. I think my first course of action will be to try and lower the front end a bit. It is 28" from axle center to fender lip. I saw a single post where this was supposed to be 25.5" and that stock should be okay for my 37" tires. Plan B will be to have a go at flipping the outer tie rod.

 

I replaced the idler arm with a Moog. Added the Cognito PISK. I installed the pitman Cognito brace first. This was a mistake. The idler had very minimal clearance requiring the idler bearing to be removed. With the pitman already braced, it was a bit of a wrestle getting the idler side together and installed.

The Moog idler grease hose I purchased had to be installed last. It could not be bent under the mounting braket while trying to get the assembled idler/bearing/PISK into the mount. Tapeing a steel rod to it so it would stick straight up into the engine bay was the only way I could get it started on the fitting. Completely blind operation trying to get the hose pipe thread started into the pre-installed 90 degree fitting.


Cognito PISK on H2 pitman arm

Cognito PISK Idler arm brace H2. Cannot be installed in the truck. Pre-assembles idler bearing, idler arm and bracket.

 

With the drag link stabilized I then discovered the inner tie rod ends needed replacing. I went with the DMax store's XD Tie Rods as part of my steering improvement strategy for the big tires. For an extra $70 over Moog replacements, the are very obviously beefier. They are pretty proud of these things with their packaging. I did not have issues with the larger inner ends hitting the sway bar that was warned about. I wish they had some flats on them for a wrench. They are too pretty to be putting a pipe wrench on.

Stock H2 tie rod assembly above. DMax XD tie rod below

XD Tie Rods in the box

XD Tie Rods installed stockish height H2


Four Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks, Monroe steering damper (meh), Moog replacement camber plates on driver side and ACDelco sway bar links completed the needed front end repairs. The torsion bars had been cranked all the way up. I lowered them down to where the front wheel center to fender lip is about 1/2" higher than the rear to improve the steering geometry. Truck handles quite well now on the road.

 

Correct, not many items will be listed as H2 specific anymore but the earlier 2500 front suspension parts should be all interchangeable. I say should because I don't want anyone buying up parts on my suggestion and they don't work.

 

There is whole 3-spline vs 4-spline pitman arm thing.