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2007 H3 I have a clicking noise periodically while under acceleration
Hummer H3For the Hummer driver who wants the rugged look and off road capabilities of the Hummer, but in a smaller size and with a more fuel economy friendly engine.
I had a similar issue and it took me awhile to diagnose. When I rotated my tires I found the problem. It wound up being the chrome peeling form the inside of my rims and coming into contact with my brake calipers as my tires rotated. If your H3 is an X and has chrome rims look at the inside surface.
I have aftermarket rims on mine- Ultra Type 50- I believe are aluminum alloy rims. I checked for any debris but see nothing. Noise only happens when under acceleration, if I let off the gas the noise quits. Thinking it has to be when the drive shaft is under a load. I snapped a couple pics of front end. Looks like passenger side may have a leak.
What you have in the pics are the Half Shafts (between the front Diff and Wheel Hubs), the drive (propeller) shafts come out of the T Case into the front and rear Differentials.
Grab hold of the front drive shaft and see if it has any play, there should be none. U Joints start soft and get noisier as they go, usually some clunks and squeeks, not hard to tell when they go. The CV joint will make a racket and cause vibration when it gets tired. Clicking is not the way I would describe the symptom of failure.
The CV joint at the rear is can be rebuilt with a kit, the front U Joint can be replaced.
If your Half Shaft boots are not torn or cracked, they should be good. If they are wearing out they will start making noise and even feel choppy in tight very low speed turns, like into a tight parking space tight turn.
I will look into the front driveshaft for play. Definitely a clicking sound almost like a card in the spokes of a bicycle. Sometimes loud sometimes quiet, sometimes no sound at all. When it is noisy it will quit if I am not on the gas petal. As far as the half shafts- is it normal to have a gap on the passenger side near the diff? I got stuck in a deep rut while fixing some pasture fence recently and just want to make sure I didn’t tear something up.
When the Half Shaft is installed into the Diff or the Driver side axle tube, it is held into position by a detent in the shaft. When you push the Half Shaft end into the carrier, it "clicks" into position. H3 Half Shaft inner CV joint can move liner, so you could get under there and see if it moves in or out of the Diff, there should be no play. If there is any play, try to push it into the diff until you feel the click into its spot.
I have heard of aftermarket Half Shafts being too short and popping out of the diff stripping the shaft's splines. That would make a racket for sure.
Sheared off manifold bolt
Don't rule out a leaking exhaust manifold as well. I just discovered a missing bolt (broken off) on my driver's side manifold on the 5.3L. It ticks under acceleration until the manifold warms up and expands. Apparently it's a common problem.
Last edited by heyttsguy; Sep 5, 2018 at 09:32 AM.
