Today my H3 starts life anew! This morning Dew HUMMER installed my steering shaft in record time and here's what I learned:
1- The pedal vibrations went away
2- The clunking sounds are gone over bumps
3- The steering wheel is tighter and has a firmer feel when turning
4- And most importantly...The sounds and feels that I thought were drive line slop have disappeared! For those who are new to this issue...When driving in stop and go traffic at about 20 MPH you let off the gas and coast then step on the gas again and get this clunking feeling like your driveline is wrapping up. Well Boys and Girls, it wasn't the driveline at all, it was that stinking lower steering shaft! Almost all clunks, vibrations and noise are gone from my H3. Who would have thought such a small part would have made such a big difference? And to top it all off I was in and out of the dealer in less than an hour and a half! Am I happy? Can't you tell? [sm=groupwave.gif][sm=happybounce.gif][sm=thanx.gif]

 

Thats great news man. Glad you got your problem solved in such a short period of time. My experience with any dealership historically has made me book a half day visit They always seem to take forever.

 

I love stories with Happy Endings!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i, too, had the "redesigned" lower shaft installed yesterday. i have to agree that driving home in the 100+ degree weather, that there were absolutely no rattles, clunks, vibration through the peddles/steering whell, etc. so, now it's time to just enjoy and see if something similar comes back but his time in cold weather!!

 

Good news. The FIX IS IN! Anybody got pics of the old vs the new?

I'll have to make an appointment for mine, even though I have 7200 miles and its only done the clunking like 5 times when real hot and muggy. I'm wiating for my dealer to practice up on the replacement

 

and apparently, the fix doesn't take long at all. most of the time is letting the assembly "cool off". dropped mine off in the morning and they had it done right before lunch. tech said it was any easy switch out of the lower shaft.

 

Got mine last week. I had an hour drive to the dealer ans it took about 3 hours to fix up. In the end it really took most of the day but, boy was it worth it. The funny part was it rain all the way there and it was the cooliest day we have had in a month. Because of the cool weather, I was not too sure it was really fixed. It has been back to the high 90s now and very thing is still working great.

 

Are you guys saying this is heat related and it's at its worse on hot days??

 

YEP. Theory is the dampener in the lower shaft gets heated and then it is too soft/flexible and wiggles.

 

I've got about 4500 miles on my '07. Among the manycomplaints I'm only experiencing one. In traffic letting off the gas and getting back on it causes a clunking noise. Could this be the cause?