This will be a monumental day in the life of my H3. Feb. 15th, 2008 will mark the final trip to the dealer where the truck is under full warranty. I will probably have about 500 miles left before I hit 50k.

I've been waiting for a replacement battery clamp since the positive one cracked, but they have to replace the entire harness according to GM. They don't JUST have the clamp available as a part.That should be fun.

Also, I'm 99% positive one of the differential brackets/bushings are cracked again from the amount of torque/strain put on the system when the transfer case was locked up the last time.

The symptoms on a 5-speed are simple: it progressively has more slack letting off the gas to where the truck is bobbing back and forth and you can feel it get worse over time. I've had this problem fixed 3 times already, and this will be the 4th if I'm right. I've been correct about diagnosing this 100% of the time so far, so I'm pretty sure they have cracked again.

Mike is going to have the same guy that found the problem the last time put the ears up to it, since that's how he found it before. The problem is the last 2 times, it wasn't found unless you take apart the differential mountings and have the ears on it to hear the noise. You can't tell just by looking at it unfortunately.

I'm going to physically be there the entire time since I have the day off, so I'll be able to see what's going on.

And as silly as it sounds, I asked Mike to give me the dealeremblem to put on the truck. These guys are the best and I feel almost obligated to give them some free advertising with all the crap I put them through Their logo looks really nice too, better then the others I've seen.

You'll see all that once the truck is done

Wish me luck, again

 

drive to a bad part of chicago, park the truck with the windows down and the leave the keys on the seat....that's the best thing you could do for that truck.

 

Well, the the truck's defense, this differential bushing issue has always been caused as a result of something else on the drivetrain breaking and causing immense stress on the differential. I guess maybe the 5-speed has a bit more torque then the automatic. Who knows.

 

Well, 1st gear is lower on the 5sp than the automatic.

 

Thanks for sharing all this good information. It is rare to find good stuff for the manual trannies. I haven't noticed any of the symptoms that you have described on my H3, but I will pay more attention now. I haven't beat mine up too bad off-roading, but I do drive it pretty hard in the city, so I may be inflicting the same damage.

 

Or maybe it's from dropping the clutch at those stop light drag races

 

you should have followed your instinct and moved that pebble out of your way instead of running over it . . . . . . . i agree with Impy on the parking and window scenario. you probably wouldn't even have to leave the keys on the seat . . . .

 

Cbetts, I try because we have a very small community of manual tranny owners here. I have been off-roading twice, both of which have never produced any mechnical problems. This always happens as a result of street driving, and mostly when something fries on the drivetrain causing the 4WD to torque up the entire front drivetrain, causing pressure on the diff. brackets and bushings making them crack and break.

Luckily I have a great service department to take care of me. Some people aren't as fortunate.

 

in all fairness to your ,,,ahemmm offroading adventures.....cbetts...the man got out of his truck to move a rock out of the trail....so I don't know if I would put his trips into the offroad catagory...LOL

 

Maybe he was just clearing the road for other non-Hummers to follow . . .