I was stupidly on dry asphalt turning sharply in slow speed trying to find grinding noise (wd40 fixed) and heard a loud snap so I thought for sure I snapped axle so I bought a new one and seal, we jacked up entire vehicle and the front wheel axles both were intact as we spun wheels while it turned the opposite one so I'm not sure what snapped. My question is why when in gear u can stop rear wheels while others spin even in locked in mode? is this normal and could a spline had jumped to make noise? thanks

 

Is your h3 a 2006? Sounds like you have the infamous plastic shifter fork problem that plagued 2006- early 2007 hummer h3s. It shifting out of lock with a bad fork will make that noise on dry pavement especially if you are turning. All three 2006 h3s I have owned had that problem. You need to have the shifter fork replaced with the upgraded metal one.

 

assuming open diffs;

if the transfer case is locked,and the rear wheels are stopped the front diff is still an open diff and turning one wheel will turn the opposite wheel like an old fashioned rear wheel drive car!

 

Thanks ill look into that fork as that may have been the loud snap noise, the scraping grinding noise was fixed by wd 40 all location I could see that touch.