I remember when I ordered the H2 in Mar02, the standard tires were 285's with 4:10 gearing, 35's was an option at that time. Later, GM decided to go with the 35's as standard. It would have been nice to change the gearing too, maybe 4:30's or 4:56 with the 35's.

I've had no mechanical problems running the 37's. They are 22 lbs heavier than stock tires mounted on stock rims. The extra weight is noticeable and does takes some getting adjusted to. Fact is the H2 is already a heavy vehicle, and the 37's will just make it feel heavier and slower responding than the 35's. Maybe not for everyone.

The H2 was designed using GM "off the shelf parts", front A-arms, torsion bars, ball joints, CV joints are from the 3/4 HD PU, tie rods, right? All these parts should be strong enough to support the use of 35's and 37's. There are plenty of lifted 3/4 GM PU's running around on 38's. Of course they don't weigh 6400 lbs either.

I agree, the tie-rods are a weak link. Everyone who's crawled under the H2, probably shook their heads when seeing the tie rod linkage and lower A-arms. They don't look like "A Rock"...but it's the first year.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Why not just improve the clearance, I'd have thought it would be a piece of cake for some smart GM engineers. Then again, they may have not expected too many people to take them offroad... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Phil, this is obviously the main difference between the H1 and the H2 but it is also what makes the H2 more comfortable. The interior room is far better on the H2 but in doing so we lose the clearance that the H1 has (16") is just amazing. I sat in a few this week and 1 03 soft top today. The comfort is ok but my shoulders feel cramped a bit due to all the mechanics being up inside the truck. Oh well, it's just give and take. Back to the banana peels.

Back to Hummergirls original question this normal it does not create any problems such as tire wear or durability of the bar or any other componants.

As far as the tierod being the weak link they are much cheaper and a whole lot easier to replace in the field than say a steering gear or pitman arm. Every mechanical piece of equipment has to have a weak link or FUSE.

Guess I'd better throw in a couple of extra tie rods/ends on my next outing

This is a good part# 26059210 inner tie rod end. You can also find it at www.gmpartsdirect.com for around $30. For anyone who whells their H2 this is a very important part to carry in your tool kit.
Don't leave home without it!

Funny how things come back around, I posted the same pic about One Year Ago.