H3 Trail Pics from Deer Valley!!!

humbebe, i wish i had one of you crossing the first river. i thought this one was pretty good though

[FormerJeeper]

Well, I don't want to put dings in my brand new rig anymore than you do

Seriously, as Tacocat mentions, this is a dangerous sport and over confidence or stupidity (like drinking on the trail) just leads to accidents.

My first trip on Swamp was with my XJ Cherokee which had 6" of lift and ARB lockers front and rear and a winch.
I needed all of this equipment, mainly due to my inexperience.

The second trip is when I had to winch over the guy in the FJ40 who had rolled and was sitting upside down on the trail. His wife had walked for miles to find our camp and her husband was still concussed when we found him.
The idiot had just bought a fully tricked out FJ40 and had no clue how to drive it.

He had driven Swamp Lake alone, with no CB, no extra water, no first aid kit and found himself upside down with cuts and bruises.
Lucky for him I decided to take every bit of recovery gear with me, including two snatch blocks for the winch. I needed both because of the tight nature of the trail I had to go up to the side of the hill, around a big boulder and down to his rig.

I need to get some stuff done to the rig before I'll go anywhere near a trail like Swamp.
Things like getting a CB fitted and some way to mount a Co2 bottle for airing back up my tires.
I'd like to have a winch too, but nobody is making a winch bumper for the H3 yet, although there were rumours of two in the pipe.

I'll get back to you...

-C

[dukein]

Awesome!!!!! Can't wait to get my rocker panel, underbody and transfer case prot installed to join the fun.

[Sewie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by FormerJeeper:
Got my rockrails installed today.
Los Gatos Hummer hooked me up great!
They took the chrome side steps off and gave me a set of rock rails in return.
You can't get better service than that

-C </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey FormerJeeper,

How much were those rails? And who did you work with there? I bought my H3 at LG and know a couple of guys in the service dept there.

[HummBebe]

The rest of the pics will be posted on the http://www.norcalhummergroup.org We had at least 4 cameras so we are getting everyones photos together.

Keep checking the website!

And you are welcome to come along!

[Jason_Navy]

Hello Everyone! I'm new here so I’ll make a quick intro. I was actually in the process of buying a minivan when a co-worker pulled up Hummer.com and says, "You know, these H3's are the same price as that van your looking at". Well, long story short, I’m looking to purchase my H3 in about 60 days.

I'm actually in the Navy and once had an opportunity to drive a HMMWV 500 miles on the German Autobahn. It wasn't exactly a speed demon, we estimated the top speed was 75mph downhill, the speedometer stopped at 60 or 65 if I remember correctly. We were also loaded with equipment. I also remember climbing steep mountains and passing all the 18-wheelers like they were standing still.

Sorry for rambling on, I do have a question for HummBeebe: How well do you feel your stock tires performed, especially at the water crossings? I've read a few posts were people were saying the Bridgestone tires were not really off-road capable. If those were the stock tires in your pictures, they look plenty capable to me, I was would just like to hear your thoughts on them.

[tacocat]

Looks like a blast.

Swamp Lake gets pretty hairy after Red Lake. I'm not sure if an H# can make it between the two boulders entering Red Lake.

If you can, blank out your plates.

[HummerNewbie]

Sounds like a great plan. If you are going to the extent of getting a second set of wheels, I would consider looking at a more aggressive tire that will be better for a more wide variety of terrain. I am by no means a tire expert though.

[HummBebe]

Oh look!!! Another Nor Cal H3 owner!! Welcome.

Keep your eyes on the http://www.norcalhummergroup.org site and we will post the whole groups there!



It's time to buck up little soldier

[CLAYDOG]

Jason_Navy
I want to say thank you for your service to our Country also.

As far as 35s go, after talking to one of the H3 designers, they should be no problem at all if you turn up the front torsion bars so the truck sits level. The H3 was designed with 35s on it , but was backed off to 33s for tire chain clearance.

[FormerJeeper]

Got my rockrails installed today.
Los Gatos Hummer hooked me up great!
They took the chrome side steps off and gave me a set of rock rails in return.
You can't get better service than that

-C

[HummBebe]

Jason_Navy
First and foremost, I want to thank you for your service to our Country.

As far as the stock 33's go they were fine for what we were doing. We also have to keep in mind that Bridgestone designed these tires especially for the H3 and that they made it thru the Rubicon on them.( I have the advebture package)

If shorterbus has his way, I will have some serious mud and snow tires before the year is over.
There are some pics posted on other threads where some H3's have put 35's on the stock rigs without lifting them and they seem to work ok.

I would pose the question: will the breakover angles be the same based on the fact that there is so much more tire filling up the wheel well?
Maybe one of the technical people on this site could answer that.

I'm jealous that you spent 500 miles in a HMMWV.

See you on the trail!


It's time to buck up little soldier

[HummBebe]

Here is a few pics from Deer Valley in Norcal. Stay tuned for more pictures of the day on http://www.norcalhummergroup.org .

It was a fabulous day. I cannot say enough for the helpfulness (they immediately pulled off the chrome side steps when I arrived), the responsibility, (the trail bosses were immediately responsive when we asked to be spotted)and always took us on a line with concerns for the saftey and condition of our vehicles.

This is THE group to offroad with. IMO







My advice to other H3's??

GET OUT THERE!!!

The two trail bosses were completely surprised by the perfomance of the H3. They both drove H1's.
I think if this truck were in the hands of a seasoned driver, it would be an amazing ride.

As for my husband and I....we can't wait to do it again. This was our very first experience ever off road.

WHAT A GAS!

[HummBebe]

Ditto

I'll be in the South Bay tomorrow, If my dealer won't do it, I'll try LGH?


It's time to buck up little soldier

[HummBebe]

Here is a set of 35"tires on an H3:

http://elcova.com/groupee/forums/a/albumcomments/f/4871...871055631#8871055631

Tell me what you think, I think they look great!

It's time to buck up little soldier

[tacocat]

Spotters aren't only necessary, they speed things along substantaily. I don't think I would have picked those lines in pic 3 and 4, without a spotter.

[RazM]

canuck, I was wondering the same thing! I'm looking for a trail to take the H3 on around the GTA (up to 2 hours or so outside of it is fine)
The QEW is not a very fun trail, although all those VW bugs do make for good obstacles.

HummBeebe: Great pictures, looks like a fun time

[HummerNewbie]

Sure looks like a great time. Keep the pics coming

[tacocat]

A full size? Ouch.

[HummBebe]

We had three water crossings, no problems at all.
As for being tame, I was told this part of the trail was pretty tame, about a "5", there was a "7" section of the trail, we did not get to on this trip.
The trail was very crowded and we did alot of sitting and waiting. An all jeep poker rally was in front of us, one jeep even ran out of gas. We sat behind it for a while.
There are some other pics to be posted, one of them was HummBeebe on three wheels!!!
I'll post them in the photo section when I get them.