I received an e-mail from a friend, asking me to respond to the topic of this thread and share a little inside info on the Wilderness Ready H3. I’m also posting this to another thread on this forum discussing the Wilderness Ready H3.
Last November, AM General invited me back to South Bend to take the H3 Wilderness Ready out on the proving grounds and put it through its paces (Work, work, work). It took about half a second for me to say, “Yes!”
Turns out, I was the first one to ever off-road the WR. AMG built the truck in about four weeks specifically to show at SEMA. So they were very interested in the out come. After spending the day plowing around the course (November is a muddy month) and putting the truck through every obstacle I could find, including the Double-Whammy and the Golden Crack, we headed back to the Tech Center and put the truck up on the rack. We went over every inch of the under carriage from stem to stern examining every scrape and scratch and what I felt when it happened. A few tweaks were gleaned, but other than that, the truck was great!
Of course you have to keep in mind that the design of the WR-H3 was done by off-roaders. The guys out at the training course sat around with Bill Thompson and brainstormed about what THEY would add to the already very capable H3, if they were building one for themselves. The only limiting factor was that the modifications could not affect the trucks use as a daily driver. They also wanted to carry forth as much H1 heritage as possible and incorporate it into the H3. Hutchinson makes the dual bead lock wheels; they also make H1 wheels. An H1 CTIS air compressor was fitted into the cargo area storage drawers they made. The roof rack is the short H1 rack, rotated 90 degrees. The list goes on and on. One of the nicest things they came up with were the skid plates on the lower shock perches. You can actually feel the truck sliding up and over obstacles. The side-steps are up high and function as rocker panel protection with a ski shaped skid plate that closes out the webbing on the bottom. This means you don’t have to remove them before going off-road.
When we finished going over the results of the days adventure, I asked Bill how it does on the street. He threw me the keys and told me to take it for the evening. We spent several hours driving around downtown South Bend, through rush hour traffic and over streets that were being repaired. Rod Hall’s shocks were great in the dirt, but really fantastic on the street. Around town the ride was as smooth as a stock H3. Like all H3’s, the WR is no speed demon. I know there was talk about mechanically upping the horsepower, but no definitive solution yet.
The WR is literally wilderness ready. The plan is to offer the truck as a complete package available and serviced through the Hummer dealer network with AmStar (a company formed by AM General and Starcraft) as a third-party manufacture. Sort of like Ford does with Saleen Mustangs and Jeep does with their Rubicon. The individual parts would also be available, either at the dealer or on-line, for those wanting to add them to their truck. The front locker however, was being debated. It was looking like AMG would prefer to change the entire front diff, to something they knew would hold up to their requirements rather than risk damage to the stock one. The quick disconnects allow about a 30% increase in articulation make it a real rock hound.
The truck is supposed to be available by early summer; the parts would also become available about the same time. The total package is about a $15k hit to the price of the truck, but I know they were still working that.
If you are interested and would like to provide your feedback, we have a survey about the Wilderness Ready package available on our website (
http://www.hmrmagazine.com/multimedia.htm), under media presentations. The results are forwarded directly to AM General. So, if you’d like to let them know how you feel and what interests you about the WR-H3, here’s your chance. You can even request more information that will come directly from AMG. At the end of the survey, you can download and watch AM General’s, Wilderness Ready presentation.
Sorry for the long post, but believe me, there is a lot to talk about with this truck and I just touched on the tip of the iceberg here. We dedicated four pages to it in our last issue of HMR and there is still more to say.
Thanks for your time,
Dave
04-01-2006, 11:12 PM
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