[WV NATIVE]

Well well well... if it isn't my stupid decisions biting me in the ass AGAIN. The Detroit Axle CV axle inner joints are already going out. I'm still running the badlands lift with the swap but I guess I just had my T-bars too high for too long. I should have just had the salvage yard pull the CV's off when I got the spindles & LCA's. I didn't realize how shitty the aftermarket CV's are compared to OEM. I just thought that "new" would be better than "used" for something like this. But these P'sOS grumble bad when cresting fast bumps and there's now some wiggle between the inner joint and shaft. and a slight tear in a boot. AND a somewhat-constant vibration. shit.

What brand CV's are yall running, or originals from a part-out? or brand new ACDelco? $500 for a set of new Delcos kills me inside. Thanks for any advice!!

I’ve been victim of the siren song that aftermarket cv axles sing.

I now only recommend and use oem cv axles. They are simply better.

I find them used and actually see them cheap on Amazon.

 

[MainstreaM]

Aftermarket "new" axles have a different design on the inner CV than factory. They are cheaper to manufacture with the different design but have limitations on travel. Which is fine for Karen going to the grocery store. I have seen pics of aftermarket axles binding enough to explode at max droop when wheeling on trails. Very well documented on the H3 sites and pages. Get new OEM or OEM Reman's. I have a set of the aftermarket new axles and they are getting swapped soon.

 

[FarmerNic]

Thanks for the replies! Out of curiosity, I've done a ton of googling to try and figure out exactly what the design difference is between the OEM's and aftermarkets' inner joint and couldn't find anything definitive. Both are plunging tripods, (ACDelco's website specifically states that its a "tripod joint") but I've seen these pictures of 2 different kinds of plunging tripods. One being a "closed tripod design" and the other an "open tripod design." Really can't find any info online about them though. Maybe this is the difference?

The Detroit ones I got have the semi-triangular bell housing like the closed-tripod in the first picture, and most other reman/new aftermarket and the Delcos all have a smooth circular bell housing. I'm close to graduating engineering school so this is all just very intriguing to me.

Regardless, I'm leaning towards picking up the pair of axles off a part-out in the area. It's a bit of a drive, and he won't come down from $150 for the pair, but I'll give them a good look-over and decide. Donor h3 is allegedly stock and has 188k. Should be okay I hope. Freakin Amazon bumped the price of the ACDelcos up from $250 to $280+ this week too...

 

[Californiacanyon12]

EDITED ON 9/16/19... REAR DISC AND H3 DIF SWAP IS POSSIBLE SEE POST #19 FOR THE WRITE UP

Hello i am new on the forum and will be doing a write up on everything you need to swap your front suspension and brake set up to the h3 setup. I did a lot of reading on here before attempting the swap, but based on my reading i am in the first to actually attempt this swap. Doing this swap gives you about 2.5in wider stance, bigger brakes and 4 piston calipers, more travel, and my favorite, non captive rotors lol. Also now after doing the swap my tires no longer rub, (I run 35s with no lift, and before doing the swap even after a lot of cutting, pre runner fenders, and BFH still rubbed quite a bit, especially with 2 inch spacers.) So here is a list of the H3 parts that are needed:
Upper control Arms
Lower control arms
Steering knuckle and hub bearing
inner and outer tie rods
shocks
cv axles (u may want to change the axle seals as well while everything is apart)
upper ball joint bolt
lower control arm hardware (i.e. shock bolt, frame bolt that goes behind the torsion bar, etc.)
pads and rotors
calipers
caliper hoses
sway bar and links and bushings (if you are still running one)

:emoticonwithoutpics:emoticonwithoutpics:emoticonwithoutpics:emoticonwithoutpics:emoticonwithoutpics

i attached all the pics i took during install and also the stance after

A few other things i had to do is cut the bump stop perch off the frame to clear the shocks , im not sure if this is because i went with fox shocks and they have a large shock body so if you go with a more stock shock u may not have to. i also had to change the connector on the h3 abs sensor (my abs light is on not sure if its because the computer cant read the different style sensor or because the sensor r bad being that i got my knuckles with the hub bearing and sensors from a junk yard, so im still working on the abs). I definitely recoment this upgrade, my truck handles and stops much better and i can turn all the way left and right. Also aesthetically, the h3 stuff looks much nicer. Hope this is helpful

Is this doable on a 2012 2wd ?

 

[DustybirdmaN]

Torsion bar frame or coils?
If you have torsion bar frame, then yes. Would be more work though, depending if you wanted to make it 4wd or not

 

[FarmerNic]

just a little update in case people still follow this thread. The H3 suspension with no droop limiter or bump stops KICKS ASS rock crawling. Went and tore up the 3-star trails at Hot Springs with some jeeps the other day. If I had McNeill fenders and CV axles that were not made in china I wouldn't have had any problems whatsoever.

 

[FarmerNic]

So… a little rumor I heard on some H3 Facebook groups seems to be true. They’ve been well aware of the compatibility of the Colorado ZR2’s $4000 GM Performance telescoping CV axles for years. Obviously those would work for us H3 swapped folks too. But I’ve only seen evidence of one H3 owner actually getting them, as the price tag is absurd. Well, you would think that if the GM Performance Colorado ZR2’s cv axles would work, why wouldn’t the normal style ACDelcos? H3 groups’ consensus was that the normal ZR2’s axles were just a hair (<1/2”) too long and the inner joint would bottom out. Well I got to talking with a guy in a H3 group who said he’s installed the ACDelco ZR2 cv’s and that they work fine and he’s been recommending it to several people. So I ordered a set on summit (free shipping free returns) just to see. They have wayyyy beefier joints, thicker shafts, and are $70 cheaper a piece. Well the H3 guy I was talking to ended up being full of shit because apparently he hasn’t gotten his H3 off jackstands since he “installed” them. But I was already done installing my driver side when I learned that. But I cycled my suspension with wheel turned full lock either way, and it works for me no problem. I have no bump stop, limit strap, or droop limiter, so the only thing stopping my travel is the ball joints. And even at full steering lock, at ride height or max compression or droop, these ZR2 axles don’t pop, resist, or even make a lick of noise. The inner joint definitely rides a little farther in the cup than it was originally designed for, but the joint doesn’t bottom out or hit the cup's rim at all. It’s freaking perfect. I just drove it around town for a little while and absolutely no issues. Gonna do the passenger side when I get a chance this week. Super stoked about this. They’re so much better and cheaper than the H3 ACDelcos and now I don’t have to constantly worry about my shitty Detroits exploding. I might mess with the shaft-side inner boot a little and reclamp it a little farther down, but that seems to be the only concern so far.

 

[DustybirdmaN]

That's good news. Trakmotive makes an affordable telescoping cv shaft for a few different applications, but not for the ZR2 yet. I emailed them and they're apparently working on it.

 

[FarmerNic]

That's good news. Trakmotive makes an affordable telescoping cv shaft for a few different applications, but not for the ZR2 yet. I emailed them and they're apparently working on it.

that would be amazing! If they're actually working on it, I'm surprised they didn't start developing one right away when the Colorado ZR2 was first released. Hopefully they follow through. The telescoping ball-spline shaft design with double rzeppa joints seems so much better than any tripod. DMax store makes (or is reselling trakmotive) a telescoping one for all the 6.6 duramax silverados, and they sell them for only $200 a piece. If Trakmotive made some for the ZR2 (and subsequently H3's and us) it probably wouldn't cost a whole lot more. Way better option than getting $2500 RCV's that may or may not work for us, or selling our organs to get the GM Perf ones.

 

[DustybirdmaN]

Absolutely. It was the product manager that emailed me back, he said they're currently in development and will be out by the end of this year or early next year.

 

[FarmerNic]

Absolutely. It was the product manager that emailed me back, he said they're currently in development and will be out by the end of this year or early next year.

Hellllllll yessssss. Thank you for letting us all know. That's great news. I'll see if I can't break these ZR2 ACDelco's before then.

 

[FarmerNic]

yep, this is what I got back from Trakmotive. 🤘🤘🤘

 

[adkcolorado]

Xtt is the telescopic version? Any idea what the ballpark price will be?

 

[DustybirdmaN]

Yep. They're 215 cad for the new non-ZR2 Colorado on rockauto. So likely comparable

 

[caliheat]

Hello! Can you run h3 hubs on 2wd? I know you can not run 4wd bearings on 2wd Colorado due to the axle is needed to be captive.
anyone run h3 on 2wd???
Thanks!!

 

[DustybirdmaN]

No I dont believe so

 

[caliheat]

No I dont believe so

So you are not sure? It seems like another 2wd would had tried. Thanks though.

 

[FarmerNic]

So you are not sure? It seems like another 2wd would had tried. Thanks though.

pretty sure the H3 hubs need to be held together by the CV axle nut

 

[DustybirdmaN]

So… a little rumor I heard on some H3 Facebook groups seems to be true. They’ve been well aware of the compatibility of the Colorado ZR2’s $4000 GM Performance telescoping CV axles for years. Obviously those would work for us H3 swapped folks too. But I’ve only seen evidence of one H3 owner actually getting them, as the price tag is absurd. Well, you would think that if the GM Performance Colorado ZR2’s cv axles would work, why wouldn’t the normal style ACDelcos? H3 groups’ consensus was that the normal ZR2’s axles were just a hair (<1/2”) too long and the inner joint would bottom out. Well I got to talking with a guy in a H3 group who said he’s installed the ACDelco ZR2 cv’s and that they work fine and he’s been recommending it to several people. So I ordered a set on summit (free shipping free returns) just to see. They have wayyyy beefier joints, thicker shafts, and are $70 cheaper a piece. Well the H3 guy I was talking to ended up being full of shit because apparently he hasn’t gotten his H3 off jackstands since he “installed” them. But I was already done installing my driver side when I learned that. But I cycled my suspension with wheel turned full lock either way, and it works for me no problem. I have no bump stop, limit strap, or droop limiter, so the only thing stopping my travel is the ball joints. And even at full steering lock, at ride height or max compression or droop, these ZR2 axles don’t pop, resist, or even make a lick of noise. The inner joint definitely rides a little farther in the cup than it was originally designed for, but the joint doesn’t bottom out or hit the cup's rim at all. It’s freaking perfect. I just drove it around town for a little while and absolutely no issues. Gonna do the passenger side when I get a chance this week. Super stoked about this. They’re so much better and cheaper than the H3 ACDelcos and now I don’t have to constantly worry about my shitty Detroits exploding. I might mess with the shaft-side inner boot a little and reclamp it a little farther down, but that seems to be the only concern so far. View attachment 343896

How are the ZR2 axles holding up for you?

 

[FarmerNic]

How are the ZR2 axles holding up for you?

Perfectly so far. Haven't wheeled it yet, but I'm planning on going out to ride some trails this weekend. I'll post up how they do.