Prospective Buyer

[MarineHawk]

I’m debating between waiting about 2 years before I can buy afford to buy a 2-yr-old H1 with the Duramax/Allison compbo and keeping my GMC Sierra until then or being impatient and buying an H3 in the next year. I have some questions for anyone who cares to offer advice. My main concern is off-road capability, but I must admit, when I lived in Colorado, I scoffed at vehicles that couldn’t keep at least 50 mph going up the 6% grades on the mountain highways while I barreled along at 70 mph with my 6.0L. I don’t mind being a little slower, but I don’t want to be pathetic. And I don’t want to get bogged down on hills off road.

I’ve read a lot of debates here about whether the 220 HP engine is deficient or not. Does anyone have enough expertise/experience to tell me whether the 25 additional HP of the alleged 3.7L would have made the difference in getting to the top here?: http://trucktrend.com/roadtests/suv/163_0510_4x4challenge/index6.html (p. 7 of 13).
Would the automatic trans have made it easier? Did the driver not know how to shift? Would better tires have helped? Surely more power would have helped one way or the other, right?

I noticed that no dealership in my area has H3s with manual trans. Does anyone have/like one in their H3? Any drawbacks? (heard about small pedal spaces). Does the unbelievable 69:1 crawls ratio of the manual trans work much better than the still-excellent 56:1 ratio for the auto trans?
Thanks in advance.

[MarineHawk]

I’m debating between waiting about 2 years before I can buy afford to buy a 2-yr-old H1 with the Duramax/Allison compbo and keeping my GMC Sierra until then or being impatient and buying an H3 in the next year. I have some questions for anyone who cares to offer advice. My main concern is off-road capability, but I must admit, when I lived in Colorado, I scoffed at vehicles that couldn’t keep at least 50 mph going up the 6% grades on the mountain highways while I barreled along at 70 mph with my 6.0L. I don’t mind being a little slower, but I don’t want to be pathetic. And I don’t want to get bogged down on hills off road.

I’ve read a lot of debates here about whether the 220 HP engine is deficient or not. Does anyone have enough expertise/experience to tell me whether the 25 additional HP of the alleged 3.7L would have made the difference in getting to the top here?: http://trucktrend.com/roadtests/suv/163_0510_4x4challenge/index6.html (p. 7 of 13).
Would the automatic trans have made it easier? Did the driver not know how to shift? Would better tires have helped? Surely more power would have helped one way or the other, right?

I noticed that no dealership in my area has H3s with manual trans. Does anyone have/like one in their H3? Any drawbacks? (heard about small pedal spaces). Does the unbelievable 69:1 crawls ratio of the manual trans work much better than the still-excellent 56:1 ratio for the auto trans?
Thanks in advance.

[MarineHawk]

Also, it is possible to put some kind of front-end locker on the H3?

[fiveOHummer]

I would like to see someone design the front locker but haven't heard anything yet. Maybe ARB will step up

[nmikes]

Front lockers have been discussed, you can use the find at the top. Essentially, the half shafts aren't up for a front locker. You'll need a solid front axle to really be able to do it.

The rest is a can of worms one could write a book on. You'll have to look at the big picture. If you are towing anything, yes tires will make a difference the stock '33s are pretty hard and don't grip as well as I would like. Dealerships here also pretty much only carried automatics... I would have preferred a manual, but finally went with the automatic because of traffic in this area and it had something like 1000 lbs greater towing capacity than the manual... Havn't been roading with a manual so can't really compare the two... I've got the stabilitrac wich seems to work well. Manuals do make the thing feel a little more zippier. If you are going to be roading with jeeps I'd get a 3, if you are going to be roading with other full sized vehicles get the 1. But then again you can buy two 3's for the price of a one year or two old 1. I don't think you will have that much of a noticable difference with the 3.7 opposed to the 3.5 liter except the larger engine is probably going to be more expensive and your fuel economy will be less. If speed, engine displacement, and manueverablility are even remote considerations, I'd give it a long hard thought. This is not exactly the first choice someone might have to take drifting. It can get down right claustrophobic if you roadtrip and don't have the sunroof. I've taken mine from Seattle to Denver and fixing to take it from Seattle to DC... it can get downright cramped after about 20 hours in the saddle so there is that as well. But ultimately its a hummer and I don't think with any hummer you can really go wrong.

[f5fstop]

My opinion would have been that a manual would have made it since I got the impression from truck trend that the drive had a problem finding the right gear ("here, the manual transmission made it difficult to quickly find the right gear"). If you can't find the gear you will roll back, and launcing on a hill is harder than with an auto. The auto would downshift to the right gear.
Plenty of test vehicles climbed similar if not steeper grades, and I believe there have been some posts here of non-GM employees climbing similar grades with no problems.
In Sept. and Dec. I did some 6% and greater grades in Eastern TN (I believe the greatest was about 8.5%), not on an interstate but on some mountain roads, and had no problems keeping it up to 65-70...yes it does downshift, but I kept it in 3rd while climbing the roads. You can't pass a heavy truck clocking around at 50 when going up one of these grades, even in a long straight portion of the road, but flat or downhill was no problem.
I have not tried the Bridgestones on Rock, but in gravel/loose dirt and on pavement, I have no complaints. But the majority of those GM test vehicles used the Bridgestones and they seemed to have no problems (other than ripping off the rear license plate).
Hopefully, some from you state or other western states will post some comments.

[MarineHawk]

Thanks for the comments guys. I would like to get the extra horses if possible because it would push it to about 1:20 HP:weight ratio (appx 245HP:4900lbs). It seems in my experience that the 1:20 ratio (and I know it depends on the particular configuration) is about the point where the power goes from adequate to satisfying.
One more important question: Can you put a winch on this thing?