Bumpstops

[06 H3]

I was doing some searching and found this interesting. The front seems to make a huge difference so if I was ever to do this it would be the front only. I think the front is about $700 but I will have to double check. What do you all think? One thing I dont like is that you lose the factory down travel limiter.

http://www.fourwheeler.com/projectbuild/129_0903_project_hummer_h3_alpha_suspension/viewall.html

Not sure if it is worth throwing $700 into the front end without making other more important improvements first (steering rack and diff)

 

[HUMMER INVESTMENTS]

I would say it is not a bad price. I would do it to my 3, and probably will within the next two years once the H1's bills stop spending most of the money:emb:

 

[davidh3]

Good to have them but not necessary. $700 is pricy to me. Better to buy used or price-dropped ones if you really need them.

 

[Paladine71]

I would probably do this, but need to do more research. :huh:

 

[benlaud87]

i saw the story and video from trail hugger h3 a while back and tgought those were pretty cool. i never looked up the price though

 

[06 H3]

u have the video?

I would only do the front. The bumpstops are a working part of the front suspension while the rears dont do as much. That is probably why they saw a vast improvement in the front...

 

[06 H3]

I just got off the phone with light racing, (the guys who made these) they do offer an extension kit for the rancho, its a universal 6in extension that I would have to cut to fit but I am looking into these.

A) price isnt bad IMO when you compare to similar bumpstops. Obviously stock bumpstops are way cheaper but guys who race and use speed bumps like these will run you 700-1000 bucks. I know JK speed bumps are in that range.

B) Its part of the working suspension and will improve ride quality at high speed desert wheeling and even for a DD on the road.

Either way I just need money, which is always the hold up lol...

 

[Hunner]

I looked at those back when that article came out and could not decide if on a basically stock H3 suspension if they would come in to play and add to performance for most of my wheeling. They sound like a great idea. That was when I chopped and added 1/2 inch to an OEM and have now moved along to the poly ones that Phil and Nugget conspired on. So far with those and the Alpha torsions and Bilsteins I'm in my comfort zone for what I do.
I would like to hear your results but like you say as always price makes it hard to justify.

 

[atvspeed4]

Its a complete waste of money in my opinion especially on a stockish suspension. Ive seen the pics of the wheeling you do, but guess that is generalizing. When have you ever been wheeling/ crawling and been like "damn I wish my bumpstops had more cushion" or "wow cant believe I bottomed out that hard" Its a mod that does not add any wheel travel or flex. In an application where you are doing more highspeed runs than crawling Id say yes that makes sense. Especially on stock suspension in that case. Bebe runs air bumps but also has waaay more wheel travel and has the ability to do some prerunning if she wanted to.

If you really want to get bumps order these: http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20_44&products_id=25

and http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=40_48&products_id=34

Then weld mounts to your frame. If you can do a SOA swap you can definitely handle this!

 

[06 H3]

Ride quality increases as the bumpstops are a part of suspension on road even mall crawlers and I believe more up travel can be achieved with this or possibly the the ones you posted. I have done higher speed stuff and even jump it sometimes but I don't post much about that as I don't get pictures of that kinda stuff (maybe I should lol) if you adjust the rebound and compression I believe more up travel can be achieved but the bump may top out which means I need a longer bump.

Let's open up another fun discussion like the 10 bolt thread lol I love chatting about this stuff!

 

[Hunner]

You just need a remote camera trigger.

 

[amrg]

How much extra travel can be achieved by those bump stops? I thought the max achievable is 5 inches, but stock we only get 4! As with Rancho lifted trucks, I noticed the shocks have only 2!!!

It would be fun if there was a kit for the H3 which would enable it to do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5NUAI346No

 

[06 H3]

yes, the rancho lift shocks are too short and I will be replacing them eventually with a longer travel shock. Its not ranchos design on the kit, its the shocks. Even their stock replacements are too short and only allow about 2inches of travel.

Here is a video of the install and review at the end of the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46GUheqru4g

Up travel improvements all depend on the travel of the bumpstop and how much they will compress. I am not sure on how much up travel can be achieved with these, if I can find out that would be great.

here is a picture of a rancho lifted rig at full up travel.

(bigger picture in link)

http://s1191.beta.photobucket.com/user/Pooter110/media/DSCF0028.jpg.html?sort=3&o=16

Its completely level we can push it up a bit more...

I want up travel like this...

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a240/HummBeeBe/Bebes boyhowdy IFS/DROOP-COMP.jpg

See how the halfshaft like full droop but just the opposite way? lol

 

[06 H3]

The torsion bar may limit that amount of up travel but I'm not sure. One way to find out is to disconnect the shock and pull the bumpstop and jack it up

 

[amrg]

I was actually wondering if we can put a shorter bump stop to get that extra up travel, I believe the bilsteins do allow for more shock compression than stock, I think Hunner did post shock lengths comparison and the bilstein did offer more compression/extension than the stock ones. The only problem with a shorter bump stop is dealing with the noise dive the whole time.
And yes Id like to to get that much travel too, I do desert high speed stuff here, it wouldve been more convenient to get an FJ cruiser since it has alot of travel stock wise, or add a long travel kit to it to increase it, but I just love the HUMMER im not willing to change to anything else!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[06 H3]

yea, it sucks that FJs have aftermarket and we dont...I still dont understand why camburg cant make us a long travel kit. IMO it cant be that bad...Obviously I am talking outta my ass here as I dont have the equipment to make all that stuff but long travel UCAs LCAs with coilover mount and some speedbumps with some tie rods to allow the added droop.

In my thought, one issue with the nose dive can be resolved with a longer bump that allow adjustable rebound and compression so we can dial it in, as the bump is longer it can allow for more up travel but rebound quicker and with a higher compression rate it wont really compress and allow too much dive on the street but when offroad with the added pressure and forces it will compress more. Maybe Im totally off base but its a thought.

 

[Hunner]

Ok here is an experiment. Remove the bump stop. Jack up a wheel off the ground and see how high it goes in the wheel well and how much space you have left.
Limiting factors in no particular order will be the sway bar and or links, tie rods, CV shafts and at some point the shocks will be maxed. As it is now when you fully compress the bump stop, the sky is the limit, meaning then that corner of the vehicle will raise up. To have travel within the wheel well to the max other things are going to have to be changed and redesigned.
Then you can go from there. chop chop:huh:

 

[06 H3]

Schools out I'm gonna start experimenting now that I have some more free time.

I'm willing to trim the fenders...I'm shocked no one on here has done that yet

 

[atvspeed4]

If you have the rancho lift and only 35s you should be fine without trimming. Your 4" higher in the front than we are stock and we can tuck 35s with stock bumpstops. If you can get 4" more up travel and need to trim I would be pretty surprised!

Hunner is right the cheapest way to test this theory is to take the bump stop off, support the frame on jack stands and then unscrew the torsion bar bolt and relieve the pressure off your torsion bar. Then jack up the control arm and carefully see what binds first.

When I replaced my diff mounts I did a similar test for droop. I took off the shock and swaybar link. The upper balljoint had plenty of deflection along with the inner tierod but I feel like the cv was not happy when it was fully drooped and turned to lock.

 

[tomp]

These stops won't add any benefit for crawling but will for higher speed desert style unless using certain aftermarket shocks. Not sure if everyone is aware, but the stock shocks have both compression and rebound stops in them. They were specifically designed for the H3 by Tenneco Corp (owners of Monroe and Rancho) using the specification requirements from Hummer. The Rancho shocks have better/thicker stops in them, thus less travel. Using other brand shocks, may cause more side-to-side body sway, as they don't conform to the internal Hummer Bump Stop spec set by Hummer, but rather meeting the shocks' travel compression, length, rebound, etc. All Tenneco shocks (Monroe and Rancho), meet this internal Bump Stop requirement as they are the only ones aware of it to my knowledge. Use of these aftermarket stops mentioned here might provide some benefit even for crawling/highway if not using stock, Rancho or Monroe shocks.

 

[amrg]

Im actually interested in the high speed offroading part, since this is what I generally do here. Again a different car wouldve been appropriate, but then it wouldnt be a HUMMER would it
For this reason Im interested to know if its possible to improve travel, even if slightly, from our vehicles. Would it matter for rock crawling, I cant judge but I believe more travel = more articulation = more grip etc , but for the high speed stuff, more travel = more speed or less bumpy at a lesser speed. If I find out my bump stop is robbing me of travel and there is a way to get around that, Im willing to do something about it.
I remember reading on another forum someone installed fox shocks and limit straps on his car and claimed to have been going 100mph in his vehicle offroad. The person said he'll keep ppl posted and never got back again.

 

[tomp]

If you are looking to add travel, it's much better to add droop then to add compression, especially if you want a high speed racer! You want the suspension to hang, therefore there is more room to absorb the impact. This also applies to a crawler, as if you add more room to compress, your undercarriage gets hung up sooner underneath.

 

[backcountryislife]

Its a complete waste of money in my opinion especially on a stockish suspension. Ive seen the pics of the wheeling you do, but guess that is generalizing. When have you ever been wheeling/ crawling and been like "damn I wish my bumpstops had more cushion" or "wow cant believe I bottomed out that hard" Its a mod that does not add any wheel travel or flex. In an application where you are doing more highspeed runs than crawling Id say yes that makes sense. Especially on stock suspension in that case. Bebe runs air bumps but also has waaay more wheel travel and has the ability to do some prerunning if she wanted to.

If you really want to get bumps order these: http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20_44&products_id=25

and http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=40_48&products_id=34

Then weld mounts to your frame. If you can do a SOA swap you can definitely handle this!

IMO, it's not the "cushion", it's the fact that it would allow more travel, which the H3 SUUUUCKS at up front.

When someone does a T bar crank, they could use this to "fill the gap" so they're not floating & diving, but they'd still have a setup that allows for some uptravel... where adding longer bumpers like most do eliminates the ability for the front end to move up again.

My setup with the crank, and NO extended bumps had good travel (only just this week exceeded by my rubi finally, actually) but it would be considered by some as diving in a more city like situation. This would allow you to have both, travel AND a decent ride.

I've got no desire to do high speed stuff, my concerns are for crawling only.

 

[backcountryislife]

Btw, for ANY of this to matter you either need a softer sway bar then the solid turd that's in the 3 now, or you need to disconnect.

Without disconnecting, bumpstops are pointless. The front end will NOT articulate at all without it. IF you disconnect, like the FJ guys do, then travel matters again, and this kind of thing has significant merit for someone looking to have capability and road manners.

Btw, after hearing my arms slam the bottom stop many many times, I wouldn't buy the longer shocks again... that's one piece of travel I'd do without. I'd let the shock do it's job & be the downward limitation like it should be.


btw, as to limiting factors... if you do like Hunner is suggesting, IF you're connected, the limiting factor is the swaybar, nothing else, as it does not move up in the wheel well more than 1".

 

[amrg]

How about in heavy load situations? Wouldnt the stronger landing that happens in fast driving, in comparison to the slow rock crawling, help push the sway bars up more, resulting in more travel? My understanding is that the bars do twist (you can correct me if I am wrong), so heavier landings would allow them to twist more. Am I right?