Depending on where you got it, (Menards) has a truck you can rent for a few hours. Very cheap. And as for a lift gate instead of a swing gate, I doubt most people under 6 ft wouldhave been able to shut it once it was open.

 

nah, the rubi has a swing out door just like the h3 and also had lift up glass...and is taller than the h3...my wife is 5' 2" and she can shut it. Majority of the suv's out ther have lift glass and al are in the same ballpark as the h3 as far as height.

 

I've used a few methods.

One being to fold down the left rear seat,..tilt the front passanger seat back a bit, and roll down the front passanger window. The lumber goes infrom the back andruns diagonally from the left rear of the car and up out the front passanger window.

I also keep 3 or so of the better quality ratcheting tie-down straps in that storrage binon the rioght side ofthe tailgate area. You can lay the wood on the roof and use the ratchet straps to go around and through the inside,... with the doors open. Very tidey once the doors are closed. This is also how I have to haul plywood and drywall. (Sure would be nice if that stupid satelite antenna weren't there).

I like the way Ford did the Freestyle (now called the Taurus X). The car is longer than the H3, and not only do all the rear seats fold flat,...but the front passanger seat does as well. With that folded,...10' lumber fits inside easilly, (at a bit of an angle). Ford really thought about it's customers and how vehicles like these are used in real life.

 

But if GM decided to do lift up glass,..they'd have to do something about the macho spare tire. It would either have to become a doughnut under the car,..or be mounted on a heavy swing assembly like the H2.

But this makes it a pain in the butt to use the car as intended. My neighbor has an H2 and she complains about the hasssle of operating the heavy swing-spare everytime she wants to put a grocery bag back there. She thinks the H3 is a huge step up in usability.

The rear glass is also really small in the H3,...and has the 3rd brakelinght in it. Doing that would require a redesign of the liftgate, rear glass, rear bumper and spare tire carrier.

Then again,..perhaps a new spare tire mount could be designed that allows the spare to tilt out and back.

 

I use the roof, but one method no one suggested is to put down the driver's side window and just hold it up against the truck as you drive

 

again...the rubi has the 32" spare mounted on the rear door and there is no swing out carrier..yet the window still lifts with no problem. It's a two piece system, the door with the tire swings out and the glass stays...then the glass lifts up.

 

Drop the tailgate on the Sport Trac, strap it down, attach red flag.

Would be nice if the H3 rear window rolled down like on the Sport Trac too.

 

I knew I did not like that back door. [:@] What ya gonna do? [&o]

 

just stick it out the sun roof

 

I agree, a power window in the back like the older bronco and blazers would be way better than the fixed window or a liftgate. It'd be nice in the summer to have that rolled down along with the windows and the sunroof. I'd also like to have the all the rear seats fold flat so i could camp inside the truck. My wife's vibe does that and even though I hate driving it, I can get way more stuff inside it.