I recently purchased an H3 and its a beast. Believe it or not before I went car shopping I was looking like fuel efficient vehicles (Prius, Insight, etc...). I never thought I would get a Hummer, but as soon as I CLIMB into the seat I fell in love. Ive had it for 3 weeks now and been studying the manual. The only real question I have is about using the 4 wheel locks (HI/LO). How frequently should I use them? If it I need to use it like once a month, where do you recommend to go to ( I live in Houston, so not many opportunities here)? The reason Im asking is because my Loan Officer had mentioned that if I dont ever use them (the ratios) then when I need them the transfer case would be dry and break on me. thanks

 

Interesting. I guess your loan officer knows a lot more about cars than I do. You might follow up with him and get some more information, but I've never personally heard of a case getting dry and breaking. To the best of my knowledge, there's not a schedule. Use them when the situation warrants. The owner's manual gives good descriptions of when to use different modes.

 

i believe in using everything,,and routinely go thru the modes in my field,on grass or snow.
it may be like "lot rot"!, or use it or loose it.
tom

 

Yeah I have heard something similar over the years. I use my 4hi/lo all the time though so I have nothing to worry about.

I would cycle through the modes at least every couple months

 

It doesn't hurt to put it in 4Lo and 4Hi every once in a while, just don't do it on dry pavement. Grass, dirt road, snow is fine. I wouldn't do it on just wet pavement.

 

fwiw, i added a bright, flashing led on my dash to warn when im in any lock mode.
i got there once by bumping the hi lock, its ez to do,,,and not know

tom

 

The loan officer is probably refering more to older 4WD systems where whole parts of the drive train did not spin when not in 4WD. The Hummer's AWD systems spins everything when the truck is in motion. The things that should probably be flexed once and a while are the solenoids that shift the gears themselves. You could therefore put in 4 HI, 4 Lo, without ever moving the truck therefore accomplishing this in your driveway.

Frank

 

sounds,feels like a gear shift huh?
i like to rotate them a bit,daily wont hurt anything
tom