few questions about H2 transfer case and axles

[High Five H2]

I've tossed around the idea of getting an H2, but these questions are just for my own curiosity.


1. How much power can the H2 transfer case handle? I can't find any official torque specs anywhere.

2. What size tires can H2 axles f/r handle? Let's say both locked, going rock crawling, without having to be careful with the gas pedal.

 

[Mb30sdl]

It can handle 38"+, but with that big of a tire rock crawling you don't want to spin it specially being locked up front.

 

[High Five H2]

rad, 38s is what I was aiming for.

 

[Polar Bear]

Stock the axles are built for max 37s but if your engine is stock and not putting out any additional power you can run 38s with no issues.

Larger than 37s you ideally need to change your front and rear axle shafts to a better quality metal forging. I run 1541H axles in my H2.

 

[High Five H2]

how about the ring gear?

 

[Mb30sdl]

I don't know i have snapped front drive shafts in snow spinning tires ~60mph when it finally garbed, Cv joint went buy-buy. I have seen front CV joints break while rock crawling locked up. If you will do a lot of flexing u need some kind of lift.

 

[mudbug]

If you are going 37s or above I would definitely regear to 4.88s and I believe you can go up to 5.13s.
With my 4.88s on 37s the H2 does great and all I have is bolt on performance.
The main thing I've seen that is weak on the H2 with bigger tires is the steering components. I still need to pickup steering parts from the d-max store.

 

[High Five H2]

that's good to know. how about the transfer case? I never hear about it breaking or anything. is the plastic shift fork an issue like it is in the H3?

 

[Polar Bear]

If you are going 37s or above I would definitely regear to 4.88s and I believe you can go up to 5.13s.
With my 4.88s on 37s the H2 does great and all I have is bolt on performance.
The main thing I've seen that is weak on the H2 with bigger tires is the steering components. I still need to pickup steering parts from the d-max store.

For 37s 4.88s would be the minimum but 5.13s would be best. I run 5.38s.

I have destroyed one transfer case...but that was after 6years of abuse and beating it off-road. The new one should hold up much better since now I also have a front E-locker!

 

[Polar Bear]

how about the ring gear?

Our 9.25 front and 9.5 rear ring gears are plenty stout. Your axles will break first. Then the u-joints before you trash a ring and pinion. At least in an ideal world!

 

[Big2dabank]

I would not worry about the ring gear as Polar Bar said they are stout. The main parts I break are the front shafts and tie rods, both super easy and quick to fix. I'm locked up front on 37s with 4.56 gears. However, I break far less half shafts and have yet to beak anything on the steering since I upgraded to the Kryptonite tierods and center link a couple of years ago. The issue I was having with factory tie rods was that they would bend like spaghetti when I locked the front and once the tierod bent and the wheel turned past the angle the cv could tolerate, it would grenade. I could even bend the oem tie rods just from the torque on the front wheels while locked, so the HD tie rods were a no brainer for me. The only other part I have had issue with on the H2 driveline is the front diff cross member bushing and most recently the chain inside the transfer case. I am right at 190,000 miles and I can feel the slack in the chain and it will skip when in 4 lo lock under torque. The Scorpworks cross member fixed the bushing issue and I need to rebuild my transfer case one of these days before it leaves me sitting, especially since I'm upgrading to 40s this year and regearing to 5.13 so we will see what havoc that will reap on the driveline.

 

[High Five H2]

so with RCV shafts, upgraded u joints and steering, it should hold up pretty well with 38s? who makes better u joints?

 

[Polar Bear]

U-joints are cheap and easy to replace and you would really need to do something stupid to break one. Besides it would be better to break a U-joint instead of a T-case or a Diff!

 

[High Five H2]

that's true, I guess you could just leave those in there so nothing else breaks.

 

[Big2dabank]

I like the idea of a fuse able link before the diff goes boom, so that why I will not upgrade to beefier half shafts. They are easy to change and with AutoZone lifetime warranty with free replacement its a no brainer, plus RCVs are stupid expensive. I promise its a 10 min or less trail swap and you dont even need to remove the knuckle from the control arms or remove the wheel to swap it out.

 

[High Five H2]

yeah, RCV is super proud of its axles. they're kind of ridiculous.