The Daily Beater – 2004 Hummer H2 Adventure Package

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ABOUT

Had this since 2004! Why in yellow? Because Bad Boys 2🤣. This is also the “Adventure Package” which comes with additional features such as adjustable rear suspension, sunroof, front grille guard, roof offroad lamps, Navi, and offroad tool kits. The H2 went through so much, if only this car would talk…too many stories & memories.

During early years, this H2 went through a hell of embarrassing mods. From blue underglows (thanks to F&F) to full chrome kit package to plugging 2 holes into the mufflers (ghetto AF) so you could hear me from 10 blocks away😂 even had a custom screw to plug in the holes whenever I needed a break. Even had an actual police siren kit with speaker & white LED strobe lights front & back…no joke, used to pull over people for fun. Different times.

Well, “Heather” is now my daily commuter. Everything “embarrassing” went back to stock. Only parts I kept from the old look were: Roof off-road lights and rack (x4) took off and added 2 of lamps on the front grille guard. Kept my ghetto custom made grille mesh inserts. Why not?

One thing I had to upgrade was the radio…2004, no bluetooth and we’re over the “burning CDs 💿” phase. Wasn’t picky, just replaced that with an Android Lollipop media system. Comes with a lot of functions, but I just needed the bluetooth connection for music. **Update: the mp3 media gave out, after a heavy storm not sure why. Looking for a better quality replacement.

The H2 Upgrades!

Out of nowhere, I just decided to revamp my H2 since it’s my daily. Nothing crazy like lifts and such…for now. Looking to give it that “off-road / aggressive” look with simple upgrades and wrapping/repainting some parts in black.

Jump to final look

LIGHTS LIGHTS!

LED Headlights & Fog Lights

First, light upgrades. Replacing the Headlights & Fog lights with new kits including LED & black housing. The H2 headlight parts are so easy to find, they’re the most common 7″ round headlights like Wranglers. Most require minor cutting to the OEM housing shell to fit a/m. A good DIY video here.

Any brand/model would work. One thing to note, make sure the kit includes (or order separately) H4 to 9007 adapters. I found these SuperBright on Amazon, which includes the adapter. Same goes for the Fog lights, you can go name brands, or any generic 4″ size. I got these NJSBYL to see how they look & fit.

*Note: The OEM headlight rear housing won’t fit most LED headlights, it requires some cutting to have the wires fit properly. Also, the Fogs I got don’t fill out the area (too small). So you might have to customize some kind of housing to fill the gaps.

Off-Road Light Bars

For the off-road light bars, I got 2. One on the Roof, and one on the lower front grille, which is about 32″. For the roof, I chose a 52″ light bar, which would almost fill the roof width. I went with this Lasfit clear w/harness kit. . For the lower grille, got the Arsenal Offroad 32″ dual row light bar. It was supposed to be mounted on the lower grille but was too thick, and so I had it mounted on the Grille Guard. I think it looks much better!

Cab Lights, Side Markers, Turn Signals, 3rd Brake Light and Taillights

The Cab lights replacement is a simple plug and play (LED/Smoked). A little annoying fitting in the LED bulb into the lamp socket for the small mid 3 front and rear cab lights. Also got cab lights gasket clearance protection to avoid any water/rain leak in. The 3rd brake light might require removing the panels in the trunk to reach the wiring. The front side markers… 2 minute job, but the rear is a pain when trying to reach the wiring from outside to the wiring from the trunk.

As for the tail lights, I found one by ANSO red/clear tails (also found similar replicas). But just before ordering them, I read several reviews from owners saying that THEY DON’T WORK. After plugging in the 2nd tail the turn signals won’t work unless the brake is applied and constant hyperflashes…it’s a shame. There’s a way around it by ordering a separate equalizer, but I just don’t want to deal with that now.

Instead, decided to test out simple black-out covers, which I’m actually not a fan of blacking out tail lights…but turned out nice with the black cab lights and side markers. I also got front smoked turn signal covers.

Parts links:

Cab Lights / Gasket / Side Markers / Turn Signals / 3rd Brake Light / Taillights

Front Grille Wrap

Went with wrapping the chrome grille to gloss black, instead of repainting on chrome & having it start peeling years later. For the lower bumper, I’ll have that fully de-rusted and repainted gloss black to match.

WHEELS

The initial plan “upgrades” plan was to just paint the factory wheels in Gloss Black. As I wasn’t really getting into a full makeover (right now)… but then I saw the Black Rhino Primm wheels and fell in love…

Because it’s a daily, and comfort comes first. I’m sticking with OEM 17″s with wider wheels 17×9“, which fits my current BFG A/T KO2 315/70 tires. OEM wheels are 17×8.5, ET+18, and 5.5″ Backspace. The Primms in 17×9 has a 0 Offset and 5″ backspace, which will push the wheels further out by 24.3mm (~1″). Those wheels come with Brass bolts, but I requested to have them replaced with Black bolts instead (M8X1.25X7.5) (Wheels will still come with the Brass Bolts, I’ll have to replace them myself)

Before I decided on ordering the wheels, I was considering spacers (hub-centric) to install on my factory wheels. The H&R DRM spacers come in 30, 40, and 50mm. However, I skipped on spacers as by the generic quick calculation a 30mm (1.18″) with my 5″ backspace (B. Rhino) wheels will reduce the BS to 3.82″, and so either spacer sizes would be too much of a risk.

Fitment was perfect! I was worried about not having enough of that wheel-depth look with a 0 offset, but the 0.5” backspace did make a difference. Looks clean.

Wheel Specs

-Wheels: Black Rhino Primm
-Color: Matte Black w/ Brass Bolts
-Size: 17×9″
-Offset: 0
-Backspace: 5″
-Bolt Pattern: 8×165.1
-Tires: BFG A/T K02 (315/70/17)

Interior (media)

2004 Hummers had no bluetooth, just a CD player. So I had to get a new stereo with bluetooth functionality. Nothing fancy, mainly to enjoy music through bluetooth. For my first stereo upgrade, I got a 7″ Android multimedia. It was terrible quality, and had a constant annoying ringing sound when on, but eventually got used to it. About 2 years later, it just bust for no reason. After searching for the next best quality, found a 9.7 inch multimedia, Tesla looking style lol, that includes a dash panel replacement to fit the vertical style display, back up camera, a dash cam, and several other features.

The backup camera at 720p is super clear. Still playing around with the many features & settings. All in all it does the job, and I’d give it a 7/10.

Pending Items

Spare Tire Rack

Always loved the look of the rear spare tires. Unfortunately, the 04 Adventure Package doesn’t come with the rear spare rack carrier, the spare is in the 3rd row/trunk.

There are many options to order online, but shipping the item would cost 2x-3x the item amount due to the weight & size. *Currently searching H2’s in junk yards to purchase one off.