Silverado Beam Shake Vibration Fixed

steingang2 · August 5, 2008

My 2006 crew cab silverado has had a vibration since I bought it 2 years ago. The dealership said it was "beam shake" and the only thing I could do was put 500lbs of weight in the bed between the tailgate and the axle! Hell why have a truck bed then. I read on the internet about a possible fix with replacement body mounts so I contact GM. They contacted my local dealership and today the installed new body mounts under the back of the cab. The new body mount does not eliminate the vibration but it does minimize it about 50%-60%. I'm going to drive it for a few days but I am still thinking about putting a leveling kit on the front end. I believe that if I lift the front by 2 inches (the front is 2 inches lower than the back) that this will put more weight on the back (just like when they recommend putting 300-500 lbs in the bed) and may eliminate the vibration all together. Have any of you tried the leveling kit? What effect did it have on the ride?

ckelly3405 · November 10, 2008

I have a 2008 2500hd regular cab. this is my 4th one in ten years, and i have never experience beam shake. well i have a hell of a lot of beam shake on my new one. the dealer said there is nothing they can do. the bulletin from gm said no changes to be made for regular cabs.

steingang2 · August 6, 2008

Anyone else had the new body mounts installed?

Mike G · November 24, 2008

Any time you change the geometry of your front end, you will want to align it. I swapped out the torsion bar keys on my Avalanche, that rode softer than a Caddy up front. When I tightened the bars to level her off, it was nice and firm. Went to the shop and had it aligned and added shocks with a 2" lift compensation (but she needed them anyway) and 285 Cooper tires, I have been good for 3 years now.

--Mike

steingang2 · September 18, 2008

I too have t an 06 silverado crew cab with body vibration at ~45mph. I also have lifted the front 2", and it did not help. Do you know what the part number is for the body mounts? I would love to try them out to help with the shaking.

steingang2 · September 18, 2008

Sorry, I do not have the part numbers handy, but your local dealership should be able to get the part numbers off the revised service bulletin released earlier this year which recommends the new body mounts which are mounted in the back of the cab.

I want to put on the 2" front leveling kit just for the looks. The local truck shop recommends installing 2" longer shocks and a front end alignment. Di you have to do this? A friend lifted the front of his ford and he said it stopped it from nose diving when he braked. I have owned several chevy trucks and this is the softest suspension I have ever had. I hate the body roll and nose diving it does. It only has 35,000 miles and it the shocks are still good, I just do not think they are adequate. How did the front lift effect the ride? Do you notice any improvement and would you recommend it?

jimlem · November 23, 2008

Sorry, I do not have the part numbers handy, but your local dealership should be able to get the part numbers off the revised service bulletin released earlier this year which recommends the new body mounts which are mounted in the back of the cab.
I want to put on the 2" front leveling kit just for the looks. The local truck shop recommends installing 2" longer shocks and a front end alignment. Di you have to do this? A friend lifted the front of his ford and he said it stopped it from nose diving when he braked. I have owned several chevy trucks and this is the softest suspension I have ever had. I hate the body roll and nose diving it does. It only has 35,000 miles and it the shocks are still good, I just do not think they are adequate. How did the front lift effect the ride? Do you notice any improvement and would you recommend it?

I just noticed your post is dated Sep. 08 so you probably already installed something. If not look into ReadyLift's kits. They have a front leveling kit for GM trucks you can adjust from almost stock to 3" of lift. The kits come with shock brackets to replace (the lower on mine) shock mounts so you don't need longer shocks. The kit for my 02 1500 HD 2WD worked great. Suspension is definitely firmer and more truck-like. Not harsh but I have learned to slow a bit more before going over the usual speed bumps, holes etc. that I have to contend with around here. Difinitely no nose dive. I needed shocks and put some Bilstiens on at the same time. The two together made me feel like I was driving a new 3500 off the lot. Despite the above, I do not feel like it has actually shifted any weight to the rear, it's just firmed up the front and raised it (I left mine set at 2.5" as it gave the best ride for the amount of lift) so you may still need some weight in the bed if that indeed is the true fix for your issue.

After leveling the truck I found pulling my trailer made the rear look like it was really dragging. It was not really much lower than before but it gave the appearance of being really overloaded. I called ReadyLift and found they had so many similar calls that they produced a 1" block lift for the rear. The steel block slips in between the spring pack and axle and it comes with all new "U" bolts and hardware. This did give the rear a 1" lift unloaded but when the trailer is connected, the relationship between the front and rear, again looks like it did when stock (just a slightly lowered stance in the rear). The hitch's leveling bars easily compensate just like before.

Evidently the 1" block's physical size plus the pre-load it adds to the rear springs, beef it up enough to keep the trailer from making it appear like it's dragging. Overall, the truck looks great going down the road. It looks just like a friend's with a 3" suspension lift (OK "almost") but at less than $400 total. The front kits were about $250 I think when I bought mine. You will need an alignment. It took my shop 3+ hours to get everything re-aligned. They did not blame the leveling kit or slightly larger tires, they just said it was way overdo and things were way out of spec.

One caution: I never really thought about lifting or lowering my truck for 6 years. When I needed tires, I went with some BFGs I really liked in a slightly larger size (32"). This made me think leveling kit, just to make the truck look as good as the tires. NOW- after doing this I find myself wondering how it might look with 5" or 6" of lift and even bigger tires. Weird! Never really cared about lifting it until I sort of did it halfway. I can vouch for the guys at ReadyLift. They're local for me and have given me hours of their time in advice and even some help when one of their kit's bolts broke off. Good people. Good luck with whatever you do.

the hammer · September 16, 2008

I too have t an 06 silverado crew cab with body vibration at ~45mph. I also have lifted the front 2", and it did not help. Do you know what the part number is for the body mounts? I would love to try them out to help with the shaking.