johncmidd

Luv Hate Luv relationship with my truck. I had the 40 - 50 mph vibration in steering wheel and a thudding noise that was really more annoying to my ears and head then the vibration. A new complete rear end differential was the fix. Complete rear end is the axle assemble all they had to do was transfer my brakes and shocks. It took the dealership 1 month to get the new rear end delivered. The part was on back order. This has been a long project. I complained to the dealership that I purchased the truck from at 1800 miles, rear end was replaced at 4200 miles at a different dealership. About 4 1/2 months. The story goes like this, after 3 times into the dealer that I bought the truck from. I get a call from service manager, the the truck drives as designed. They would not do anything for me. They got my money and thats all they cared about. Even had phone calls from GM people ,lady named Kristen. Saying the dealership said nothing was wrong, But I can find another dealership to take my truck too. And have them look at truck. A little back ground on me. I'am a Honda and Acura Technician 32 years and a Master ASE Technician, L1 advanced engine performance and I have a calif smog license. I have been to a lot of classes and schools over the last 20 years.I work for a Independent shop for the last 27 years straight. I also deal directly with the customers too. So I know a little bit about this business. And customer loyalty is how you stay in business. My truck was fixed 2 weeks ago I just waited to make sure it was fixed before I posted my story. And now I will be dealing with the dealership that sold me my truck and their bullsh^t. Thats another long story. Social media is a powerful tool these days! My truck symptoms were. Starting around 35 mph you would hear this thudding sound and the steering wheel would start to vibrate the closer you got to 45 mph. 45 mph seems to be the peek point. Once you got to 50 the steering wheel was smooth. If you gassed the truck 0 - 50 mph you would not feel the vibration. When you were getting off the freeway and were slowing down or coasting at about 50 mph you would feel the vibration start and not stop until almost stopped. This truck does not have the 70 mph vibration /shake that a lot of you are talking about. At 2800 miles I did replaced my Goodyear tires with Michilin LTX M/S2 and were R/F balanced. The Michelins made the truck feel a lot better. But did not effect or reduce the 45 mph vibration. That was a disappointment. But I don't like Goodyear tires anyways. Also in manual drive in 3rd ,4th or 5th gear as long as you were at 45 mph the steering wheel would vibrate and the noise was there. Which also eliminated the 4 cylinder mode. You could also feel that when the vibration occurred you could put the truck in neutral and coast and feel the vibration decrease to almost nothing. I could also feel on a slight curve at 45mph that there seem to be a pounding feeling like something was loose. The vibration seemed to be getting worse the more miles I drove. After dealing with the GMC dealership that sold me my truck, and getting no help. Then purchasing the Michelin tires I took the truck to the Chevy dealership just up the street from the Gmc dealership they confirmed my complaint but the service writer had to check if they could do my warranty work on GMC trucks. Two days latter the guy who sells us our BG products tells me he was a service writer for a major Chevy dealership in another city. He calls them and confirms they do GMC warranty work. I bring my truck in that next Monday. They had a Electronic Vibration Analyzer. But before they used that they had to go by GM book which ment road force balancing my tires again and some other stuff. The GM rep commented on my new tires. And the service adviser told him I was tired of the vibration hoping the tires would take care of it. Service adviser said that the symptoms i told him helped in pin pointing out the source of the vibration problem. After using the EVA and going threw the GM loops the GM rep came out and took the rear end cover off and confirmed too much play in differential ring and gear. The service writer said they could have shimmed the gears but felt cause the truck was so new he wanted to go with a complete new rear end differential. A month latter and I'am vibration free After the repairs the truck shifts a lot smoother and no vibration at 45 mph. I just hope it doesn't come back. Like I said its been a Love hate relationship.