clunking intermediate steering shaft

[pm26]

I have an '06 crew cab Z71 4X4 Silverado 1500 with really low mileage (less than 20k) which I bought new. The intermediate steering shaft on the truck finally began to clunk when driving over grass or slightly uneven surface. Someone mentioned that GM supposedly replaced these shafts even on older trucks due to them being defective. Well I tried to get it replaced and my local Chevy dealer told me to go pound sand. The guy in the service department, upon hearing that this is an '06 truck even remarked: "All warranties must end sometimes." Well, this is my answer to GM: You deliberately installed defective steering shafts in these trucks, knowing full well they will clunk prematurely and devised a stupid and ineffective bandaid fix by selling a grease kit instead of recalling the trucks and replacing these shafts with a properly designed one. It is up to me now to shell out a couple hundred dollars for the part and labor to fix what you should have fixed under a recall campaign. And hope that the new shaft will hold up for more than 20k miles. I had a 1999 Mazda 626 which I also bought new and the ORIGINAL steering shaft was solid and clunk free even after 339,000 miles when I got rid of the car! How is that for quality comparison? And I have not babied that car. My truck on the other hand was never off road, other than the grass on my lawn.

 

Thanks GM, you provide an outstanding incentive for someone like me to buy a new GM truck! I must be guilty of not putting enough miles on my truck to take advantage of having a known defective component replaced while the truck was under its original 3/36 warranty.

[MikeNH]

You expect GM to cover something on a 7 year old truck? Regardless I don't think they ever offered any kind of extended coverage on the ISS. Some dealers may have goodwilled it but that's all. You can try unbolting the ISS underhood and compress/extend the shaft several times as a temporary fix (GM referred to this as "exercising" the shaft...) but a new one was $100 when I replaced it in my 2003. Easy job. And the shaft was redesigned in 2006/7, I replaced mine. And recalls are only done generally for safety issues, which this is not.

[RyanbabZ71]

Recalls are for safety issues, the steering shaft clunk is not a safety issue.

 

 

Ryan

 

 

[pm26]

Recalls are for whatever the company wants them to be for. True, only safety issue recalls are mandated by the NHTSA, but that does not stop any manufacturer from voluntarily replacing a known defective component.

 

I guess I was irritated by that guy's remark that "all warranties must end sometime". And so must my business with that dealer.

[pm26]

You expect GM to cover something on a 7 year old truck? Regardless I don't think they ever offered any kind of extended coverage on the ISS. Some dealers may have goodwilled it but that's all. You can try unbolting the ISS underhood and compress/extend the shaft several times as a temporary fix (GM referred to this as "exercising" the shaft...) but a new one was $100 when I replaced it in my 2003. Easy job. And the shaft was redesigned in 2006/7, I replaced mine. And recalls are only done generally for safety issues, which this is not.

It is the principle of using a known defective component in a vehicle and hoping that they never have to replace it under warranty that irritates me. I can do the job and replace it, no big deal.

I will unbolt the shaft and try compressing it first.

[txab]

http://www.truckmodcentral.com/forums/f63/how-replace-gmt800-intermediate-steering-shaft-iss-1652/

 

 

Aftermarket replacement part is about $50.

 

Want some crackers to go with that whine?

[GasHog369]

It is an annoyance issue and not a safety issue. I replaced mine myself. Easiest way is to unbolt the gas pedal and bracket. That gives a lot more room.

Btw don't forget the cheese for them crackers, haha

[ram1067]

had 2 replaced on my 2006 w/76k on it.....$149.00 otd @ the dealer ship

 

still haven't found a fix the the groan coming from the steering coulum when turning left.....

 

 

any new trucks 2012-2013 with this same problem?

[MikeNH]

 

 

any new trucks 2012-2013 with this same problem?

 

I'm not aware of any of the 900-series trucks having the same issue.

[CapitalTruck]

When you're down there unbolting the iss, be sure to grab the steering column. If it really rattles, the bushing at the end of the steering column might be bad. I changed mine out and found it really quieted things down/eliminated a vibration in the steering wheel. The old bushing is white, the redesigned bushing will be green.

[lryfer]

I purchased my 2006 Silverado in 20012 and am the 2nd owner. My shaft started clunking. Dealership has a program that GM pays half and customer pays half. GM knows there was a issue with the intermeidate shaft and that is the program that is there. Did not cost me hardly anything to have dealer do it. Think my part was 50 bucks. And i have 43,000 miles or so when this happened.