Shake or Vibration Issues

[OmahaBen]

Hey Brandon, I appreciate the advice. Thank you

 

I have had two great GM dealers to work with. The first one their tech was unable to show that my truck was out of spec. The service manager did acknowledge that there was an issue. They did do multiple attempts to road force balance the wheels/tires However this dealer did start talking about buy back.

 

The second shop showed on the picometer that my truck has a vibration. They are rebuilding the rearend, Getting 4 new tires and rear shocks.

 

Hopefully next week I will come back and tell you this is over. However I realize this will probably not be the case.

 

Truthfully I don't want to do a buyback. I love my truck. This is my absolute last resort.

 

 

Lets say I get a buy back. Then what? Ecoboost? 2016 6.2 with the 8 speed?

 

 

Don't need a 2500HD. Won't do the 6.0 2500. Don't like Dodge.

 

 

I have some news which is very positive. I will start from the beginning.

 

I had my truck in the first dealer at least 6 times, they replaced one wheel, 2 tires and did numberous roadforce balancing. About the 4th trip in they got the pico meter. After driving the truck the service manager said the truck did vibrate but wasn't out of spec according to the pico scope. They did not check the driveline for runout to my knowledge.

 

I don't think this first dealer or tech wanted to spend the time or did not know how to correctly use the pico meter.

 

I was at church and my mentioned the issue to a buddy which works at another GM dealer. He said you should bring it over and we can take a look at it. We have a very thorough tech that has a knack for fixing issues such as yours.

 

So after the first dealer started talking buy back. I thought to myself, can't hurt to have someone I know in my corner.

The first dealer scheduled the regional GM rep to drive my truck, I had to reschedule this because my truck was in the other shop the day he was there.

 

The second dealer. They had my truck the first day and couldn't find anything wrong. The tech did say he felt a very annoying vibration while driving in the 70mph-80mph range. They had to follow GM protocol, they ran the truck one more time with the tech in the passengers seat with the computer and the service manager driving with PICO scope installed. They then sent the readings to GM engineering. After it was deemed my truck was "out of spec" they followed an order of measuring parts. Driveshaft runout, axle runout and axle flange. The checked for bent wheel studs / studs out of pattern. Measuring backlash between each tooth of the ring gear. The pico scope file also told GM there was a wheel tire variation and another possible issue. Then they measured the preload on the pinion. The preload on the pinion was almost zero. none at all!

 

The GM engineer this was escalated to, stated that these tires LS2 Goodyears have had a bunch of bad runs. He sent 4 Brand new tires that where from a known good batch they had on hand to the dealer. In the mean time the gm engineer said to check out the rear shocks and found that both of my rear shocks were toast. I don't know why or how they failed but they were replaced.

Also they found the wrong shim was installed behind the pinion. My truck needed a .050 shim and it had a .045 shim (I think that is the correct measurement as I don't have the sheet in front of me)

The second dealer had my truck for 2.5 weeks mostly waiting for parts, tools or GM approval.

They drove the truck after the new tires were installed, rear end rebuilt, all new bearings and ring and pinion (9.75 rearend) and shocks replaced. They did test with the pico meter installed and the truck ran well within spec.

 

I drove it tonight and it seems like it is fixed. I drove it up to 80-85 and there is no more high speed vibration. The proof will be driving it a long duration and with my trailer hooked up.

 

As of right now I think they got it fixed. After reading all of the horror stories on here I wanted to post some good news.

 

Here is the bad news. GM only pays for so much shop time for warranty work. The dealer said that about 10 hours will not be covered by GM. They will eat 10 hours of shop time and make a GM customer happy. The shit of the deal is I didn't buy my truck at this dealer. Since I had a friend inside I think I got further than most other customers would have. I can't prove this but it is my theory.

 

I am sad because this isn't the dealers problem. GM needs to pay to fix this.

I would suspect that there are a lot of trucks out there with this issue. Because many drivers stay in town and never take long hauls or run the truck past 70mph so they may never even know or detect a vibration. I had 4 different GMC sierras loaners and 3 of the 4 had noticable vibrations above 70mph. The last one being the worst. I truly think the first shop didn't want to start in on the mechanicals because it wasn't worth their time and they didn't want to eat the shop time.

 

I didn't proof read this as I am tired. I hope this helps someone else and I will post a follow up in a couple months after I get 5000 miles on the truck to see if the vibration is truly gone.

 

Have a good one

Edited October 16, 2015 by OmahaBen

[Wrench589]

I have some news which is very positive. I will start from the beginning.

 

I had my truck in the first dealer at least 6 times, they replaced one wheel, 2 tires and did numberous roadforce balancing. About the 4th trip in they got the pico meter. After driving the truck the service manager said the truck did vibrate but wasn't out of spec according to the pico scope. They did not check the driveline for runout to my knowledge.

 

I don't think this first dealer or tech wanted to spend the time or did not know how to correctly use the pico meter.

 

I was at church and my mentioned the issue to a buddy which works at another GM dealer. He said you should bring it over and we can take a look at it. We have a very thorough tech that has a knack for fixing issues such as yours.

 

So after the first dealer started talking buy back. I thought to myself, can't hurt to have someone I know in my corner.

The first dealer scheduled the regional GM rep to drive my truck, I had to reschedule this because my truck was in the other shop the day he was there.

 

The second dealer. They had my truck the first day and couldn't find anything wrong. The tech did say he felt a very annoying vibration while driving in the 70mph-80mph range. They had to follow GM protocol, they ran the truck one more time with the tech in the passengers seat with the computer and the service manager driving with PICO scope installed. They then sent the readings to GM engineering. After it was deemed my truck was "out of spec" they followed an order of measuring parts. Driveshaft runout, axle runout and axle flange. The checked for bent wheel studs / studs out of pattern. Measuring backlash between each tooth of the ring gear. The pico scope file also told GM there was a wheel tire variation and another possible issue. Then they measured the preload on the pinion. The preload on the pinion was almost zero. none at all!

 

The GM engineer this was escalated to, stated that these tires LS2 Goodyears have had a bunch of bad runs. He sent 4 Brand new tires that where from a known good batch they had on hand to the dealer. In the mean time the gm engineer said to check out the rear shocks and found that both of my rear shocks were toast. I don't know why or how they failed but they were replaced.

Also they found the wrong shim was installed behind the pinion. My truck needed a .050 shim and it had a .045 shim (I think that is the correct measurement as I don't have the sheet in front of me)

The second dealer had my truck for 2.5 weeks mostly waiting for parts, tools or GM approval.

They drove the truck after the new tires were installed, rear end rebuilt, all new bearings and ring and pinion (9.75 rearend) and shocks replaced. They did test with the pico meter installed and the truck ran well within spec.

 

I drove it tonight and it seems like it is fixed. I drove it up to 80-85 and there is no more high speed vibration. The proof will be driving it a long duration and with my trailer hooked up.

 

As of right now I think they got it fixed. After reading all of the horror stories on here I wanted to post some good news.

 

Here is the bad news. GM only pays for so much shop time for warranty work. The dealer said that about 10 hours will not be covered by GM. They will eat 10 hours of shop time and make a GM customer happy. The shit of the deal is I didn't buy my truck at this dealer. Since I had a friend inside I think I got further than most other customers would have. I can't prove this but it is my theory.

 

I am sad because this isn't the dealers problem. GM needs to pay to fix this.

I would suspect that there are a lot of trucks out there with this issue. Because many drivers stay in town and never take long hauls or run the truck past 70mph so they may never even know or detect a vibration. I had 4 different GMC sierras loaners and 3 of the 4 had noticable vibrations above 70mph. The last one being the worst. I truly think the first shop didn't want to start in on the mechanicals because it wasn't worth their time and they didn't want to eat the shop time.

 

I didn't proof read this as I am tired. I hope this helps someone else and I will post a follow up in a couple months after I get 5000 miles on the truck to see if the vibration is truly gone.

 

Have a good one

First, congrats on what appears to be a fixed truck. Let's hope that is truly the case.

 

Second, you've hit on a very, very, very important issue. That GM pays flat rate for all these diagnostic steps and repairs. And, what they pay doesn't even come close to covering the work. On the SUVs, we have that dreaded "buffeting" sound. GM has a TSB to pull down the headliner and re-attach the roof skin to the cross-braces (which doesn't solve the problem, by the way). They cover something like 8 hrs to do the whole thing. The tech that worked on mine said took most of that just to take the headliner down, leaving him no time to do the repair and put it all back together. So unless the dealer pays him the rest, he ends up working for free. Now, no disrespect intended, but imagine how good a job will be done when working for free. Especially when it's the 10th POS that come in the shop! I don't blame the tech one bit...GM should be paying for this, not screwing over the techs to fix up their mess! So at the end of the day, it's no wonder most struck don't get fixed. (BTW - he was obviously pissed about having to work on my Yukon. I will give him credit - he did an awesome job putting the headliner back in place. Can't tell it was removed. And believe me - it's incredibly complicated up there. You would not believe all the wiring harnesses, cooling lines, and side curtain airbags up there. Like a pile of spaghetti!)

 

Same applies for all the "road force balancing" that gets done. I suspect that most of them are a total joke. I've rads through the Hunter operating manual, and stood beside a tire guy doing some RF balancing on my buddies car. And to follow all the steps to do a full, proper road force balance would take hours to accomplish. I doubt GM pays that much, so guess what kind of job gets done?

[Wrench589]

Need some help. I can move the steering shaft about 1/4" to 3/8". It will actually move in the sleeve to the firewall. Is this normal? Could this contribute to steering wheel vibration?

Man, that does not seem right at all. I can't see why there would be ANY side-to-side movement. Is there some kind of flexible coupling right at the steering box that is flexing?

[LongrangeLauber]

Dont get a Ford [emoji107] [emoji6]

If Ram offered the Aisin tranny standard instead of a 3k upgrade I would go for a Ram honestly. Their interiors are the nicest of the big 3 IMO. Like I said, would love to have a dmax with the Allison but the slim possibility of getting one with the shakes just scares me lol

[C6Bill]

@OmahaBen, wait a week and see how it feels. Not trying to rain on your parade but mine has been "fixed" 3 times. And each time a week later it is right back to where it started. Right now it is actually "fixed" again but I am sure that by next week it won't be.

 

I like what was being talked about a few pages ago, once mine goes back to vibrating I'm going to jack it up to get the weight off the wheels for a few minutes and then take it for a ride. I think I"ll do the back first and see what happens, then front and then all 4. Maybe it is in fact all suspension related. I like the cab mount torque theory too, might even try that just for fun. Or just drive my Mercedes and be happy, wouldn't that be cool, just go for a ride and be happy instead of having to diagnose every bump in the road lol

[BO TIE 1]

Need some help. I can move the steering shaft about 1/4" to 3/8". It will actually move in the sleeve to the firewall. Is this normal? Could this contribute to steering wheel vibration?

I had the same thing on my 2014 Silverado dbl cab the whole column wiggled side to side. They ended up replacing the column and in the process scratched and dented my rear drivers door. So into the body shop after that [emoji34] sorry to say that didn't fix the vibration issue.

[OmahaBen]

First, congrats on what appears to be a fixed truck. Let's hope that is truly the case.

 

Second, you've hit on a very, very, very important issue. That GM pays flat rate for all these diagnostic steps and repairs. And, what they pay doesn't even come close to covering the work. On the SUVs, we have that dreaded "buffeting" sound. GM has a TSB to pull down the headliner and re-attach the roof skin to the cross-braces (which doesn't solve the problem, by the way). They cover something like 8 hrs to do the whole thing. The tech that worked on mine said took most of that just to take the headliner down, leaving him no time to do the repair and put it all back together. So unless the dealer pays him the rest, he ends up working for free. Now, no disrespect intended, but imagine how good a job will be done when working for free. Especially when it's the 10th POS that come in the shop! I don't blame the tech one bit...GM should be paying for this, not screwing over the techs to fix up their mess! So at the end of the day, it's no wonder most struck don't get fixed. (BTW - he was obviously pissed about having to work on my Yukon. I will give him credit - he did an awesome job putting the headliner back in place. Can't tell it was removed. And believe me - it's incredibly complicated up there. You would not believe all the wiring harnesses, cooling lines, and side curtain airbags up there. Like a pile of spaghetti!)

 

Same applies for all the "road force balancing" that gets done. I suspect that most of them are a total joke. I've rads through the Hunter operating manual, and stood beside a tire guy doing some RF balancing on my buddies car. And to follow all the steps to do a full, proper road force balance would take hours to accomplish. I doubt GM pays that much, so guess what kind of job gets done?

 

This practice by GM is shit. I am taking the three guys for supper for the effort.

 

I know that doesn't pay back the dealer. I want to say thanks and it is greatly appreciated.

 

Honestly to buy back and pay more to get the equal truck I have now. I would have opted pay some to get it fixed had I known it was going to work.

[OmahaBen]

@OmahaBen, wait a week and see how it feels. Not trying to rain on your parade but mine has been "fixed" 3 times. And each time a week later it is right back to where it started. Right now it is actually "fixed" again but I am sure that by next week it won't be.

 

I like what was being talked about a few pages ago, once mine goes back to vibrating I'm going to jack it up to get the weight off the wheels for a few minutes and then take it for a ride. I think I"ll do the back first and see what happens, then front and then all 4. Maybe it is in fact all suspension related. I like the cab mount torque theory too, might even try that just for fun. Or just drive my Mercedes and be happy, wouldn't that be cool, just go for a ride and be happy instead of having to diagnose every bump in the road lol

 

Dude, I totally get it. I am not hexing or jumping for joy yet. When they road force balanced the tires the first couple times it did make the truck drive better at first. Then when I went on the long haul and the vibration was still there.

 

There were two issues. The pinion preload and probably one tire. Those two coupled together made the issue.

 

The first dealer did say this as well, he said it was probably two issues, not just one.

 

Fingers crossed.

Edited October 16, 2015 by OmahaBen

[yahtzee]

I picked up a '16 XL Denali on 9/15/15. Same issues are present. I've since reached out to numerous automobile publications (print and online) and received a response asking to drive one of these impacted vehicles. Is anyone near LA, alas Vegas or Detroit and willing to meet up? He has some good contacts at GM and I think we could get some additional visibility here. Ice also created a Facebook group. Just look up GM Issues and request to join. Thanks.

[Tattooo]

Did you talk to the dealer about a buy back ?

[ziemer]

Got mine back after a list of items the dealer did, most of which was alongside the local GM Field Engineer.

 

None of the replacement parts helped the vibration (tires, shocks, axle, more tires, RF balance, etc) however, they finally indexed the tires after one of the RF balances, and found that a couple tires were indeed slipping on the rim. From what I was told, as much as 5"-6"...

 

So this morning was the first time I was on the highway and it did feel better. Not 100%, but definitely better. So when I got to work, I went ahead and marked the rim to the tires, just to test the theory. Well, this afternoon on my way home, although not as bad as previous, it was definitely worse than this morning.

 

Well, checked my marks when I got home and the left rear tire had moved about 2"-3" on the rim. The right rear was about a 1/4" off. With around 4 oz of weight, I'm sure this would have an affect.

 

The real question though is why??? Why are the tires slipping on the wheels so bad? Mine even sat overnight prior to them doing a final test ride also.

 

BTW, my pico readings went from 30 milli-G's down to 18, which according to my report was within spec.

 

Guess I'll be back next week to the dealer... Starting to really miss my EcoBoost...

[Gabe63]

I have not read this whole thread. I test drove a 2015 Chevy Silverado CC, brand new, at the dealership, 3GCUKSEC9FG448252, horrible vibration around 55-65 MPH. Is this the issue everyone is experiencing?

 

I passed on it and bought it's sister truck that did not have this issue. But is this the vibration or are there multiple variations?

[Tattooo]

Mine vibrates us 74 mph & up

[LongrangeLauber]

Mine vibrates us 74 mph & up

Mines the same way

[Tattooo]

Have you brought it to the dealer ?