Shake or Vibration Issues

taps929 · July 13, 2017

Someone had mentioned previously about tire placement. When they rotated my tires it got worse. So had them out them back. Haven't moved them since till they burn down and have to replace them. 44k on the oe Goodforoneyears. About to replace. Seems to calm a bit more with my tonneau on. Could very well just be a design flaw. Beaming ECT ECT. Bout I've kept this truck for one reason. Tungsten, with in channel smoke rain gaurds, Nfab wheel to wheel Nerf bars (dull black) it's a good looking truck. Specially when she's cleaned up. I've kept women for the same reasons....

rhino68 · July 13, 2017

In regards to the pico scan, I like you, was unable to get a readout from the dealership. I also found it peculiar that they mounted it to the rear seat and called it a day. I explained it was mostly felt through the steering wheel and pedals, even had the service manager agree on the test drive but a day later after leaving my vehicle he seemed to have gotten amnesia after speaking with the higher ups and retracted his statement.

At this point in time after mounting my GoPro underneath the truck I can see clear as day the driveshaft at the transmission side is dancing around and even flexing under load pulling the rear of the transmission along with it. I removed my driveshaft and took it to a reputable driveline shop and he explained to me that the overall design of the driveshaft is junk. As well as it not being balanced, it is way out of spec in regards to straightness and is even oval shaped. With the swedge design at the ends of the shaft the out of round high and low spots as well don't even match up with the highs and lows on the main 5" section. There is no way to fix it and have a legitimate shop warranty it so I pulled the trigger and have them building me a new 5" straight shaft with spicer joints for $650. I am picking it up this afternoon and will follow up if its a successful story.

How are your results after the new driveshaft was installed?

kthomas72 · July 13, 2017

How are your results after the new driveshaft was installed?

Results were noticeably better, id say about 80% better. The shop I took it to was completely surprised that they used a thin .125" wall aluminum tube which was definitely causing the flexing in the shaft. With that being said I feel that there is still a more underlying problem and with the new straight 5" OD .25" wall beefcake driveshaft I had built it eliminated a lot of the vibrations exacerbated by the flimsy stock shaft. This weekend I'm going to check the rear axel assemblies for out of round tolerances and if I do or don't find an issue there, the shop that built my new driveshaft are on board with helping me tear into the rear end as well to check for issues. I have at this point completely given up on GM and just want a properly operating truck at this point. But I would definitely suggest to you to set up a camera underneath your truck or remove it and take it to a reputable shop just to have it spun and see what you're dealing with.

Note that this is the second time I had my driveshaft spun and the first time it wasn't ever balanced not was it straight and true. GM will not help you even with evidence of a defective product.

rhino68 · July 13, 2017

Results were noticeably better, id say about 80% better. The shop I took it to was completely surprised that they used a thin .125" wall aluminum tube which was definitely causing the flexing in the shaft. With that being said I feel that there is still a more underlying problem and with the new straight 5" OD .25" wall beefcake driveshaft I had built it eliminated a lot of the vibrations exacerbated by the flimsy stock shaft. This weekend I'm going to check the rear axel assemblies for out of round tolerances and if I do or don't find an issue there, the shop that built my new driveshaft are on board with helping me tear into the rear end as well to check for issues. I have at this point completely given up on GM and just want a properly operating truck at this point. But I would definitely suggest to you to set up a camera underneath your truck or remove it and take it to a reputable shop just to have it spun and see what you're dealing with.

Note that this is the second time I had my driveshaft spun and the first time it wasn't ever balanced not was it straight and true. GM will not help you even with evidence of a defective product.

Awesome. This is exactly where my head is on the vibration. I see your in socal as well, what shop did you go to for the driveshaft? I was going to take mine to inland empire driveline. One thing though is that I am lifted with roughly 34s and I have the steal 2 piece shaft. Many people say its only the 1 piece aluminum shaft doing it which it can't be. Also my vibration started at 8000 miles on the truck and also after I installed the lift. The rear of the truck was never lifted so the factory angles stayed intact. The dealer is not an option for me as we know what they would say as soon as they look at the truck. After i check my driveshaft I wanted to have the axles checked out and also the rear locker. While driving during the vibration I can't help but to think of the locker or assembly is possibly engaging power to both sides of the rear axle. That to me could definitely be causing a vibration.

Edited July 13, 2017 by rhino68

kthomas72 · July 13, 2017

Awesome. This is exactly where my head is on the vibration. I see your in socal as well, what shop did you go to for the driveshaft? I was going to take mine to inland empire driveline. One thing though is that I am lifted with roughly 34s and I have the steal 2 piece shaft. Many people say its only the 1 piece aluminum shaft doing it which it can't be. Also my vibration started at 8000 miles on the truck and also after I installed the lift. The rear of the truck was never lifted so the factory angles stayed intact. The dealer is not an option for me as we know what they would say as soon as they look at the truck. After i check my driveshaft I wanted to have the axles checked out and also the rear locker. While driving during the vibration I can't help but to think of the locker or assembly is possibly engaging power to both sides of the rear axle. That to me could definitely be causing a vibration.

I have the one piece aluminum driveshaft. I had FOX Factory coilovers, rears, Mazzulla uppers on 34" tires as well, had to pull everything off just to get the dealership to look at it. I tried 2 - 4 degree shims both ways, spring clamps, lowering shackles and all that nonsense with zero change.

I'm out in the Ventura area so I went to driveshaft pros in Ventura, formerly Coast Driveline. One thing I did notice as well is in my video it seems like the transmission mount is very spongy, might be worth swapping out for a harder poly mount?

Other than getting into the rear end to check tolerances my next guess would maybe be engine mounts.

rhino68 · July 13, 2017

I have the one piece aluminum driveshaft. I had FOX Factory coilovers, rears, Mazzulla uppers on 34" tires as well, had to pull everything off just to get the dealership to look at it. I tried 2 - 4 degree shims both ways, spring clamps, lowering shackles and all that nonsense with zero change.

I'm out in the Ventura area so I went to driveshaft pros in Ventura, formerly Coast Driveline. One thing I did notice as well is in my video it seems like the transmission mount is very spongy, might be worth swapping out for a harder poly mount?

Other than getting into the rear end to check tolerances my next guess would maybe be engine mounts.

Yep my thoughts exactly. I don't want to put my truck back to stock just to see what they might say. Let me know what you find out in the rear end. I took my truck to tri county gear today in pomona and was going to get 3.73s installed. Seems thats another impossible task to do right now but they finally found out what exactly i needed. I was going to have them look into anything it could possibly be in there. I don't know if they would actually check the balance of the axles but possibly do an overall visual of all the parts. Including bearings.

Sir Dan · July 14, 2017

Yep my thoughts exactly. I don't want to put my truck back to stock just to see what they might say. Let me know what you find out in the rear end. I took my truck to tri county gear today in pomona and was going to get 3.73s installed. Seems thats another impossible task to do right now but they finally found out what exactly i needed. I was going to have them look into anything it could possibly be in there. I don't know if they would actually check the balance of the axles but possibly do an overall visual of all the parts. Including bearings.

Have them check the rear axle shaft flange lateral run-outs. My left rear has had a wobble since day one but dealer won't check it.

rhino68 · July 14, 2017

Have them check the rear axle shaft flange lateral run-outs. My left rear has had a wobble since day one but dealer won't check it.

I will let them know. Thanks. Was that causing your vibration issue?

Gofas · July 14, 2017

Yeah, the other day the dealer rotated my tires and I regretted it. It screwed up my last balance somehow. Now I have a thump bump shake. However these stock tires are near the end of their life. Not worth spending 50 more dollars on another balance. I might just switch em back to where they were.

I've got an appointment for intstrment cluster rattle, passenger seat squeak and the leaf spring creaks and some loose heat shield or something from under the truck. Wish me luck on some fixes! What causes all this?

Sir Dan · July 14, 2017

I will let them know. Thanks. Was that causing your vibration issue?

It still vibrates. I'm almost sure it's the axle flange causing it.

Noob_chevy · July 14, 2017

Yeah, the other day the dealer rotated my tires and I regretted it. It screwed up my last balance somehow. Now I have a thump bump shake. However these stock tires are near the end of their life. Not worth spending 50 more dollars on another balance. I might just switch em back to where they were.

I've got an appointment for intstrment cluster rattle, passenger seat squeak and the leaf spring creaks and some loose heat shield or something from under the truck. Wish me luck on some fixes! What causes all this?

Regarding your instrument cluster rattle, not sure if this helps but I had one too. The noise was coming from just below my steering wheel. Mentioned it at a service appointment and they replaced the knee bolster panel. 5 minutes down the road, the rattle came back. When I got home, I removed the panel (four clips, just pull it back gently to find them), I found four screws behind the knee bolster panel that needed to be tightened down. Good luck.

kthomas72 · July 15, 2017

It still vibrates. I'm almost sure it's the axle flange causing it.

Where are you feeling the vibration and how bad is it? I had the same issues with them balancing and what not, also telling me my stock tires had flat spots so last week I bought all brand new tires with no change. After replacing my driveshaft the "hopping" vibration is gone but I'm down to a more "rumbling / light grinding" vibration mostly felt in the steering wheel and pedals. Under heavy acceleration its amplified but also present at cruising speeds and decelerating on the brakes lightly from freeway speeds I can feel it in the brake pedal. Also I can feel like the front suspension is loose with a light thumping sound when I roll over minor imperfections in the road especially around 45mph. My 2015 truck just feels like I have 200k + miles on it and its just worn out.

Sir Dan · July 15, 2017

I have the nearly constant 70+ mph vibe. Not as bad with a 500# load on the truck. New Michelin tires didn't help. New ubolts on rearend didn't help. Spring clamps toned it down some but they move around and I just don't like the idea of them. I have run it on jackstands and driveshaft doesn't appear out of whack but that one wheel does wobble and it's not the tire or rim. I have run a dial indicator on the flange and it's not true.

kthomas72 · July 15, 2017

I have the nearly constant 70+ mph vibe. Not as bad with a 500# load on the truck. New Michelin tires didn't help. New ubolts on rearend didn't help. Spring clamps toned it down some but they move around and I just don't like the idea of them. I have run it on jackstands and driveshaft doesn't appear out of whack but that one wheel does wobble and it's not the tire or rim. I have run a dial indicator on the flange and it's not true.

That's what I need to check this weekend then take it back to the shop that built me the new driveshaft. It has become extremely tiresome having to spend so much time and money on a new truck, I know I am preaching to the choir but shit! I wanted to buy this truck out and keep for a long time but here I am taking a huge hit and cant even sell it just due to the fact that I'm not the type of person to pawn off a lemon to someone. Not to mention its a little embarrassing that the paint is flaking off of a 2 year old truck and recently I have heard that our AC condensers are about to take a dump and you'll end up on a 6+ month waiting list.

UrbanRage · July 15, 2017

I'd like to get others opinions on the rear axel flanges (2017 Sierra). The dealership thinks that this wouldn't cause vibrations..

I'm no engineer, but to me that sounds like BS. If you have more steel/weight in one area of a round object.. shouldn't that cause a heavy spot, resulting in vibrations?