Shake or Vibration Issues

Bart’s Silverado · August 8, 2018

Your driveshaft continues to turn even in neutral, so if the vibration is in the shaft it will continue to vibrate in neutral. They make money off tire sales and usually with no return policy. I have Nittos and they are no more smooth than any other tire I've tried. Want smooth, go Michelin. Better yet, go with a new driveshaft.

mk3sang · August 8, 2018

This may not be applicable for those who's trucks been in and out of shops getting tire balanced.

I purchased a used 2014 silverado 1500 z71 with a shake above 70mph. Faintly starts at 60 but pretty negligible until 70 then violent up to 80. Never took it above that. Dealer put new tires on, iron man or something I've never heard, and claimed balance. I had them look over it before purchase and they blamed the leaf spring pack as it was a heavier one with one more leaf for the 5th wheel it pulled. I replaced the shocks as well as checked balance on a driveshaft. None of it helped.

I was going to try road force balance before replacing leaf spring back. Before the road force balance, I wanted to spend the lower cost on a regular balance. $30 for the rear 2 wheels and now it is smooth until 85mph. I know most people with the problem probably tried balance multiple times, even at multiple locations, but mine was definitely an unbalanced tire.

calvic · August 8, 2018

2 hours ago, Bart’s Silverado said:

Your driveshaft continues to turn even in neutral, so if the vibration is in the shaft it will continue to vibrate in neutral. They make money off tire sales and usually with no return policy. I have Nittos and they are no more smooth than any other tire I've tried. Want smooth, go Michelin. Better yet, go with a new driveshaft.

What?? Your driveshaft turns when your in neutral? Better get that looked into.

contenderv07 · August 9, 2018

9 hours ago, Gofas said:

Well I thought if you put truck in neutral and shake stops it’s driveshaft?

my truck still shakes even in neutral. Haha or maybe drive shaft keeps spinning cause it’s connected to the rear axle, duh!

I even let dealer service guy pick tire.

they picked Nitto grappler stock size.

He says they had least problems with shake using these...

I’ve heard of vibration issues at a stop are the RPMs being too low. I think it’s set to about 500 rpm which is a little low. From what I’m reading the rpm can be changed with tuning (like diablew)

Colossus · August 9, 2018

9 hours ago, calvic said:

What?? Your driveshaft turns when your in neutral? Better get that looked into.

If the wheels are spinning and the axle is connected to the drive shaft, you bet the drive shaft will be spinning, even when the transmission is in neutral. You would have to disconnect the drive shaft from the rear axle. (or driving axle)

All you are doing when putting your transmission into neutral is removing the driving force of the transmission to the drive shaft but the shaft will still be spinning so long as the other end is spinning (the axle/wheels) Think about it.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Colossus

Shawn5800 · August 9, 2018

On 8/7/2018 at 11:19 AM, Bart’s Silverado said:

You are just throwing your money away. Please see my other posts. Your problem is driveshaft related. Get rid of that long fat aluminum driveshaft. Go to a two piece shaft if yours is 2wd or a steel replacement shaft if yours is 4wd. I recommend you look up Performance Drivelines in California.

Hello Bart,

How familiar is this company with this particular issue on the 14-18 trucks? I would like to give them a try but as others said, it's a lot of money to dump into a truck that is under warranty.

Bart’s Silverado · August 9, 2018

4 hours ago, Shawn5800 said:

Hello Bart,

How familiar is this company with this particular issue on the 14-18 trucks? I would like to give them a try but as others said, it's a lot of money to dump into a truck that is under warranty.

They make custom driveshaft setups for raised and lowered trucks where driveshaft critical speeds or clearance issues can easily become a problem. Adapting their technology to standard ride height trucks was an easy issue for them. I've had great results. I'm the one that actually figured out that the driveshaft were the issue, they just supplied me with my desired solution.

Gofas · August 10, 2018

My drive shaft comment was a brain fart.

well anyway I’m at46k and already ordered new tires.

if dealerwill not investigate further I’ll try driveshaft..

Well I thought if you put truck in neutral and shake stops it’s driveshaft?

my truck still shakes even in neutral.

I even let dealer service guy pick tire.

they picked Nitto grappler stock size.

He says they had least problems with shake using these...

Chevelleguy3 · August 10, 2018

Just bought a used 2016 Crew cab LT 2wd 5.3 3.08. 58k miles. Didn’t notice the shake when test driving, but didn’t go up to 70+mph. Truck shakes so bad between 70-75 mph it will almost shake a water bottle out of the cup holder. Truck has a set of Fuel Maverick 20x9 wheels with BFG All Terrain K02 275/55-20 that are brand new.

Truck has been back at the dealer where I bought it. They have balanced the tires, performed alignment, swapped wheels and tires from a known smooth truck. Still shakes. I suggested that they look into the driveshaft. Has anyone had any luck getting this fixed? 800 pages, it’s obviously common.

wmadden · August 10, 2018

On 8/9/2018 at 10:22 AM, Bart’s Silverado said:

They make custom driveshaft setups for raised and lowered trucks where driveshaft critical speeds or clearance issues can easily become a problem. Adapting their technology to standard ride height trucks was an easy issue for them. I've had great results. I'm the one that actually figured out that the driveshaft were the issue, they just supplied me with my desired solution.

Thanks @Bart’s Silverado . Spoke with Morgan at Performance Driveline, who provided me more information about this issue than three dealers. Basically, the two piece drive shaft, as Bart's Silverado explained, eliminates the critical speed issues most of you are having with the one piece aluminum drive shafts. They're also stronger so they'll take more HPs. My issue, with the studder at 1200-1800 rpms they believe is due to a batch of mis-machined axles from the manufacturer that GM installed in these trucks anyway. They have a truck in the shop with the chevy shake and the studder my truck suffers from and they've tried everything from tires to drive shaft, which fixed the critical speed issue, but not the studder. They've ordered some custom axles in hopes this will be the final fix. The estimated cost will be $550-600 for the custom axles. She said they'll have the axles in at the end of the month and should be able to report on the results then. Morgan isn't the owner, but she was extremely helpful and knew the issues inside and out. When and if you decide to upgrade your driveline, give these guys your business. Class act operation.

Bart’s Silverado · August 11, 2018

I used a programmer to reprogram how the converter locks up. When I say reprogram I mean I selected the economy programming for the converter. I also disabled the cylinder deactivation. I think those two actions eliminated the shudder on my truck. It may have just been the elimination of cylinder deactivation. BTW I saw no decrease in fuel economy by eliminating the cylinder deactivation and returning to a true V8 engine. I am enjoying more power under my right foot though!

Shawn5800 · August 11, 2018

I have reached out to my local Toyota dealer after driving a few Tundras. I just can't succumb to driving a rattle box everyday for the money we pay. I should have bought the Tundra like I said I would have after my 07 Sierra was eating 2 quarts of oil every 5k.

I don't have the time or the drive anymore to haggle with dealers who almost 100% of the time don't genuinely care about your issues and don't have the backing from GM to follow through with a real fix. Chances are GM knows where these issues are coming from but know the money pit they will be in by opening a full blown recall for it.

Call it frame stiffening, bad tires, bad driveshafts, torque converter, pinion angle, rear ends. At the end of the day some guys have these generation trucks with zero vibration. The ones who do should be taken care of properly.

FYI, if you haven't driven a 5.7 Tundra, do yourself a favor and do it and enjoy the basics of a truck and real torque, no shuddering or bullshit hesitation.

/end rant

wmadden · August 11, 2018

8 hours ago, Bart’s Silverado said:

I used a programmer to reprogram how the converter locks up. When I say reprogram I mean I selected the economy programming for the converter. I also disabled the cylinder deactivation. I think those two actions eliminated the shudder on my truck. It may have just been the elimination of cylinder deactivation. BTW I saw no decrease in fuel economy by eliminating the cylinder deactivation and returning to a true V8 engine. I am enjoying more power under my right foot though!

Which programmer did you end up using?

Baytrucker · August 11, 2018

13 hours ago, Shawn5800 said:

FYI, if you haven't driven a 5.7 Tundra, do yourself a favor and do it and enjoy the basics of a truck and real torque, no shuddering or bullshit hesitation.

I get it. I wouldn't put up with the shaking either.

When I bought my truck, I drove a Tundra. They are exquisite, no doubt about it. The problem I had was with the price point. They are notably more expensive than the 1500 or f150 for comparable models. I just can't justify paying that much for a half ton.

I've owned my 2017 1500 sierra for a little over a year. I'm at 9000km of mostly city driving. I've had problems with the rear suspension, fuel pump, air conditioner, and transmission. In a single year. Thank god I haven't had the shake yet, but from what I've read, it starts in at around 30,000km (on average).

GM has been horrible to deal with; thank god my dealer sympathizes and the mechanic they have is pretty good. He said to me out of frustration that this model of 1500 from 2014 up (K2X?) is the most problematic vehicle he has seen since working for GM. Of course that is anecdotal, but even the dealers aren't happy with having to deal with this turd.

I'm currently trying to get my finances in order to trade in for an F150. I may go second hand. I think I'm done with new vehicles. I've only ever owned two, and was under the mistaken impression that new vehicles are less problematic and have warranty. I've come to learn warranties aren't worth the hassle they put you through, especially GM.

Edited August 11, 2018 by Baytrucker

Baytrucker · August 11, 2018

20 hours ago, Chevelleguy3 said:

Just bought a used 2016 Crew cab LT 2wd 5.3 3.08. 58k miles. Didn’t notice the shake when test driving, but didn’t go up to 70+mph. Truck shakes so bad between 70-75 mph it will almost shake a water bottle out of the cup holder. Truck has a set of Fuel Maverick 20x9 wheels with BFG All Terrain K02 275/55-20 that are brand new.

Truck has been back at the dealer where I bought it. They have balanced the tires, performed alignment, swapped wheels and tires from a known smooth truck. Still shakes. I suggested that they look into the driveshaft. Has anyone had any luck getting this fixed? 800 pages, it’s obviously common.

Go through the thread again carefully and look at the user names. I've been tracking this thread, and one thing I noticed is that the only people who have said they have gotten rid the shake and then proceeded to never post again, were the people who "fixed it" by trading it in for another vehicle.

There are other users who applied fixes, but ended up coming back later saying the shake reappeared.

I've been lucky so far in regard to the shake. Every other component on my truck seems to be taking turns in line to break, but the shaking hasn't appeared yet. It makes me uncomfortable that it has such a high probability of developing a shake later on.

You may want to look at swapping and getting out, rather than sinking thousands of dollars into a fix. Its pretty telling that GM has had 5 years to fix this issue, and still can't even figure out definitively what causes it, so you may end up playing a very expensive game of whack-a-mole. I'm not sure what moved you to buy a GM product in the first place (a lot of people here seem to have epic brand loyalty), but GM simply isn't the company it used to be. Cut your losses and run.