Shake or Vibration Issues

mikedege · December 28, 2015

To quote another toyota forum I frequent about vibration issue just like the one some people are having here...

"I'm calling and will see what Toyota will do; however, this is starting to really irritate me since the dealership seems to want to be totally hands off on this. I'm starting to regret that I traded in my FJC for this truck. Overall, I like much about it; however, this issue is ridiculous in todays day and age.....and I'm getting more and more PO'd at the dealership for not seeming to care one bit."

Just letting you know, even the almighty Toyotas have a similar issue.

Im willing to bet its all just bad batch's of Rims and/or Tires.

No issue on my GMC truck, thankfully.

-Mike

abominable z71 · December 28, 2015

A few observations about my truck's vibrations:

They seem to be worse with higher psi in my 10 ply tires. Same on mine, vibes almost go away around 28 psi

Once they get going at high speeds, it is hard to get them to stop and it feels like it is going to vibrate me off the highway. Same problem

I've tried with the rear leaf spring clamps, can't say definitively whether it has helped. Helped with the spring wrap during hard acceleration, unsure if it helped the vibes maybe a little.

Anything messing with the suspension in the rear temporarily helps it. For exam, I have the Firestone Ride Rite air bags in the back. If I inflate them and raise the back of the truck, it rides without vibrations for several miles, but then they come back. If I let the air out and lower it back down, I have the same thing - no vibrations for a while and they they come back. I've noticed the exact same phenomena when I put the body lift on they were gone far a few days but returned. I have a set a Deaver rear springs on their way right now should fix the vibes for an hour or so.

They seem to be less severe in turns. I have noticed this as well.

Most of the time they are better if I keep it in M5 and tow mode, although they are still there. I can't figure out if the engine is unbalanced at low RPM's, or if the higher RPM's at a given speed are helping to counteract or balance out the harmonic vibrations. They feel the same to me whether in M4, M5, M6 or auto

I've owned several GM trucks before. My last one had 200k+ miles and drove much better than this one drives now. I was aware of the vibrations in 2014's before buying my 2015, and test drove it extensively on the highway. It was smooth as glass for the first 1500 miles. Same here one of every body style from 1977 on up they all rode better than this truck. Although I got you beat my 2015 didn't vibrate until 2000 miles.

The dealers have been pretty much worthless. I can't get them to return my calls, and when I drop it off they do almost nothing except drive it and say it is operating as normal. The last dealer said it definitely had the vibrations, but that they aren't getting enough money from GM to make it worth their while to work on these trucks. They have had several of them with no resolution. On the service write up, he blamed it on my aftermarket tires and leveling kit, even though I clearly brought it in with the same problems prior to new tires and leveling kit. It's almost like I wrote this post myself lol.

This problem, and GM's lack of acknowledging it, are causing me to consider other brands for the first time. I have been very GM-loyal customer but this is all changing. My wife was in the market for a Yukon Denali but is now looking at Infiniti's, Toyota's, etc. I'm now looking at F-150's if I can't get the ride problem resolved.

I redlined your post, it's almost like I wrote it myself, I'm sure others on here feel the same way. The worst part of it all is I like everything about this truck more than any of the others on the market but the vibes are killing it.

abominable z71 · December 28, 2015

I know I had energy suspension polyurethane body mounts on my 02 and it made the ride so much worse I can't imagine what it would feel like on these fully boxed stiff frames

Polyurethane is a much harder material then natural rubber which is why your ride got worse instead of better. Although you can get softer shore hardness in poly to behave more likes its rubber counterpart. The problem with the mounts on these trucks is that they're a shear style mount that gm used to give the truck better handling which worked, this trucks handles better than any others on the road, I believe motor trend or car and driver made the same comment in their tests. The problem is the mount is very rigid laterally. I gave them a close look while I was installing my body lift and I'm not quite sure how you change them out. Although I didn't try to remove one either, one thing for sure it's definitely more than just a rubber puck sandwiched between the body and frame.

LongrangeLauber · December 28, 2015

Polyurethane is a much harder material then natural rubber which is why your ride got worse instead of better. Although you can get softer shore hardness in poly to behave more likes its rubber counterpart. The problem with the mounts on these trucks is that they're a shear style mount that gm used to give the truck better handling which worked, this trucks handles better than any others on the road, I believe motor trend or car and driver made the same comment in their tests. The problem is the mount is very rigid laterally. I gave them a close look while I was installing my body lift and I'm not quite sure how you change them out. Although I didn't try to remove one either, one thing for sure it's definitely more than just a rubber puck sandwiched between the body and frame.

At the time I didn't know that and my body mounts were bad so I got those and returned them to get factory rubber ones. They were also too short and threw all my body lines off on that truck. I've never looked at these body mounts, but I know on my other truck you had the body mount sandwiched between body and frame and then a large metal washer with a rubber boot on it to absorb more vibration on the underside

pm26 · December 29, 2015

After reading all this i am still confused about the following: If there is indeed a design issue, why is it that only a small percentage of these trucks have vibration problems? Maybe the body mounts are stiff and transmit a lot of vibration into the cab, but it seems that it takes a combination of several factors, such as the worst case stack up of sloppy tolerance parts and shoddy workmanship to get a true vibrator. Maybe this is why GM does not want to address the issue - they would have to redesign some critical parts to tighter tolerances and replace them, and that is proving to be too expensive.

Edited December 29, 2015 by pm26

WLC · December 29, 2015

After reading all this i am still confused about the following: If there is indeed a design issue, why is it that only a small percentage of these truck have vibration problems? Maybe the body mounts are stiff and transmit a lot of vibration into the cab, but it seems that it takes a combination of several factors, such as the worst case stack up of sloppy tolerance parts and shoddy workmanship to get a true vibrator. Maybe this is why GM does not want to address the issue - they would have to redesign some critical parts to tighter tolerances and replace them, and that is proving to be too expensive.

It's called the bottom line!

rshad · December 29, 2015

After reading all this i am still confused about the following: If there is indeed a design issue, why is it that only a small percentage of these truck have vibration problems? Maybe the body mounts are stiff and transmit a lot of vibration into the cab, but it seems that it takes a combination of several factors, such as the worst case stack up of sloppy tolerance parts and shoddy workmanship to get a true vibrator. Maybe this is why GM does not want to address the issue - they would have to redesign some critical parts to tighter tolerances and replace them, and that is proving to be too expensive.

It might be a small percentage in the scale of things but it is still a lot of trucks and SUV's that have the vibration problems. Even if it is a small number GM should be able to pin point the problem and get it fixed. Like I have stated before, I like my truck a lot except for this vibration issue. I am also thinking what if this vibration causes other problems after time. If things are shaking all over the place something is going to give. Cracked welds, Nuts coming loose, Supports breaking, ect...(all big safety hazards). Most of the highways are 65mph in my area and that is in the sweet spot that the vibration is happening on my truck. I will not bash GM because all manufactures have these problems it's just that they work to get it fixed. Either they still have not found out what is going on or they just wont say because it would cost too much to fix. either way I wish GM would post again in this forum and at least give us an update instead of running and hiding. Come on GM let's hear what you have????

Edited December 29, 2015 by rshad

paxtonman · December 29, 2015

small % my a$$, tried to trade mine for a Ford today, Ford dealer told me there was a $10,000 hit for trading in a 14-15 GM truck at their dealership, they didn't want them.

WLC · December 29, 2015

Haven't seen GM chime in lately on the thread at least to try to help! Someone knows(said this before) at GM or at one of the factories where these bad parts were made. I admire the hard work by many on this thread to solve this vib issue! There will be hero's if not already for their effort to solve this problem!! Let's dry up this thread. Sorry for those with vibs in their trucks.WLC

GM Where are youuuuuu!

LongrangeLauber · December 29, 2015

My truck has 36.5k miles, High Country trim, I put very good cause I'll end up getting everything fixed so it has to go to the body shop (hit two deer, crack in windshield as well, some paint chips I'll get touched up). These are current trade in estimated values and sale prices on my truck

Upsetting that I got the truck for around 46k I believe. I owe more than its worth right now. And that's not to include what the trade in dealer would take off. Very depressing considering I could go out and get an 06-07 2500HD with an LBZ Dmax with 75k miles, fully equipped for the cost of my top of the line truck with less than half the miles. That truck is almost 10 years old, this one isn't even 2. Very depressing

paxtonman · December 29, 2015

I think it is something with the electric power steering, but it's going to take someone a lot more mechanically talented than me.

Edited December 29, 2015 by paxtonman

pm26 · December 29, 2015

I think it is something with the electric power steering, but it's going to take someone a lot more mechanically talented than me.

If you suspect that the electric power steering might be contributing to the vibration problem, is there a safe way to disable the electric power steering and drive the truck to see if vibration will diminish? It is certainly possible to do this with traditional hydraulic steering, you just will not have the power assist. But even electric steering should be fail safe , i.e. the truck should be steerable with more physical effort should the electric assist fail. Is that the case here?

Edited December 29, 2015 by pm26

pm26 · December 29, 2015

small % my a$$, tried to trade mine for a Ford today, Ford dealer told me there was a $10,000 hit for trading in a 14-15 GM truck at their dealership, they didn't want them.

Apparently there is enough of these trucks being traded and you can bet that they are being traded in for a good reason. People normally do not trade in trucks less than a year old, especially when they cost so much to buy. Gone are the days when you could trade in a year old truck and get almost 90% of the price you paid for it.

WLC · December 29, 2015

Someone needs to put 4 steel wheels on a vib truck. I have two spares never on the ground.

Jesse Davidson · December 29, 2015

small % my a$$, tried to trade mine for a Ford today, Ford dealer told me there was a $10,000 hit for trading in a 14-15 GM truck at their dealership, they didn't want them.

YUP, I found that out months ago