Shake or Vibration Issues

[Hailofatime]

I just replaced my 2014 Silverado LTZ Z71 with a lightly used (4,200 miles) 2016 GMC Sierra Denali 1500 thinking moving up to the 6.2L engine and the 8-speed tranny was going to be a nice step up, not to mention getting my truck back to full warranty. The only thing that I had an issue with on my 2014 Chevy was the 6 speed transmission was pretty hard shifting and the 5.3 is somewhat lackluster in power when pulling anything, other than that, great truck. Long story short I purchased the GMC yesterday and on my 300 mile journey home I began noticing my passenger seat making a noise and vibrating a great deal. This persisted the entire trip at 70-80 mph. The vibration varies, but is so bad that I can't rest my head on the headrest without getting sick.

 

My question for anyone that has had this issue is should I head to the dealer, can't get me in until next week, and try and get this fixed? My other option as of right now is to take this truck back to the dealer I purchased it from and get my old truck back. I love everything else about this newer truck, but I don't want to deal with a headache of something that they may or may not be able to fix. I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has had this issue.

[Severado]

I just replaced my 2014 Silverado LTZ Z71 with a lightly used (4,200 miles) 2016 GMC Sierra Denali 1500 thinking moving up to the 6.2L engine and the 8-speed tranny was going to be a nice step up, not to mention getting my truck back to full warranty. The only thing that I had an issue with on my 2014 Chevy was the 6 speed transmission was pretty hard shifting and the 5.3 is somewhat lackluster in power when pulling anything, other than that, great truck. Long story short I purchased the GMC yesterday and on my 300 mile journey home I began noticing my passenger seat making a noise and vibrating a great deal. This persisted the entire trip at 70-80 mph. The vibration varies, but is so bad that I can't rest my head on the headrest without getting sick.

 

My question for anyone that has had this issue is should I head to the dealer, can't get me in until next week, and try and get this fixed? My other option as of right now is to take this truck back to the dealer I purchased it from and get my old truck back. I love everything else about this newer truck, but I don't want to deal with a headache of something that they may or may not be able to fix. I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has had this issue.

 

Get your truck back right now. Don't wait. Sleep at the gate tonight.

[slopra]

I hope it works out for you, i went down the same avenue. only one shop left in town that does an on the vehicle balance I took it one step further and had them true the tires to eliminate run-out then balance them on the vehicle but alas the vibration is still there and comes and goes in intensity. Makes me wonder if it is a bearing issue in the front hubs.

 

Yea the shop I'm heading to trues the tires as well. Did they true them on the vehicle or off? This shop does it on the vehicle which might or might not be beneficial, but definitely introduces all kinds of other headaches down the road. I'm still on the fence about letting them true the tires. Unfortunately, I called right after my last post and they said they wouldn't be able to start working on my truck as late as I'd have got there in the afternoon. I wish I had known I was going to leave the office early today so I could have actually made an appointment. I'm not 100% sure that this will fix the issue, but I sure hope it does since it should be pretty easy to find the actual root cause if an on car balance does fix the issue, there's really only a handful of things it could be at that point.

 

I've thought about the bearings as well, both front and rear. They could certainly be the root cause, or they could just be going bad as a result of some other bad component. I wouldn't be surprised if owners have actually found the culprit and fixed it only to not realize that they've already ruined their bearings beforehand which is continuing to give them vibration issues.

 

I hope to be able to get my truck in sometime next week and I'll report results.

 

Awhile back I read you experimenting with making your own body mounts, how's that going?

 

 

how do you true a tire? How do they determine if it is false?

 

The wheel and tire is spun at high speeds and shaved at its high spots to make the tire as round as possible.

[C6Bill]

My question for anyone that has had this issue is should I head to the dealer, can't get me in until next week, and try and get this fixed? My other option as of right now is to take this truck back to the dealer I purchased it from and get my old truck back. I love everything else about this newer truck, but I don't want to deal with a headache of something that they may or may not be able to fix. I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has had this issue.

 

If you can get your old truck back do it as fast as you can. That "lightly used" 2016 was available for a reason, someone already went through this whole vibration issue with that truck and dumped it when the dealer couldn't fix it. Run away as fast as you can !!!!!

[abominable z71]

how do you true a tire? How do they determine if it is false?

They typically use sleep deprivation and water boarding. Seriously though the use a device with a razor blade that takes a thin layer of the tread off. A lot like a lathe.

 

 

[abominable z71]

 

Yea the shop I'm heading to trues the tires as well. Did they true them on the vehicle or off? This shop does it on the vehicle which might or might not be beneficial, but definitely introduces all kinds of other headaches down the road. I'm still on the fence about letting them true the tires. Unfortunately, I called right after my last post and they said they wouldn't be able to start working on my truck as late as I'd have got there in the afternoon. I wish I had known I was going to leave the office early today so I could have actually made an appointment. I'm not 100% sure that this will fix the issue, but I sure hope it does since it should be pretty easy to find the actual root cause if an on car balance does fix the issue, there's really only a handful of things it could be at that point.

 

I've thought about the bearings as well, both front and rear. They could certainly be the root cause, or they could just be going bad as a result of some other bad component. I wouldn't be surprised if owners have actually found the culprit and fixed it only to not realize that they've already ruined their bearings beforehand which is continuing to give them vibration issues.

 

I hope to be able to get my truck in sometime next week and I'll report results.

 

Awhile back I read you experimenting with making your own body mounts, how's that going?

 

 

 

The wheel and tire is spun at high speeds and shaved at its high spots to make the tire as round as possible.

Everything was done on the truck, truing and balancing. I read a lot of people claiming increased wear mileage on top of a smoother ride after truing the tires so I gave it shot. So far I have 30000 miles on the tires and they still have over half their tread.

 

I was looking at replacing the 1-1/2" nylon pucks used for my body lift with either rubber or polyurethane with shore hardness of 65A but haven't had the time to mess with it. Maybe one day

[14silverado4.3]

Everything was done on the truck, truing and balancing. I read a lot of people claiming increased wear mileage on top of a smoother ride after truing the tires so I gave it shot. So far I have 30000 miles on the tires and they still have over half their tread.

 

I was looking at replacing the 1-1/2" nylon pucks used for my body lift with either rubber or polyurethane with shore hardness of 65A but haven't had the time to mess with it. Maybe one day

So Ab, did it help with the trued tires? No vibrations?

[lee16silverado]

Has anyone noticed less vibes with a full tank of gas?

[Schmidt152]

I thought at one point that my truck rode better with weight (full tank or weight in the bed) but now I feel it all the time.

Update from my visit with the dealership.

They removed the cover plate from my rear diff and did a thorough inspection of the gears. Took measurements and stated that they were all way below the tolerances that GM specs. So that's good. They greased all parts in the driveline according to a service bulletin and took it on the road with the vibration analysis meter. tested it everywhere from 30-77 MPH and sent the reading to GM. Supposedly GM stated that my truck is the smoothest they have seen and that there is nothing wrong with my truck. That being said I still feel my steering wheel vibrate going down the road. What sucks is I took a new truck for a ride and it was 10x worse than my truck. The plastic on the seats were shaking around and I felt like I was on rumble strips. Idk what to think at this point. After looking at the EVA it appeared that the most vibration was seen on T1 (wheels, tires I think) but according to GM it was within spec. At 70 MPH I think it stated 23 (I believe it's in hz right?). Everything else seemed to be in the single digits and very low on the bar graph. Sorry I don't have the specifics on me at this time. The dealership is keeping the work order open since I having them go for a ride with me next week.

Does any of this seem to make sense? While the tires or wheels are within GMs spec, is it still high amount of vibration? I feel defeated that they can't find anything wrong with my truck and I feel worse now that I've tested a new one with 20 miles on it and it was so much worse than mine. Maybe the hub assembly on mine is bad too?

Edited October 7, 2016 by Schmidt152

[C6Bill]

Sorry Addison but this thread is full of stories just like your's. A small percentage of trucks that actually have this vibration problem, some really did have tire issues, actually end up getting fixed.

 

Most either live with it or opt out, some by way of lemon law or buy back. Others like me just trade out, my time and sanity was worth a few thousand dollars to me.

[Schmidt152]

Yeah its a real bummer. I really like the Silverado and I always wanted one. I'm still holding on at this time for a solution but if the dealership "can't find anything wrong" I would have to take on matters in my own hands. Which means burning money that I didnt intend on doing. I wish I had more more knowledge of vehicle mechanics. I've read this entire thread but I keep posting my updates to see if anyone else has any suggestions.

[Snoringbear]

Yea the shop I'm heading to trues the tires as well. Did they true them on the vehicle or off? This shop does it on the vehicle which might or might not be beneficial, but definitely introduces all kinds of other headaches down the road. I'm still on the fence about letting them true the tires. Unfortunately, I called right after my last post and they said they wouldn't be able to start working on my truck as late as I'd have got there in the afternoon. I wish I had known I was going to leave the office early today so I could have actually made an appointment. I'm not 100% sure that this will fix the issue, but I sure hope it does since it should be pretty easy to find the actual root cause if an on car balance does fix the issue, there's really only a handful of things it could be at that point.

 

I've thought about the bearings as well, both front and rear. They could certainly be the root cause, or they could just be going bad as a result of some other bad component. I wouldn't be surprised if owners have actually found the culprit and fixed it only to not realize that they've already ruined their bearings beforehand which is continuing to give them vibration issues.

 

I hope to be able to get my truck in sometime next week and I'll report results.

 

Awhile back I read you experimenting with making your own body mounts, how's that going?

---------------------------

 

The wheel and tire is spun at high speeds and shaved at its high spots to make the tire as round as possible.

In mho if this is a new truck and if top quality tires are on it then truing is a waste of money and time. The exception being if the tires are out of warranty and have been driven enough to exhibit abnormal wear such as cupping. Today's high quality tires are manufactured to very tight tolerances and quality control is excellent in their mfg processes. On the rare occurance that a tire is indeed out of round just take it back to the dealer or tire store and have them swap it out for a new one. Truing was a valid and useful procedure way back in the day when bias tires were the norm and lots of poor folks such as me (was all I used when in the army) ran recaps. Anyway, my two bits says save your money and skip this truing stuff

[Darth_Vader]

Have had the vibration issue with my truck. Figured it was from lowering it and having some pinion angle issues. Obviously out of warranty due to the modifications to my truck but that wouldn't stop me from finding the issue myself. Verified the pinion angle was good multiple times so I went and had the tires balanced again, they were out of balance. That fixed some of the issues, but I was still having some problems around the 68-73mph range. RPM wasn't a factor, so I knew it was from the carrier out. Tried replacing the rear rotors in case one of them had a bad casting and was causing some of the issues. No luck.

 

Finally think it has been fixed. I upgraded my rear gears to 4.56 gears and afterwards it seems that the vibration is gone now short of the road vibration I get from imperfections in the highway combined with the stiffer suspension. That vibration changes with road surface fluctuation. The other was more of a constant vibration at certain speeds. Once again, speeds, not vibrations. Have put a few hundred smooth miles on the truck now and it is night and day better.

 

And this is where it gets interesting. I wish I would have taken some measurements of the factory backlash as it seems like it was off but it was late when I got to that point and I didn't think of taking a factory measurement. And on top of it I know for a fact there was NO preload on the carrier, which makes me a bit suspicious as to why that would be. Literally, the carrier almost fell out once the bearing caps were taken off. I know the carrier doesn't need to be tight but it was floating in the case, scary thought.

 

I am not saying that new gears will solve your problem but it probably wouldn't hurt to have the dealer check your backlash and carrier preload while they are trying to hunt down this problem.

 

As usual, your mileage may vary.

[PMurray]

Having now followed for 2 years and 600+ pages, observations -

The frames are so stiff that they transfer every vibration instead of absorbing any. Quality control for tires and rear gearing parts that may have been okay for older frames is not sufficient now. GM seems unable to "get it."

[Snoringbear]

Having now followed for 2 years and 600+ pages, observations -

The frames are so stiff that they transfer every vibration instead of absorbing any. Quality control for tires and rear gearing parts that may have been okay for older frames is not sufficient now. GM seems unable to "get it."

I was noodling around on the internet last night and came across an article titled 2018 rumors, something like that. On the 2018 Silverado it listed a stronger and stiffer frame is in the works. Also, stated the sheet metal will be mostly aluminum and appears GM is going to get on the V-6 Teapot band wagon. However, there was no mention of changing the logo to Ford.