Shake or Vibration Issues

Tim Clark · April 13, 2017

Everybody talks about vibration in their trucks. GM is really covering their butts, take a look at your warranty book General Motors now states they will not cover slight noises and vibrations in their pick up trucks .

I'm on my second truck now and all GM wants to do is throw tires at this problem. I personally have tested my truck from bumper-to-bumper and in my opinion it's more of a tolerance issue on multiple components. I think they keep throwing tires at it looking for a soft enough Tire to absorb some of the vibration transfer from the road. That's why they keep trying brand after brand after brand. What I don't understand is why can't they just create a frequency damper and mount it on the inter-panels of both sides of the frame that should help reduce the frequency vibrations Ford actually has these on their F150s and it actually works.

Just venting guys I'm frustrated like everybody else

mookdoc6 · April 13, 2017

Everybody talks about vibration in their trucks. GM is really covering their butts, take a look at your warranty book General Motors now states they will not cover slight noises and vibrations in their pick up trucks .

I'm on my second truck now and all GM wants to do is throw tires at this problem. I personally have tested my truck from bumper-to-bumper and in my opinion it's more of a tolerance issue on multiple components. I think they keep throwing tires at it looking for a soft enough Tire to absorb some of the vibration transfer from the road. That's why they keep trying brand after brand after brand. What I don't understand is why can't they just create a frequency damper and mount it on the inter-panels of both sides of the frame that should help reduce the frequency vibrations Ford actually has these on their F150s and it actually works.

Just venting guys I'm frustrated like everybody else

Notice the Truck Vibrate above? It's not moving traveling down the road? It still vibrates......The Engine and motor mounts attach directly to the frame...The trans probably has 1qty Isolator on bottom attached to 2nd cross member that ATTACHES to the Frame....The Cab mounts are the problem.....and you can't fix or remove Shear Mounts on EVERY SINGLE TRUCK EVER MADE FROM 2014 and beyond.......They are integratedinto the frame. It's a game of suppression/isolation so the transients are small enough not to be noticed by the driver because the CAB and FRAME ARE ESSENTIALLY FUSED TOGETHER.

C6Bill · April 13, 2017

I'm not disagreeing with you mook, I have always thought it was just vibrations transmitting to the cab that in years past were damped between frame and cab. But if these mounts are in fact the reason why vibrations are now felt in the cab, in this specific generation of truck, why is it not felt in every one of these trucks at the exact same speeds. Wouldn't it stand to reason that some are worse than others due to contributing factors such as poorly manufactures parts ? And one of the poorly manufacture parts could in fact be these specific mounts you are talking about ?

kthomas72 · April 13, 2017

I have a 2015 crew cab 4x4 Silverado with issues everywhere. From clunking shifts, vibrations in the steering wheel, brake pedal, throttle all the way to the rear end. Been to the dealership 3 times and they mounted a picoscope to the isolated rear seat and told me everything is within spec. I took the head technician for a test drive and had him hold the steering wheel while we were going 45 mph and with a very noticeable steering wheel vibration he was almost programmed to lie to me and tell me everything was ok. After a few minutes of shooting the s...... with him he finally told me that "yes he felt it" and to leave the truck with him so he can start his investigation. Three days later the service manager called me asking me why my truck was still sitting there and that's when everything got screwy. I did manage to remove my factory driveshaft and take it to a local driveline shop where they found that my driveshaft was bent and over 2.5 oz out of balance in the rear straight from the factory. I fixed that problem without GM even acknowledging it when I showed them the paperwork and now the vibrations seem to be intermittent from the front end at all speeds. Knowing that Government Motors has major issues with QC and Specs, considering that they outsourced everything to Mexico, I believe that the source of the manufacturing issues is either the front differential, steering assembly, wheel bearings, front CV's, transmissions, cab mounts, rear end tolerances and or the frames. Another great issue I am having that recently showed up is I have paint bubbling up and beginning to crack and peel off on the drivers side passenger door and drivers side pillar next to the windshield. Without the dealerships acknowledging the issues, probably directed by corporate, and the paint beginning to fall off I don't even know what the options are. I cant due a lemon law or buy back if they don't even investigate issues and who is going to want to buy a two year old $50k truck that vibrates and paint falls off of??

abominable z71 · April 13, 2017

I did more than a theory on it.....and relayed it to the east cost Birdies and it was concluded. Your theory on the piss poor tolerances are nothing that has been different since the 70"s if anything the "piss poor tolerances" are 100% better mainly due to technology....where they are sourced from plays little role the overall quality/tolerances are unequivocally better today than say 15 years ago so throw that out!

Your left with: The best/strongest/most ridged frame in the business that is fused to the strongest most ridged cab architecture in the business and it's being let into your seat!

Take one that does not shake! Take it on multitude of roads! ALL TYPES of Roads paved, unpaved........NOW TAKE A GMT 900 and 800 series down the same roads........Bring into the mix a 400 yes, it runs good other than the rear main seal leak into the mix! Use multiple different drivers and ask nothing of them other than tell me what and where you feel anything........Conclusion: It started with the 900's in order to keep the creeking frames from happening we all concluded GM revised the FRAME MOUNTS for K2's....we exhibited absolutely no frame creeking/twisting on K2's all and every bit of the shaking was the whole cab hardly any DASH RATTLE AMOST NONE! Frame Creaking/Twisting very apparent on 900's Much more pronounced into dash shake yet some cab and butt shake! Now, the 800's Creaked/twisted and DASH SHOOK TO HOLLY HELL.....BUTTT there was hardly any Butt or Cab shake? I have driven this washboard gravel road for decades! The butt and body felt great in the 800's and the DASH was freaking cartoon to watch! 400 was exactly the same as 800 series............Much lighter though overall more bouncy as a whole.............

Like I said, "everyone of these "bastardas" shake because they are inherently designed to do so! So go find your road and get your shake on!

Everyone of these trucks does not shake. We have 4 identical trucks, sierra crew cab slt z71 4x4's and mine is the only one that shakes. Vibration frequency felt through the seat and console is exactly 3x the tire speed frequency. A NVH issue requires three components. A source, a transmitter and a receiver remove any one of the three and there is no longer an NVH issue plain and simple. Roating components. wheels tires rotors drive shafts gears transmission engine etc. are all sources, frame, mounts body seats all transmitters and the driver is the receiver. So while blaming the body mounts is plausible because they are part of the transmission path and specifically the part of the transmission path meant to mitigate vibrations there is a problem with that statement. The problem with saying they are designed to shake and the reason you feel it is the body mounts is that only a handful of them shake and the ones that do, shake at varying levels of amplitude. They all share the same mount design. Where each truck differs is the tolerances of the rotating components and the way their tolerances stack together, just look at one corner of a 4wd truck. you have a tire, rim, hub assy. rotor, and CV shaft all rotating together, Each with a potential for mass imbalance, lateral and radial run out. now every one of these items can be within design spec individually. now consider the possibility that every item in the assy. is on the ragged ass edge of acceptable for passing a QC test. you now have a tolerance stack on your rotating assy of 5 plus parts. Now is where rigidity of the frame, cab and shear design on the body mounts reveals it's ugly truth. It's not nearly forgiving enough to isolate the receiver ie, you the driver from feeling the result. and this is what makes the issue so hard to repair, you tear the truck down to find the source and start measuring all your parts and what do you find... everyone of them is within spec although on the edge still within spec and there's no way the manufacture is going to replace a part that is within specifications, no smoking gun is found they road force and balance your tires for the 8th time and off they send you. So really both sides of the argument are correct there is a vibration source problem and a transmission problem, fixing either one will solve the vibration felt by the receiver. But if you ask GM I'm sure they'll tell you the problem isn't the source or the transmission components its the receiver and the receiver just needs to deal with it. If the problem was with the connection of the motor and tranny to the frame these trucks should vibrate at all different speeds not 68-80 mph like they do, and further more the vibration is exactly the same at 72 mph whether in 4,5 or 6th gear which puts the engine and tranny at all different RPM's.

2strokesmoke · April 13, 2017

Everyone of these trucks does not shake. We have 4 identical trucks, sierra crew cab slt z71 4x4's and mine is the only one that shakes. Vibration frequency felt through the seat and console is exactly 3x the tire speed frequency. A NVH issue requires three components. A source, a transmitter and a receiver remove any one of the three and there is no longer an NVH issue plain and simple. Roating components. wheels tires rotors drive shafts gears transmission engine etc. are all sources, frame, mounts body seats all transmitters and the driver is the receiver. So while blaming the body mounts is plausible because they are part of the transmission path and specifically the part of the transmission path meant to mitigate vibrations there is a problem with that statement. The problem with saying they are designed to shake and the reason you feel it is the body mounts is that only a handful of them shake and the ones that do, shake at varying levels of amplitude. They all share the same mount design. Where each truck differs is the tolerances of the rotating components and the way their tolerances stack together, just look at one corner of a 4wd truck. you have a tire, rim, hub assy. rotor, and CV shaft all rotating together, Each with a potential for mass imbalance, lateral and radial run out. now every one of these items can be within design spec individually. now consider the possibility that every item in the assy. is on the ragged ass edge of acceptable for passing a QC test. you now have a tolerance stack on your rotating assy of 5 plus parts. Now is where rigidity of the frame, cab and shear design on the body mounts reveals it's ugly truth. It's not nearly forgiving enough to isolate the receiver ie, you the driver from feeling the result. and this is what makes the issue so hard to repair, you tear the truck down to find the source and start measuring all your parts and what do you find... everyone of them is within spec although on the edge still within spec and there's no way the manufacture is going to replace a part that is within specifications, no smoking gun is found they road force and balance your tires for the 8th time and off they send you. So really both sides of the argument are correct there is a vibration source problem and a transmission problem, fixing either one will solve the vibration felt by the receiver. But if you ask GM I'm sure they'll tell you the problem isn't the source or the transmission components its the receiver and the receiver just needs to deal with it. If the problem was with the connection of the motor and tranny to the frame these trucks should vibrate at all different speeds not 68-80 mph like they do, and further more the vibration is exactly the same at 72 mph whether in 4,5 or 6th gear which puts the engine and tranny at all different RPM's.

The main issue here is this high tensil steel frame is transmitting all road, engine, and drive line energy to the driver! So if all specs were bang on, this would not be as big of an issue, however all parts have tolerances and a stacking effect is now occouring with these trucks. The best solution going forward is for GM to apply frame damping weights precisionaly placed along key areas to absorb this energy. As more mass will absorbs energy, and may now be the cheapest solution going forward with already built trucks.

Manufactures have been switching over to high tensile steel, this allows for the same strength at a thinner thickness of metal and weight savings. Spring steel transmits energy, body mounts should absorb this energy, however it struggles to deal with oscillating energy "rthemetic" types like continues drive line, road energy.

This will result in what we consider a "Frame Beaming" effect. Only solution here going forward has to come from frame weights or stiffeners relocating.

This problem has been present from the first truck produced since 2014-2017

Thxs

Edited April 13, 2017 by 2strokesmoke

Snoringbear · April 14, 2017

". What I don't understand is why can't they just create a frequency damper and mount it on the inter-panels of both sides of the frame that should help reduce the frequency vibrations Ford actually has these on their F150s and it actually works. Just venting guys I'm frustrated like everybody else."

I Googled the 2015 F-150 dampeners. Appears they're mounted between the frame and body just forward of the rear leaf springs, one on each side. And, they appear to be fairly sizeable, maybe six ~ eight inches long. Seems like a simple fix as simple is usually the best solution. Anyway, it might be an interesting experiment for one of you energetic DIY guys to simply wedge a sizeable piece of rubber between the frame and body on each side of your truck and see if that reduces/changes the harmonics. Btw, I've done a little reading on this and vibration such as the "Chevy Shake" is not unknown to Ford as they've had problems with their version as well.

Snoringbear · April 14, 2017

". What I don't understand is why can't they just create a frequency damper and mount it on the inter-panels of both sides of the frame that should help reduce the frequency vibrations Ford actually has these on their F150s and it actually works. Just venting guys I'm frustrated like everybody else."

I Googled the 2015 F-150 dampeners. Appears they're mounted between the frame and body just forward of the rear leaf springs, one on each side. And, they appear to be fairly sizeable, maybe six ~ eight inches long. Seems like a simple fix as simple is usually the best solution. Anyway, it might be an interesting experiment for one of you energetic DIY guys to simply wedge a sizeable piece of rubber between the frame and body on each side of your truck and see if that reduces/changes the harmonics. Btw, I've done a little reading on this and vibration such as the "Chevy Shake" is not unknown to Ford as they've had problems with their version as well.

On my second, ok third, cup of coffee and still noodling this around in the ole attic; wonder what the results would be by coating the frame with the same stuff used for spray-on bed liners? I'm thinking that would definitely mitigate vibration, tuning fork effect, etc.

Garykk · April 14, 2017

Here you go..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-OEM-2006-Ford-F-150-Frame-Damper-Kit-Vibration-6L3Z5D008B-6L3Z-5D008-B-/191972089076?hash=item2cb26d9cf4:g:No8AAOSwmLlX2vRR&vxp=mtr

AllTerrain13 · April 14, 2017

Update: Truck had a PECO scan done and the results pointed to tires again. So the dealership check the tires AGAIN and claim they were out of balance. I asked how this could be after being balanced 3 times and having a pair of new tires installed? I still have not taken possession of my truck and will not until its fixed. I did some reading on NC lemon laws and I think I am well within my right to seek Lemon Law action. I will let the process work with fixing this truck because I do not want to buy another truck, and I don't see this as a winning deal with the amount of $ that could be lost.

2strokesmoke · April 14, 2017

Update: Truck had a PECO scan done and the results pointed to tires again. So the dealership check the tires AGAIN and claim they were out of balance. I asked how this could be after being balanced 3 times and having a pair of new tires installed? I still have not taken possession of my truck and will not until its fixed. I did some reading on NC lemon laws and I think I am well within my right to seek Lemon Law action. I will let the process work with fixing this truck because I do not want to buy another truck, and I don't see this as a winning deal with the amount of $ that could be lost.

Good for you stand for your rights! Don't accept it back until it is fixed properly without it shaking.

Thxs

arkenzo · April 15, 2017

For those with the chevy shake issues, i would be terrified of ever changing anything on my ride. do you guys ever plan on adding lifts? changing tires? what if you hit a pothole? I mean, it seems like your chevy shakiness could come back if you ever modify anything on your rides....Sucks

AllTerrain13 · April 15, 2017

For those with the chevy shake issues, i would be terrified of ever changing anything on my ride. do you guys ever plan on adding lifts? changing tires? what if you hit a pothole? I mean, it seems like your chevy shakiness could come back if you ever modify anything on your rides....Sucks

I had big plans of leveling and putting nicer tires on and I am glad I didn't right away! It's bad enough they started hinting at my AirAide MIT causing an AFM vibration.

arkenzo · April 15, 2017

Lol....Your air intake possibly causing your suspension to shake, way to go GM

1997SierraSLT · April 15, 2017

Sounds like the GM techs need to put these trucks on a 4-post lift, remove wheels, then run the drivetrain through the various speed ranges. If vibration still persists, then the wheels and tires can be ruled out as cause of vibration.