Shake or Vibration Issues

HDNitehawk · April 28, 2014

If you don't want to deal with problems like this, wait 2 or 3 years for the manufacturer to work the kinks out. I know it SHOULDN'T be that way. But it IS that way.

Sorry man but that is bull. I just can't accept that answer when I dropped a few thousand short of $100K on two trucks.

Also I have bought the new first model year Chevys several times over the last 30 years. None had issues like these have had.

For your vibration issue, get ready to do the tire dance. When that fails go to the rear end. I don't remember reading any posts that the drive shaft was the fix, but they will do that before they do the rear end. When your going in to the fifth month of dealing with this bull like I am see if you have the same feelings about the situation.

1000 miles now and the new rear end on mine seems to have corrected the continual high speed vibration you feel in the steering wheel on smooth roads. (Not 100% sure enough yet to say the problem is corrected, still getting a vibration at exactly 42-43 mph that gradually goes away by 50. It is getting better I am hoping the rear end breaks in and it disappears completely.)

Edited April 28, 2014 by HDNitehawk

Silverado-Hareek · April 28, 2014

Also I have bought the new first model year Chevys several times over the last 30 years. None had issues like these have had.

My 2007 was a first edition and I had problems WORSE than what the 2014 is having. It's a crap shoot. I know you don't like the answer and think it's bull but it's the truth unfortunately.

As for my vibration issue, we'll see. It's limited to just the steering wheel as far as I can tell which usually means tire balance. Maybe a loose bearing or joint. I don't have vibration from the back end. I dunno I don't think it's the same as what others are describing but they'll just have to fix it and keep trying until it's right. That's what the warranty is for.

HDNitehawk · April 28, 2014

As for my vibration issue, we'll see. It's limited to just the steering wheel as far as I can tell which usually means tire balance.

As was mine, just limited to the steering wheel.

When you were reading the posts you might have noticed many had their tires changed and thought it fixed the issue. Then a bit later the issue came back.

Good tires seem to mask it somewhat. Maybe you will luck out and that is all it is.

Silverado-Hareek · April 28, 2014

As was mine, just limited to the steering wheel.

When you were reading the posts you might have noticed many had their tires changed and thought it fixed the issue. Then a bit later the issue came back.

Good tires seem to mask it somewhat. Maybe you will luck out and that is all it is.

Maybe we'll see. Driving home from work it felt fine actually so I dunno. I mean it rides like a Z71 but so did my last truck after I put Bilstein monotube shocks. This truck still feels smoother riding overall. I'll keep in eye on it I guess but I think maybe I just remembered this thread as I hit some rough patches of road earlier. I'll keep you guys posted but I don't feel much out of the ordinary.

FL335i · April 28, 2014

I won't let them just throw parts at my truck when I get it. I'll take it to my local shop that has a Hunter 9700 and I'll get out in the bay with the tech and help him use the machine properly and personally verify the road force Lbs. I had bought a Lincoln car back in '11, with 30k, CPO from the dealer. I had them put new OEM Michelin tires on it, which are like $950/set. Car had a vibration. Took it to my guys, we got all the tires down to 9-10 Lbs of road force, and I used my personal torque wrench to put the wheels back on. That Lincoln rode out at 120 like glass. In my experience Michelin make the best tires, and they happen to be the most expensive also. That's one other item that may be affecting this issue. Warped rotors. I know it's a 1/2 ton truck, but you can take a brand new Lexus off the lot, and put a num nut with an impact on it at the local tire shop and you're cooked. Warped rotors. I always bring my own Click type 1/2" drive with me. Impact off, torque back on in 2 stages. Torque sticks suck also, I never let them use them. So yes, may cost me some cash, but the funny thing is I will find the issue and I won't spend my weekends and evenings playing the tire dance with morons who are stuck in 1970's auto tech school either. I'll pull the D-shaft myself and measure the pinion and Tcase angle and operating angle on the shaft if I have to. I have all the gear from when I built my rock crawler.

Edited April 28, 2014 by FL335i

HDNitehawk · April 29, 2014

@ FL355i, the dealer "throwing" parts at the issue really isn't a problem. If you have a dealer doing this you have won the hardest part of the battle.

What is a problem is getting GM to take responsibility.

Once they do take responsibility the person who decides what to do isn't even at the shop.

Getting your issue successfully resolved has more to do with your ability to convince the GM employees involved what the problem is.

Then once you figure out the problem it takes weeks to resolve a single issue.

From my experience so far the problem is compound and multiple things contribute to the problem.

Silverado-Hareek · April 29, 2014

How bad is the vibration that everyone is describing? I think someone mentioned a washing machine on spin cycle earlier. Is that an accurate description?

2strokesmoke · April 29, 2014

I tried a few things today with my 2014 Sierra, I will list them so you can follow along.

Bought truck from dealer left and had vibration right from the get go.

Returned back to dealer 1 day later, complaining of vibration starting around 65km 80km range or 40mph-50mph

when vehicle exceeds 50mph vibration gets finer and buzzing in floor starts no noise hand goes numb from driving.

Dealer changed 2 tires and said truck is ready, asked about the vibration is it gone..no but it is better.

Picked up the truck and drove the highway, only to find it was still there but somewhat better.

Went home and drove to my works garage, checked all tires for balancing 3 were off some weight around 25 grams but 1 tires wobbled side to side.

Returned to dealer tire replaced with another new tire.

Installed my toyo tires and rims from past truck, that ran smooth as glass and vibration still there same speed. Next took the truck up to speed that vibrates and put cruise on and slipped the truck into neutral and shut off the truck while it was still moving, vibration did not go away! This now eliminates an engine issue and the mounts!

I filmed the rear end with a Gopro camera to see if anything was abnormal, noticed a lot of slop or "freeplay" in driveshaft and clunking from forward to reverse but spinning ok from this angle.

I did notice the driveshaft loads up with torque from tranny and moves a little more afterwards as well....not normal to creep or turn more.

Front end looks normal brakes seem fine, even smooth rotors, front axles turn freely, no bearing noise.

Put truck on hoist removed all tires and ran it to 40mph- 50mph.....still vibrates!!!!!!!!

Ok so rear axle not vibrating badly, driveshaft looks ok at differential area.

Output shaft looks a little shaky though.

My conclusion this so far......Torque converter engaging to early causing the truck to load up at low rpm. My vibration is worst when I let off the pedal and coast from 50mph down to 40mph.

Could it be that Gm programed the trannys to lock up earlier and stay longer before releasing the lock up?

This would get them better fuel numbers, but now the torque converter is locked up early causing low rpm vibration throughout the 4th 5th gear range. When the rpm increases and torque to load increase vibrations gets smoother, until the next gear upshift.

This might be causing torque converter damage in my opinion. Some people have this vibration worst at higher speeds, this could mean the torque converter lockup has been damaged somewhat already now.

We need a tranny expert here to help pick apart my thoughts now. I feel something is going on with the "lockup" converter locking up too early, throughout the 4th to 5th and maybe the 6th and holding back the release of it too.

thxs

Edited April 29, 2014 by 2strokesmoke

FL335i · April 29, 2014

2strokesmoke- That's been probably the most helpful post I've read. No wheels or tires on a lift and it still vibrates. It's got to be the Driveshaft, Ujoints operating angle or something like that. Has anyone measured their rear/front operating angles? We should start posting that. You can get a angle finder for $10. Measure the angle of the driveshaft and then the angle of the pinion flange. Same for the front. They should be within 2* and each less than 10*.

Example:

Front angle: 8*

Rear angle: 6*

Pinion is -2* pre-loaded.

I may bring my angle finder with me to the dealer when I look at trucks. On my '07 F250, they all had a slight vibration around 45-50mph. Everyone knew it. Those trucks have a 2pc shaft. I worked with the center joint side to side and shimming it up/down. I actually got it "almost gone" after about 2hrs of fiddling with it. Dealer didn't even mess with it. Two magnetic levels, mason string and a angle finder and some paper and common math made it much better. Point is these trucks may have something inherent in the frame design. The F250's had C-channel frames and they flexed like twizzlers off-road. One reason I rid the truck. Ford added a motor mount looking vibration dampner to the side of the hitches to absorb some of the vibration. It helped.

Edited April 29, 2014 by FL335i

fondupot · April 29, 2014

Put truck on hoist removed all tires and ran it to 40mph- 50mph.....still vibrates!!!!!!!!

Ok so rear axle not vibrating badly, driveshaft looks ok at differential area.

Output shaft looks a little shaky though.

I feel like this isn't a good thing to do. wouldn't the suspension be at full droop? That could cause all sorts of vibrations

beetle · April 29, 2014

I tried a few things today with my 2014 Sierra, I will list them so you can follow along.

Bought truck from dealer left and had vibration right from the get go.

Returned back to dealer 1 day later, complaining of vibration starting around 65km 80km range or 40mph-50mph

when vehicle exceeds 50mph vibration gets finer and buzzing in floor starts no noise hand goes numb from driving.

Dealer changed 2 tires and said truck is ready, asked about the vibration is it gone..no but it is better.

Picked up the truck and drove the highway, only to find it was still there but somewhat better.

Went home and drove to my works garage, checked all tires for balancing 3 were off some weight around 25 grams but 1 tires wobbled side to side.

Returned to dealer tire replaced with another new tire.

Installed my toyo tires and rims from past truck, that ran smooth as glass and vibration still there same speed. Next took the truck up to speed that vibrates and put cruise on and slipped the truck into neutral and shut off the truck while it was still moving, vibration did not go away! This now eliminates an engine issue and the mounts!

I filmed the rear end with a Gopro camera to see if anything was abnormal, noticed a lot of slop or "freeplay" in driveshaft and clunking from forward to reverse but spinning ok from this angle.

I did notice the driveshaft loads up with torque from tranny and moves a little more afterwards as well....not normal to creep or turn more.

Front end looks normal brakes seem fine, even smooth rotors, front axles turn freely, no bearing noise.

Put truck on hoist removed all tires and ran it to 40mph- 50mph.....still vibrates!!!!!!!!

Ok so rear axle not vibrating badly, driveshaft looks ok at differential area.

Output shaft looks a little shaky though.

My conclusion this so far......Torque converter engaging to early causing the truck to load up at low rpm. My vibration is worst when I let off the pedal and coast from 50mph down to 40mph.

Could it be that Gm programed the trannys to lock up earlier and stay longer before releasing the lock up?

This would get them better fuel numbers, but now the torque converter is locked up early causing low rpm vibration throughout the 4th 5th gear range. When the rpm increases and torque to load increase vibrations gets smoother, until the next gear upshift.

This might be causing torque converter damage in my opinion. Some people have this vibration worst at higher speeds, this could mean the torque converter lockup has been damaged somewhat already now.

We need a tranny expert here to help pick apart my thoughts now. I feel something is going on with the "lockup" converter locking up too early, throughout the 4th to 5th and maybe the 6th and holding back the release of it too.

thxs

This is just a shot in the dark and worth a try.......flip the driveshaft 180 degrees and see what happens.

MJFlores · April 29, 2014

I believe mine, in most part is due to crappy tires. I mentined on here earlier that I was feeling like the problem changed with temperature. I can now say that as things warm up the problem definately gets worse. This am it was colder than usual, and I recently let air out of my tires so they never quite expanded all the way. On the ride to work, on highway my tires never made it past 34 lbs. and my vibration issue was much less than it had been when the tires were up around 37 to 38. For what it's worth anyways. I've never owned anything but Chevy, but I've decided I'll only keep this thing for 2 years tops and then will look at Ford and Chevy. If there's a single additional problem in those two years I'll completely rule out Chevy / GM as a possible choice. Sad to say, but that's GM's fault not mine.

2strokesmoke · April 29, 2014

Maybe as transmission heats up oil is thinner, and vibration may be greater....Just a thought

What ever it is GM does know it, and they aint sayin it!

Must be an expensive fix, or no fix!

TightLines612 · April 29, 2014

In for updates:

My situation:

400 miles on CC SLT Sierra 2WD with 20's

Vibration in seats (very noticeable in armrest) on straight, flat highways 65 - 70 mph+

No vibration felt in steering wheel

Have not been to the dealer yet. They advised to put a few more files on it.

HDNitehawk · April 29, 2014

In for updates:

My situation:

400 miles on CC SLT Sierra 2WD with 20's

Vibration in seats (very noticeable in armrest) on straight, flat highways 65 - 70 mph+

No vibration felt in steering wheel

Have not been to the dealer yet. They advised to put a few more files on it.

400 miles I wouldn't buy that bull.

You were given bad advise from your dealer.

Time to fix it is now, 400 miles is still considered new.