Shake or Vibration Issues

Rolling Thunder · September 16, 2018

3 hours ago, Bakerman65 said:

Hey gang,

Not sure where this post will show up, but add me to the list of 2018 Silverado 4WD owners with the "Chevy Shake"...grrr. Pointed it out to the salesman while test driving. Contacted him after taking it home that the vibration was still there. I have had it back to the dealer twice now for the issue and will be in for the 3rd time tomorrow. The dealer has load balanced the wheels (20"), tried different wheels, balanced the drive shaft and sent one set of "pico" readings to Tech Support. They have spun it up on the hoist with wheels on, wheels off, suspension hanging and with vehicle on stands. Apparently, tomorrow another set of pico readings will be taken and sent to Tech Support. I haven't owned the truck for 30 days yet. Very concerned to say the least, especially after reading of all these similar complaints with very little fixes. My guess is diff or tranny. This truck has the 6spd automatic and like one post I read, seems to click through the gears way to quick.

I live in Canada and am unsure of next steps or best direction for handling this. I have contacted the customer complaints and spoke to a representative or as they call them, ambassador to enter a case report. The dealer has been documenting through work orders and case submission to Tech Support. What do I need to do to cover my own rear-end?

Bakerman65

You were aware of the Silverado vibration issues, you took one out for a test with the salesman and the truck vibrated, and you bought it anyhow Why??

Edited September 16, 2018 by Rolling Thunder

Bart’s Silverado · September 16, 2018

I've said this several times. It is the style of driveshaft Chevy and GMC use on these trucks that is causing the Chevy Shake. The large diameter, long, thin walled, aluminum driveshaft are inherent wobble queens. This is why each truck has a speed limiter at different speeds. Once the shaft starts vibrating they back off a couple mph/kph and set the limit. If you can't drive the truck fast enough to reach driveshaft critical speed, you won't trash the tranny like I did. Now for the other shakes at other speeds, they too are driveshaft related. I changed my driveshaft over to a two piece steel shaft and center carrier. It is on a 2017 LTZ 2WD Crew Cab. It is also made to 3/4 ton specs. Since installing it 12,000 miles ago I have had a smooth as silk truck that will cruise all day long at triple digits if you so choose. My cost was about $900 but that sure beat trading for another brand truck. All the road force balancing in the world will not fix these trucks. Only a new style driveshaft will do it! Mark my words.

Bakerman65 · September 17, 2018

3 hours ago, Bart’s Silverado said:

I've said this several times. It is the style of driveshaft Chevy and GMC use on these trucks that is causing the Chevy Shake. The large diameter, long, thin walled, aluminum driveshaft are inherent wobble queens. This is why each truck has a speed limiter at different speeds. Once the shaft starts vibrating they back off a couple mph/kph and set the limit. If you can't drive the truck fast enough to reach driveshaft critical speed, you won't trash the tranny like I did. Now for the other shakes at other speeds, they too are driveshaft related. I changed my driveshaft over to a two piece steel shaft and center carrier. It is on a 2017 LTZ 2WD Crew Cab. It is also made to 3/4 ton specs. Since installing it 12,000 miles ago I have had a smooth as silk truck that will cruise all day long at triple digits if you so choose. My cost was about $900 but that sure beat trading for another brand truck. All the road force balancing in the world will not fix these trucks. Only a new style driveshaft will do it! Mark my words.

6 hours ago, Rolling Thunder said:

You were aware of the Silverado vibration issues, you took one out for a test with the salesman and the truck vibrated, and you bought it anyhow Why??

I wasn't aware of the Chevy Shake when I road tested with the salesman. It felt like your typical wheel balance issue. I figured this would have been taken care of when we finalized the deal. Once I got home with the truck 400kms later, I contacted the salesman. He told me to take it to a dealer near me. When they balanced the tires and it didn't change anything, that is when I checked online about this. Had I known about this, I would have made my deal hinging on this being fixed. Thanks for your input regardless.

Bakerman65 · September 17, 2018

As far as the driveshaft is concerned, the dealer did try balancing the driveshaft with no success. Not sure of their process. I will mention this post. My truck is regular cab standard box so it is a one piece shaft, but not as long as yours.

Darmichar · September 18, 2018

On 9/16/2018 at 3:30 PM, Bart’s Silverado said:

I've said this several times. It is the style of driveshaft Chevy and GMC use on these trucks that is causing the Chevy Shake. The large diameter, long, thin walled, aluminum driveshaft are inherent wobble queens. This is why each truck has a speed limiter at different speeds. Once the shaft starts vibrating they back off a couple mph/kph and set the limit. If you can't drive the truck fast enough to reach driveshaft critical speed, you won't trash the tranny like I did. Now for the other shakes at other speeds, they too are driveshaft related. I changed my driveshaft over to a two piece steel shaft and center carrier. It is on a 2017 LTZ 2WD Crew Cab. It is also made to 3/4 ton specs. Since installing it 12,000 miles ago I have had a smooth as silk truck that will cruise all day long at triple digits if you so choose. My cost was about $900 but that sure beat trading for another brand truck. All the road force balancing in the world will not fix these trucks. Only a new style driveshaft will do it! Mark my words.

I agree. I had two tires they replaced almost immediately after purchasing the truck that wouldn't RFB that eliminated the 'hop' feeling I was getting. Now I'm getting a high frequency, rhythmic, pulsing vibration that feels like a high speed drive line component is out of whack, especially when running the truck above ~60MPH.

Snoringbear · September 20, 2018

On 9/16/2018 at 3:30 PM, Bart’s Silverado said:

I've said this several times. It is the style of driveshaft Chevy and GMC use on these trucks that is causing the Chevy Shake. The large diameter, long, thin walled, aluminum driveshaft are inherent wobble queens. This is why each truck has a speed limiter at different speeds. Once the shaft starts vibrating they back off a couple mph/kph and set the limit. If you can't drive the truck fast enough to reach driveshaft critical speed, you won't trash the tranny like I did. Now for the other shakes at other speeds, they too are driveshaft related. I changed my driveshaft over to a two piece steel shaft and center carrier. It is on a 2017 LTZ 2WD Crew Cab. It is also made to 3/4 ton specs. Since installing it 12,000 miles ago I have had a smooth as silk truck that will cruise all day long at triple digits if you so choose. My cost was about $900 but that sure beat trading for another brand truck. All the road force balancing in the world will not fix these trucks. Only a new style driveshaft will do it! Mark my words.

I’m under the impression that the speed limiter is determined by the tire speed rating. My truck will only do 98 mph. Achieves this speed rather quickly then just smooths out and that’s it. Interested in what the max speed is for others. Factory setup, not tuned. I realize that these trucks with the speed limiter unblocked are capable of achieving considerably higher speeds than 98 mph.

Darmichar · September 20, 2018

36 minutes ago, Snoringbear said:

I’m under the impression that the speed limiter is determined by the tire speed rating. My truck will only do 98 mph. Achieves this speed rather quickly then just smooths out and that’s it. Interested in what the max speed is for others. Factory setup, not tuned. I realize that these trucks with the speed limiter unblocked are capable of achieving considerably higher speeds than 98 mph.

My 2014 was limited to 98 as well. Haven't ha d a chance to push the new one that far yet.

Gamsche · September 20, 2018

On 8/23/2018 at 9:22 PM, Gamsche said:

I've had my truck for a little over a month. I'm loving it (for the most part). However, my truck has had some vibration at highway speeds. I'm on vacation, and before leaving, I dropped my truck off at the dealer. It has about 1300mi on it, and I had done a test ride with the service manager a couple weeks ago. At that time he noted that on torque lockup it started up. They texted me today and say that it is going to need a new torque converter! They went to order the part and found they had one in stock. So, hopefully upon my return, it will have been replaced and the problem resolved. Crossing my fingers.

Update, just before they were about to replace the torque converter, the shop foreman took over when he found out they were going to replace it. He pulled the tires off again, and couldn't balance 3 of them. He threw them away, and put 3 new ones on. Vibe gone!

contenderv07 · September 21, 2018

I don't have a vibration only problem, but add in a trans problem. That is the clunkiest POS trans I have ever driven. 2018 GMC Sierra All terrain.. When de-celerating, the trans tries to downshift and clunk, goes in to another gear. It was so bad this morning that i thought that the trans was going to fall out. And I do get vibration about 65-75... Not a bad vibration like the video in previous post, but noticeable. I had a LMM duramax with a 6 inch lift and 35's and that rode 100x better than this thing. Headed to the dealer on monday with a GM trans specialists to see what the deal is. If not, Ram here I come!

chevyloco · September 23, 2018

On 9/21/2018 at 2:43 PM, contenderv07 said:

I don't have a vibration only problem, but add in a trans problem. That is the clunkiest POS trans I have ever driven. 2018 GMC Sierra All terrain.. When de-celerating, the trans tries to downshift and clunk, goes in to another gear. It was so bad this morning that i thought that the trans was going to fall out. And I do get vibration about 65-75... Not a bad vibration like the video in previous post, but noticeable. I had a LMM duramax with a 6 inch lift and 35's and that rode 100x better than this thing. Headed to the dealer on monday with a GM trans specialists to see what the deal is. If not, Ram here I come!

Might want to re-think going to ram, i lemoned my 14 ram limited and my 16 ram limited for clunky shiting transmission among tons of other problems, worst 2 vehicles ever owned besides my wifes grand Cherokee which left her stranded 3 times. Bought a ford with 10 speed, its been perfect with smooth shifting, it skips gears and generally uses 7 gears.

Colossus · September 23, 2018

Skipping gears is a good thing???

Snoringbear · September 23, 2018

On 9/21/2018 at 2:43 PM, contenderv07 said:

I don't have a vibration only problem, but add in a trans problem. That is the clunkiest POS trans I have ever driven. 2018 GMC Sierra All terrain.. When de-celerating, the trans tries to downshift and clunk, goes in to another gear. It was so bad this morning that i thought that the trans was going to fall out. And I do get vibration about 65-75... Not a bad vibration like the video in previous post, but noticeable. I had a LMM duramax with a 6 inch lift and 35's and that rode 100x better than this thing. Headed to the dealer on monday with a GM trans specialists to see what the deal is. If not, Ram here I come!

I have the same problem with my 2015 LTZ 6.2L/8spd. I’ve had two reflashes, last one also had the TSB tranny flush. Fixed torque converter shudder. But, clunks and hard up/down shifts between 1st and 2nd gears still occurs. Interestingly, I had to replace battery a few months back and while fetching a new battery truck sat for a couple of hours with no battery. Replaced battery and shifting was very smooth till about a week ago. I tow a 6,000lb camper occasionally and my service rep says this confuses the tranny. Tranny shifts great when towing camper though. Guess I’ll just have to tow it when out and about running errands, sarc/...

contenderv07 · September 23, 2018

5 hours ago, Snoringbear said:

I have the same problem with my 2015 LTZ 6.2L/8spd. I’ve had two reflashes, last one also had the TSB tranny flush. Fixed torque converter shudder. But, clunks and hard up/down shifts between 1st and 2nd gears still occurs. Interestingly, I had to replace battery a few months back and while fetching a new battery truck sat for a couple of hours with no battery. Replaced battery and shifting was very smooth till about a week ago. I tow a 6,000lb camper occasionally and my service rep says this confuses the tranny. Tranny shifts great when towing camper though. Guess I’ll just have to tow it when out and about running errands, sarc/...

to be honest I'm really wanting me to go to a 5.9 cummins with a stick, but still not sure. I take it in tomorrow so we'll see. Even if they fix it, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth

Roscopcoletrain · September 23, 2018

This is what I don't understand, why it's not a constant thing?

Day I brought my truck home, it vibrated for about a 5min period. Has been fine ever since. Then, about two days ago, it feels like rumble strips with almost every shift or low rpm throttle input. Seems almost worse when you hit a bump which seems odd.

So again, why just sometimes?

Snoringbear · September 24, 2018

12 hours ago, Roscopcoletrain said:

This is what I don't understand, why it's not a constant thing?

Day I brought my truck home, it vibrated for about a 5min period. Has been fine ever since. Then, about two days ago, it feels like rumble strips with almost every shift or low rpm throttle input. Seems almost worse when you hit a bump which seems odd.

So again, why just sometimes?

I’m guessing you’re dealing with torque converter shudder and not the dreaded Chevy Shake. Ask your dealer to perform the TSB which is complete flush, filter change, refill with new type fluid and reflash. Appears to fix most torque converter shudder problems.