Intermediate steering shaft and bearing replacement, 2000 Chevy Silver

[DoubleDoubleBonus]

I have a 2000 Chevy Silverado, 4-door extended cab with 8 foot bed, LT trim. My truck now has 263,700 miles on it and is 14 years old. It's in great shape- no dents, dings, rust, or chipped paint. The only sign of old age was the rattle and jarring in the steering. I had a most irritating rattle that sounded like it was coming from just behind the steering wheel. The wheel had a slightly loose feel to it. Hitting even small bumps in the road felt like the front wheels were filled with concrete. My shocks were fairly new, so it wasn't that. I had been reading about replacing or greasing the intermediate steering shaft and also replacing the plastic upper shaft bearing to correct the "clunk" sound in the steering system, so, a few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and try this procedure. I ordered online an updated (in 2007) IS and the updated "green" plastic bearing. Cost me $107.00 including shipping. This week I rolled up my sleeves and installed the new steering components. It was easy! Took me about an hour (most people could probably do the job in about 30 minutes). I loosened the upper and lower shaft bolts and then locked the steering wheel. Then removed the hand-tight bolts and set them aside. Sliding the lower connection out of the lower shaft opening was easy with the aid of a pair of grip pliers and a gentle tapping with a plastic-headed mallet. The upper connection (under the dash) came out with just a nudge. Then, after prying the plastic bearing out of the metal steering sleeve with a flat-head screwdriver, it came the rest of the way by hand. This would have been even easier if it wasn't such close quarters between the cab floor and the under-dash. Then, I simply slipped the new bearing over the upper shaft and into the metal sleeve and pushed it up by hand. The new bearing didn't seem to lock into the sleeve with the spring tabs and the little quarter inch molded ridges on the bearing seemed to prevent it from seating all the way. Could not find any cut-outs on the metal sleeve for the ridges to slip in to. However, the bearing feels tight and snug and I will inspect it in a few weeks to make sure there has not been any movement. Next step was to replace the shaft. This was easy. Both ends slipped in place effortlessly. I replaced the upper and lower shaft bolts (hand tight so that I could then unlock the steering wheel and rotate the shaft to make it easier to get the 15mm socket on the bolts). After a final tightening of the bolts the job was done except for replacing the under the steering wheel dash panel and the large snap-in dash trim panel around the instruments and radio/AC. I have driven the truck about 100 miles since the steering fix and I can tell you that the difference is UNBELIEVABLE. My truck feels like a brand new vehicle that has just been driven off the dealers lot! The steering wheel feels tight. There are no rattles or vibrations. The front wheels have that new truck "soft rubber" feel when hitting bumps. I have my new truck back after over a quarter million miles on the odometer! My advice, guys, is if you have an old Chevy and haven't tried this fix, you owe it to yourself to do it. You won't be disappointed. By the way- I failed to mention that my truck is a 1500 series.

[txab]

ISS replacement procedure

[DoubleDoubleBonus]

OK, here's a follow-up to my post of 25 May, 2014. I did inspect the bearing after about two weeks and I found that the beraring had worked itself almost completely out. Upon further inspection of the metal sleeve that the bearing slips in to I DID find a cut-out in the sleeve that accepts the alignment ridges on the bearing and after turning the bearing to allow it to line up with the cut-out it finally seated completely. I did have to tap the end of the bearing with a small plastic/rubber headed hammer to force it all the way down. Now I think the bearing will remain seated.

[DoubleDoubleBonus]

A few days ago my son and I did the shaft/bearing replacement on his 2006 Silverado. Everything went well until the final procedure of slipping the end of the new intermediate shaft into the female end of the lower shaft. It simply would not go, no matter how hard we tried. Since we had already installed the new bearing we decided to take the new shaft back out and put the old one back in. This resulted in a fix to the rattling behind the steering wheel, which was his only complaint anyway. He had not had any problem with the "clunking" noise. Now, our plan is to bevel the edge of the new intermediate shaft on my bench grinder and see if this might help the Intermediate shaft to slip into the opening on the lower shaft. I believe replacing the steering shaft bearing takes care of the rattling that seems to be coming from behind the speedometer assembly and replacing the intermediate shaft stops the "clunking" noise. The bearing replacement is a much less expensive fix than the shaft replacement.

[txab]

OK, here's a follow-up to my post of 25 May, 2014. I did inspect the bearing after about two weeks and I found that the beraring had worked itself almost completely out. Upon further inspection of the metal sleeve that the bearing slips in to I DID find a cut-out in the sleeve that accepts the alignment ridges on the bearing and after turning the bearing to allow it to line up with the cut-out it finally seated completely. I did have to tap the end of the bearing with a small plastic/rubber headed hammer to force it all the way down. Now I think the bearing will remain seated.

Some people have put an exhaust clamp on the lower column to tighten it up a bit