2014 Chevrolet Silverado factory running board bolts snapping

TomcoPDR · February 14, 2015

I've tried the search button and went through 10 pages in this forum (troubleshooting page)... couldn't find anything on the topic. Sorry if it's a repeat.

Don't drive my truck much (contractor in off season)... 2 weeks ago, I saw ONE bolt in the garage (whatever, good thing I didn't toss it out)...

Went out with the truck tonight, on the way home (after make a turn), started hearing clicking noise on every bump. (thought it was a loose luggage in the box, etc etc) Came home, walked around passenger side and saw this. Looked underneath the truck... all these bolts just snapped off (the cast iron material is just really poor), went to the driver's side, same thing. 5-6 these bolts laying scattered under the truck (that's why I only saw "ONE" the first time didn't think to clue in)

pm26 · February 15, 2015

Suggest you get some stainless steel bolts of good quality and install the running board with them. Use stainless nylon lock nuts on the bolts so they do not come loose. What they used on that running board are probably cheap grade 1 or 2 bolts. And maybe someone either overtightened them at the factory.

I would report this to the National Transportation Safety Board. This is a serious safety hazard to other vehicles, especially motorcycles should the running board(s) come off while driving due to poor quality bolts or completely irresponsible installation and apparent lack of any quality control at the manufacturing plant.

This also raises other concerns: What else is loose on these trucks? Are the bumpers and trailer hitches ready to fall off too?

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 · February 15, 2015

Suggest you get some stainless steel bolts of good quality and install the running board with them. Use stainless nylon lock nuts on the bolts so they do not come loose. What they used on that running board are probably cheap grade 1 or 2 bolts. And maybe someone either overtightened them at the factory.

I would report this to the National Transportation Safety Board. This is a serious safety hazard to other vehicles, especially motorcycles should the running board(s) come off while driving due to poor quality bolts or completely irresponsible installation and apparent lack of any quality control at the manufacturing plant.

This also raises other concerns: What else is loose on these trucks? Are the bumpers and trailer hitches ready to fall off too?

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought step bars are dealer installed and not at the assembly plant.

As for what to do, I personally would buy aftermarket bars from a creditable company so I knew what I was getting. This is the first I heard of OEM bars doing this.

BuddyS · February 15, 2015

I've tried the search button and went through 10 pages in this forum (troubleshooting page)... couldn't find anything on the topic. Sorry if it's a repeat.

Don't drive my truck much (contractor in off season)... 2 weeks ago, I saw ONE bolt in the garage (whatever, good thing I didn't toss it out)...

Went out with the truck tonight, on the way home (after make a turn), started hearing clicking noise on every bump. (thought it was a loose luggage in the box, etc etc) Came home, walked around passenger side and saw this. Looked underneath the truck... all these bolts just snapped off (the cast iron material is just really poor), went to the driver's side, same thing. 5-6 these bolts laying scattered under the truck (that's why I only saw "ONE" the first time didn't think to clue in)

Hi, I am almost certain that the steps you have are not GM steps. Yes the dealer does install these and they are ordered with the truck in most cases. It looks like they dealer may have installed after market steps, which in my opinion is not cool.

You may want to look into this because the GM steps look nothing like the ones you have and the mounting is much differant as well. The only thing the is similar beteween the ones you have and the GM ones in that they both seem to be 4" rounds.

TomcoPDR · February 15, 2015

Thanks for the reply everyone.

My Silverado is a "GFX" if that helps in figuring out if it's dealer install or factory. But taking it into my closest GM dealer tomorrow (didn't buy the truck from my closest dealer). If it's not factory or warranty, I'll probably like already suggested above, grab some higher grade "U-bolt" or bend some high grade threaded rods (the ones where you hang those 500 lbs warehouse furnace from ceiling; got some left over from my old warehouse property)...

POS VETT · February 15, 2015

Interesting. The failure seems to have been caused by multiple failure modes. From the limited view of the snapped bolts, the fracture surfaces indicate initial failure mode as cracking on the outer radius which then progressed through fatigue loading over half of the bolt thickness. They finally fractured from overstressing the remaining thickness left.

If I may suggest anything, a stronger material is not the answer here. Stronger (higher grade) bolt usually has higher hardness which makes it even more intolerant to bending, as in, it would develop a crack easier. A tougher material is required if it was going to be cold-worked. An all-thread would be a nightmare since the thread itself is already a crack-like feature.

I wonder if the fasteners were torqued incorrectly or the orientation was incorrect. Are the bends symmetrical?

tbarn · February 15, 2015

A. They ain't GM

B. Tubes and steps are usually dealer installed but come in pre-assembled and only bolted upto the body.

C. 32 years in the dealership and have never seen better durability than OEM.

pm26 · February 15, 2015

Interesting. The failure seems to have been caused by multiple failure modes. From the limited view of the snapped bolts, the fracture surfaces indicate initial failure mode as cracking on the outer radius which then progressed through fatigue loading over half of the bolt thickness. They finally fractured from overstressing the remaining thickness left.

If I may suggest anything, a stronger material is not the answer here. Stronger (higher grade) bolt usually has higher hardness which makes it even more intolerant to bending, as in, it would develop a crack easier. A tougher material is required if it was going to be cold-worked. An all-thread would be a nightmare since the thread itself is already a crack-like feature.

I wonder if the fasteners were torqued incorrectly or the orientation was incorrect. Are the bends symmetrical?

I did not at first notice that these were U bolts. I can now clearly see the cause of failure here. The mounting method on these tubes is super cheap without a mounting boss or bracket welded to the tube. These U bolts were simply looped through the two holes drilled in the tubes. The holes most likely have sharp edges and the U bolts were making a point contact on the edges of the holes only. Overtightening them only forced the tube sharp edge to dig into the U bolt at two places, starting a fracture point. Seriously overtightening the U bolts and forcing them tight over sharp hole edges seems to be the root cause here. Stress corrosion cracking, also enhanced by two dissimilar metals in contact (stainless and carbon steel) did the rest.

BuddyS · February 15, 2015

Interesting. The failure seems to have been caused by multiple failure modes. From the limited view of the snapped bolts, the fracture surfaces indicate initial failure mode as cracking on the outer radius which then progressed through fatigue loading over half of the bolt thickness. They finally fractured from overstressing the remaining thickness left.

If I may suggest anything, a stronger material is not the answer here. Stronger (higher grade) bolt usually has higher hardness which makes it even more intolerant to bending, as in, it would develop a crack easier. A tougher material is required if it was going to be cold-worked. An all-thread would be a nightmare since the thread itself is already a crack-like feature.

I wonder if the fasteners were torqued incorrectly or the orientation was incorrect. Are the bends symmetrical?

Thanks for the reply everyone.

My Silverado is a "GFX" if that helps in figuring out if it's dealer install or factory. But taking it into my closest GM dealer tomorrow (didn't buy the truck from my closest dealer). If it's not factory or warranty, I'll probably like already suggested above, grab some higher grade "U-bolt" or bend some high grade threaded rods (the ones where you hang those 500 lbs warehouse furnace from ceiling; got some left over from my old warehouse property)...

Seems like they incorperated a shear point on the U bolts which is interesting. I would see if the dealer would put OEM ones on for you, that is if the rocker panels are not modified past the point of allowing OEM ones to fit now.

And yes, I agree with POS VETT, stronger is not always better, If you try fixing this your self I would recommend a softer metal such as 410, 304 18-8? SS or equiv. You may find something here: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-threaded-rods/=vxa44g

Interesting. The failure seems to have been caused by multiple failure modes. From the limited view of the snapped bolts, the fracture surfaces indicate initial failure mode as cracking on the outer radius which then progressed through fatigue loading over half of the bolt thickness. They finally fractured from overstressing the remaining thickness left.

If I may suggest anything, a stronger material is not the answer here. Stronger (higher grade) bolt usually has higher hardness which makes it even more intolerant to bending, as in, it would develop a crack easier. A tougher material is required if it was going to be cold-worked. An all-thread would be a nightmare since the thread itself is already a crack-like feature.

I wonder if the fasteners were torqued incorrectly or the orientation was incorrect. Are the bends symmetrical?

Thanks for the reply everyone.

My Silverado is a "GFX" if that helps in figuring out if it's dealer install or factory. But taking it into my closest GM dealer tomorrow (didn't buy the truck from my closest dealer). If it's not factory or warranty, I'll probably like already suggested above, grab some higher grade "U-bolt" or bend some high grade threaded rods (the ones where you hang those 500 lbs warehouse furnace from ceiling; got some left over from my old warehouse property)...

Seems like they incorperated a shear point on the U bolts which is interesting. I would see if the dealer would put OEM ones on for you, that is if the rocker panels are not modified past the point of allowing OEM ones to fit now.

And yes, I agree with POS VETT, stronger is not always better, If you try fixing this your self I would recommend a softer metal such as 410, 304 18-8? SS or equiv. You may find something here: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-threaded-rods/=vxa44g

pm26 · February 15, 2015

Filing and rounding off the edges of the holes to eliminate sharp edges before remounting the boards would be a good idea as well.

TomcoPDR · February 15, 2015

Thanks guys (and girls)... Ahhhhhh I always like the "Lund style" full enclosed plastic step boards anyway (where you can fit full steel toe boots, within being stuck in tube board rocker gap)... hmmmm maybe time to just switch (wouldn't call it "upgrade")

TomcoPDR · February 19, 2015

I guess "GFX" has their own website/warranty. http://gfxtrucks.com/

Fired them (GFX) off email with pics. I guess the product in question isn't "GM" related, but a major GM contracted/endorsed product

pm26 · February 20, 2015

I guess "GFX" has their own website/warranty. http://gfxtrucks.com/

Fired them (GFX) off email with pics. I guess the product in question isn't "GM" related, but a major GM contracted/endorsed product

No doubt selected because of high quality that matches the rest of the truck OEM components and parts.

TomcoPDR · February 20, 2015

Update: Holy, that was awesome. Sent the photos to GFXtrucks.com, got a call back right away. They're going to send my local dealer replacement running boards. From their end, yeah, they're aware about the over tightening on a few, mine just kinda slipped thru QC. (I didn't want to call it over tightening since I'm not an engineer)

Anyway here's proof I didn't damage the step bars, lol. Awesome guys at GFX, based on photos, didn't have to put up a "fight". (didn't think anyone would believe me, parts just disintegrate/fall apart on it's own)