Noise when leaving a stop...

DamnedButDetermined · February 23, 2015

The best way I can describe the noise is as follows...

You have a tongue in your trailer hitch receiver and are hooked up to a light trailer. You take your foot off the brake and there is no noise (because the trailer is light). You slightly touch the gas and you hear a metal on metal squeak as the tongue slides inside the hitch receiver, until the pin stops the tongue from sliding and there is a slight thud.

Well I get this noise every time I leave a stop and press the gas when I am not towing anything. The tongue isn't even in the receiver. If I idle away from the stop there is no noise. It only happens after I hit the gas.

Any ideas on things i should check out?

EDIT: Sorry I totally forgot to mention that it was a 2002 Sierra 1500 4x4 5.3L

durandetto · February 23, 2015

Possibly a u-joint. Pull your driveshaft and see if they're binding.

sahls01gmc · February 23, 2015

I was thinking the same thing. Mine started squeaking once when I had a heavy load in the bed, and then started squeaking ever since.

Saddle horse · February 25, 2015

Or could be the transfer case , mine does it an every trans shop and dealer all say it is normal on the 2002 models

Stevens03 · February 25, 2015

100% positive it's your slip yoke making the noise. It's a 15 minute fix. This was an early very common issue with the GM trucks. Remove the 10mm bolts on the back of the drive shaft and drop the drive shaft. Mark the front with a pen so when you re-install it, your putting it back to the same spot. Just easier.

The slip yoke is at the front. Use your finger to pack grease into the yokes splines. Then re-install. You'll notice that it's a little harder to push the slip yoke all the way forward into the transmission. It's because grease doesn't compact hence taking up the slack in the drive line that's causing your bump chirp sound. Do as i say and your noise will go away. haha

jdewolfe · February 25, 2015

My 2006 does this too. I complained to the dealer about it when it was under warranty and they replaced the slip yoke with a different one (nickel plated?). It still does it for what it's worth.

sahls01gmc · February 25, 2015

100% positive it's your slip yoke making the noise. It's a 15 minute fix. This was an early very common issue with the GM trucks. Remove the 10mm bolts on the back of the drive shaft and drop the drive shaft. Mark the front with a pen so when you re-install it, your putting it back to the same spot. Just easier.

The slip yoke is at the front. Use your finger to pack grease into the yokes splines. Then re-install. You'll notice that it's a little harder to push the slip yoke all the way forward into the transmission. It's because grease doesn't compact hence taking up the slack in the drive line that's causing your bump chirp sound. Do as i say and your noise will go away. haha

What grease do you recommend?

Stevens03 · February 25, 2015

Just good old standard grease is all i ever used. And yes, for a time GM was replacing the slip yokes with nickle plated ones but that wasn't resolving the issue. It would work for a while but would eventually make the noise again. For me it about about every 10,000 miles. I just repacked the slip yoke every other oil change and never had an issue.