Steering Clunk

rcgolfer · June 10, 2003

I am new to this forum as of tonight and am having problems and would appreciate some help.

My car problem is the steering clunk that I am told is common to my truck - 2001 Yukon, 2WD. I know the solution involves lubing a shaft in the steering column. What I need to know is how to perform the lube operation.

I have tried to search on "steering problem" and nothing came up. I tried to get into the chat room to ask somebody about how to navigate this site and was denied access (I didn't registered a nickname, but I saw no place to register same). I tried to look up the problem in the TSB's but all I can get access to are two of them, even though there are supposedly over 200 of them on line.

Can somebody please help me get access to the right TSB, or advise me of what I need to do to fix my problem, or help me get to a past message that tells me what to do?

I like my (wife's) Yukon a lot, but this steering clunk is getting pretty distracting. We have nearly 55K miles on it now.

lrymal · June 10, 2003

Don't know how to lube the shaft, either. I'm convinced it is a simple procedure since a friend of mine said that he sent his truck in and the procedure was completed before the work order was sent to the cashier.

Same friend also said that one potential fix was to tighten the nut/bold that is mid-ways down the shaft, just before the universal joint by the gear box. Apparently it loosens just enough to cause some play, not serious, but annoyingly loud.

A Google search will reveal that all vehicle makes have this problem. I have to guess that a common manufacturer supplies this shaft to everybody. And this shaft is probably required to either collapse or break during a severe collision, hence the problem with the noises.

Look at the photo of the shaft in this URL and it can be seen that any play in any of the parts could make for some noise.

http://www.torrington.com/products/preccom...ingintermed.htm

Taaaaaaahoe? · June 10, 2003

I found this on e-bay...may help some people out

EBAY LINK

Mike

dukbludvl · June 10, 2003

I recently performed the lube operation on my 00 Yukon SLE 2wd and I think I can help you guys with whatever you need. I hope I can help out, cause I've gotten SO much assistance from others here.

Anyway, you need to buy the lube kit from a GM parts supplier. It is about a $9 part and the GM P/N is 26098419.

When you get the part, it will have instructions for doing the job. However, I can give you a brief overview. It should only take about 15-30 minutes. It took me on the longer end of that cause I am 6'7" and 280 pounds so it was a b***h for me to squeeze up under the driver dash to bolt the shaft back on. But, anyway, basically you have to take out one bolt on the inside of the firewall under the driver's side dash up above the gas and brake pedals. You also have to take out a bolt on the engine compartment side of the firewall. Then, you just slide the intermediate steering shaft back through the firewall to the cabin side of the truck. Once you have it out, you do the lube (the kit is just a plastic syringe with what looks like wheel bearing grease) as per the instructions, then reinstall the shaft the opposite of removal. I did this a few months ago and it cleared up the clunk problem and it hasn't returned.

Let me know if you need any other info. Hope this helps.

Jon

rcgolfer · June 10, 2003

Thanks for the information. I'm on my way out to get the lube kit.

A question about TSBs: I would like to scan through all TSBs that apply to my vehicle. However, I can only access two of them when I go to the TSB part of this site, one that was posted in May and one in April. Are all 200+ accessible, and I am just not doing something correctly? Please advise.