Leaf spring creak - FIXED at home

Tyy1907 · July 15, 2018

My rear springs were creaking pretty bad on my 18 Lt so I tried the bicycle inner tube rubber in between top leaf and one below it. I initially tried tightening u bolts (they weren't very tight!) to around 100 ft lbs which did nothing. It's got all of 13,000 kms on it. I shake my head. Some engineer trying to make a name for himself? Anyway...

Night and day

No noise anymore!

They've got a plastic piece with grease on it from the factory which obviously doesnt work. I did front and back of leafs on both sides and I shake the back end up and down and its silent. Keep in mind I just finished doing it 10 minutes ago so well see how well it holds up.

Its easy as pie to do too. Theres a thread somewhere here that a guy (kudos to him btw) did a step by step tutorial of it. A search will find it.

SippiSierra · July 16, 2018

On 7/15/2018 at 11:15 AM, Tyy1907 said:

My rear springs were creaking pretty bad on my 18 Lt so I tried the bicycle inner tube rubber in between top leaf and one below it. I initially tried tightening u bolts (they weren't very tight!) to around 100 ft lbs which did nothing. It's got all of 13,000 kms on it. I shake my head. Some engineer trying to make a name for himself? Anyway...

Night and day

No noise anymore!

They've got a plastic piece with grease on it from the factory which obviously doesnt work. I did front and back of leafs on both sides and I shake the back end up and down and its silent. Keep in mind I just finished doing it 10 minutes ago so well see how well it holds up.

Its easy as pie to do too. Theres a thread somewhere here that a guy (kudos to him btw) did a step by step tutorial of it. A search will find it.

I did this as well. I put about 14000 miles on the truck this year and just redid them. Honestly they could have just stayed but I did it for peace of mind.

Tyy1907 · July 16, 2018

so you're saying you redid the rubber? Was the rubber worn out?

rudyb · July 18, 2018

Has anyone mentioned a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) on this? I saw one other thread talking about grease and rubber. I haven't seen the post/thread about the plastic pieces.

SippiSierra · July 23, 2018

On 7/16/2018 at 4:07 PM, Tyy1907 said:

so you're saying you redid the rubber? Was the rubber worn out?

I did redo the rubber. It was not worn out, had a couple minuscule tears in it but otherwise it was good to go. I had no noises like I had before. I just did it as "maintenance"

Tyy1907 · July 24, 2018

4 hours ago, SippiSierra said:

I did redo the rubber. It was not worn out, had a couple minuscule tears in it but otherwise it was good to go. I had no noises like I had before. I just did it as "maintenance"

I figure simple fix for a nuisance problem. If I have to do it once a year or two no biggie I guess. I've thought about taking out the plastic spacer altogether. Maybe it would not let in dirt as easily.

SippiSierra · July 24, 2018

11 hours ago, Tyy1907 said:

I figure simple fix for a nuisance problem. If I have to do it once a year or two no biggie I guess. I've thought about taking out the plastic spacer altogether. Maybe it would not let in dirt as easily.

I figure once a year to not have to hear that damn clunk, clank, and pop is not a big deal.

kevinfranklin · July 24, 2018

55 minutes ago, SippiSierra said:

I figure once a year to not have to hear that damn clunk, clank, and pop is not a big deal.

Agreed....... so can you post a pic of your install? And did anyone find the previous thread of the guy who did this same thing?

Is the bike tube single layer, with nothing else used at all? Did you jack up the truck to get it all the way "in" (insert jokes here......)

paumat · July 24, 2018

3 hours ago, kevinfranklin said:

Agreed....... so can you post a pic of your install? And did anyone find the previous thread of the guy who did this same thing?

Is the bike tube single layer, with nothing else used at all? Did you jack up the truck to get it all the way "in" (insert jokes here......)

SippiSierra · July 24, 2018

2 hours ago, paumat said:

Those are the exact instructions that I followed and install looks the exact same.

AML · September 10, 2018

I just did this to my 2018 z71. It worked. I drove around the neighborhood giggling profusely. $40,000+ vehicle clunking resolved by a $3.00 strip of tubing. O well, grateful I checked the boards before wasting time at the stealership.

Eddie 70 · September 10, 2018

This may be one of those things I do to mine on my next 3 day weekend. Thanks for the heads up. Does walmart still sell inner tubes?

qwank · September 10, 2018

2 hours ago, Eddie 70 said:

Does walmart still sell inner tubes?

yes

AML · September 11, 2018

By the way, for those interested, you do not need to jack the truck up to accomplish this. I did this on my back in the driveway with a flat pry bar and a flat head screwdriver. Yes, it would be slightly easier with a jack and stands... but even without them it only took me 20 minutes max once I figured out how and where to pry. I doubled up the inner tube later that day - one running parallel with the leaf and a smaller strip running perpendicular at the main point of contact between the leafs. I may swap them out later this season for something a little thicker and rig up something to hold them in place... but so far they've not moved and the creak/popping sounds have completely dissapeared.

midwestdenaliguy · September 14, 2018

How obvious is the creak? I installed 2 additional hold-down loops in the bed and noticed a very minor creak when I initially hopped into the bed. I moved up and down to get the back to move and the minor creak could still be heard. I've never had a clunk or creak that I've heard while driving. Curious how bad it was in order to get your attention...