Noisy steering column

Shawn H · December 8, 2020

I took matters into my own hands today and took it apart myself and made a video. I added grease to the intermediate shaft to fill in the slop on the 2 pieces now my steering is smooth like it supposed to be I know this wont last forever but its gotta last more than 2000 miles or until GM comes up with a fix.

EastCoast HD · December 8, 2020

18 hours ago, Shawn H said:

I took matters into my own hands today and took it apart myself and made a video. I added grease to the intermediate shaft to fill in the slop on the 2 pieces now my steering is smooth like it supposed to be I know this wont last forever but its gotta last more than 2000 miles or until GM comes up with a fix.

GM must have had a pile of GMT800 ISS’s sitting around and decided to use them up. Can’t believe this issue is reoccurring! WTF!

Thanks for confirming and sharing your video. BTW, you didn’t mention this or show it in the video, but you need to be careful when removing the shaft so that the steering wheel does not spin freely. It could damage the airbag clock spring. I also noted this in the video comments.

TboneTX · December 9, 2020

Hey Everyone, was just searching around for this same problem and came upon this thread. I have a brand new 2020 Chevy 2500 Gas (had 80 miles on it when i got it). Steering didn't really fee correct from the beginning. I have had a 2016 Denali 1500, 2018 SLT 1500 and never experienced this before. So I took it in for steering wheel shake and what seemed to be an alignment issue on Nov 19th . They did the alignment, but it didn't really help all that much- seemed better but not much. When driving down the highway at 65 plus, the steering feels loose and sometime cocks the wheel left or right 1-2 degrees. I also notice the clunking when at low speeds when pulling out of my driveway and it only happens in the morning when its cold and at less that 15 mph. When doing a search I ran across this bulletin as well. So wondering if its related or not. Its an official service bulletin from GM so i would suspect they are starting to investigate it. Hopefully they do something fast. Im not into buying expensive trucks that should work properly right out of the gate. At the price point, the damn thing should be just about flawless.

Steering Dither/Shake or Quick Steering Wheel Oscillation at Speeds of 80-129 km/h (50-80 mph)

20-NA-192 1..2 (nhtsa.gov)

Wes 2020 · December 9, 2020

Bought a 2020 3500 HD GM Denali. The truck is used in a forestry buisness so lots of rough road driving. The steering literally sound like a loose bucket of bolts at slow speeds. They first changed the column shaft with no luck and finally the whole steering column itself. Never changed a thing. Driving me crazy. Would not know there is a problem if I stayed on the pavement. Seriously considering dumping it on a Ford.

kylant · December 10, 2020

On 12/7/2020 at 5:03 PM, Shawn H said:

I took matters into my own hands today and took it apart myself and made a video. I added grease to the intermediate shaft to fill in the slop on the 2 pieces now my steering is smooth like it supposed to be I know this wont last forever but its gotta last more than 2000 miles or until GM comes up with a fix.

thanks for posting that video.

the clicking I have is definitely coming from those little white bushings/collars in the firewall boot. I have to take that apart and grease those.

I think my ISS is starting to clunk as well

paticus · December 10, 2020

Great video, that's exactly the slack I am experiencing. I am surprised that GM F'd up such simple/common component.

I wonder if we can get lucky with a good shaft replacement, or if all replacements are faulty. It would be kind of unbelievable to think all HD's are experiencing this issue after 5k miles or so.

mcloop · December 11, 2020

I have a 2020 AT4HD with this exact problem. I've taken it to the dealer and they've blown me off saying they don't see a problem and everything is "normal". I can make the noise and feel the knock with the steering wheel and I feel and hear it driving the 1/2 mile of dirt road to my house (5 to 10mph). It drives me nuts since I'm $90k into this truck. How do we get GM involved if the dealer is ignorant?

**Update** Just contacted GM and escalated. Will update after that conversation.

Edited December 15, 2020 by mcloop

BushChevy2020 · December 11, 2020

On 11/3/2019 at 6:17 PM, STGS said:

Have a 2020 Chevrolet 3500 4wd. Anybody else have the noisy steering column. Has a popping click sound when making slow speed turns. Never hear it at highway speeds. Always at slow speed maneuvers. My 15 did it also but my 17 did not. The one thing that my 15 and my 20 have in common is neither had the digital steering assist. My 17 had the assist and didn't make the noise. Drives me crazy.

I have a 2020 Chev 2500hd with same issue. at 5000km they replaced steering shaft. Now at 6400km its back.

Sometimes at crawling speed i get a sound like a gear issue with the steering.

Ckhris · December 15, 2020

Unbelievable GM still has steering shaft issues. My 94 1500 silverado had intermediate steering shaft issues when I owned it and 26 years later and they still do.

Ckhris · December 15, 2020

On 12/10/2020 at 3:19 PM, paticus said:

Great video, that's exactly the slack I am experiencing. I am surprised that GM F'd up such simple/common component.

I wonder if we can get lucky with a good shaft replacement, or if all replacements are faulty. It would be kind of unbelievable to think all HD's are experiencing this issue after 5k miles or so.

I guarantee you a lot of people are experiencing it. Until they come out with a redesigned part it will continue to have issues

Dnuts · December 16, 2020

21 hours ago, Ckhris said:

I guarantee you a lot of people are experiencing it. Until they come out with a redesigned part it will continue to have issues

On 12/7/2020 at 6:03 PM, Shawn H said:

I took matters into my own hands today and took it apart myself and made a video. I added grease to the intermediate shaft to fill in the slop on the 2 pieces now my steering is smooth like it supposed to be I know this wont last forever but its gotta last more than 2000 miles or until GM comes up with a fix.

I’ve had my intermediate shaft replaced twice now as well. I saved myself a trip to the dealer today and took out the shaft and greased the hell out of it. I also put an o ring over the gap on the shaft to keep the grease in. The noise and clunking has gone away for the time being. I’m going to wait for the upgraded part to come out.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Dnuts

Ckhris · December 16, 2020

13 minutes ago, Dnuts said:

I’ve had my intermediate shaft replaced twice now as well. I saved myself a trip to the dealer today and took out the shaft and greased the hell out of it. I also put an o ring over the gap on the shaft to keep the grease in. The noise and clunking has gone away for the time being. I’m going to wait for the upgraded part to come out.

Grease is temporary, the grease the dealers uses is tacky.
i went as far as drilling and tapping a hole and installing a grease zerk

kylant · December 16, 2020

i looked to see if Borgeson has a shaft available. Their shaft goes up to '19.

I looked at part numbers for the 2020 shaft and it looks like it is compatible with trucks back to '17??

I called Borgeson, and the guy who I talked to (less than helpful) said the shaft only goes up to '19. He didn't offer any reason as to why or if it would work on the 2020.

I think he was just reading what was on the computer in front of him. I got the impression he didn't have any idea

Stand By · December 27, 2020

Just a thought. You could order the early shaft from an auto parts store. Most would let you order it to look at and compare before buying it. Some may even be able to get the borgeson in and compare. If it doesn't match, they'll just ship it back to the warehouse.

mcloop · February 6, 2021

On 12/16/2020 at 12:20 PM, kylant said:

i looked to see if Borgeson has a shaft available. Their shaft goes up to '19.

I looked at part numbers for the 2020 shaft and it looks like it is compatible with trucks back to '17??

I called Borgeson, and the guy who I talked to (less than helpful) said the shaft only goes up to '19. He didn't offer any reason as to why or if it would work on the 2020.

I think he was just reading what was on the computer in front of him. I got the impression he didn't have any idea

Has anyone had experience with the Borgeson shafts? Are they much more superior to the stock GM shafts?

I checked the GM part numbers 2019 compared to 2020. They are the same, so I could try the Borgeson.