REAR AXLE PLAY

ROBSON · August 13, 2020

Is anyone else having issues with a clunking coming from the right rear of their trucks? I have a 2019 GMC Sierra that when going around a corner you can hear and feel a loud clunk coming from the rear. I've done some diagnosis my self and I've determined that the right rear axle has to much in and out play, and the clunk I hear I'm suspecting is the caliper getting forced against the rotor or something similar. I tried taking it to the dealer ship and they've told me that it's "normal" mean while any GMC truck I've serviced in the past has never done this. Anyone else had this issue before?
(side note) I had to change my rear diff fluid at 14,000km due to the fluid being low and black, no I'm not doing burnouts or donuts, it's a highway driven truck.

tenscourts · August 14, 2020

Is anyone else having issues with a clunking coming from the right rear of their trucks? I have a 2019 GMC Sierra that when going around a corner you can hear and feel a loud clunk coming from the rear. I've done some diagnosis my self and I've determined that the right rear axle has to much in and out play, and the clunk I hear I'm suspecting is the caliper getting forced against the rotor or something similar. I tried taking it to the dealer ship and they've told me that it's "normal" mean while any GMC truck I've serviced in the past has never done this. Anyone else had this issue before?
(side note) I had to change my rear diff fluid at 14,000km due to the fluid being low and black, no I'm not doing burnouts or donuts, it's a highway driven truck.

I've got a 2016 with 98k on it. Been having issues after putting in a TrueTrac recently. This isn't the problem but one thing we discovered is my pinion bearings were destroyed. The outer bearing fell completely apart when it was removed. This means I had no preload on my pinion bearings and I suspect this damaged my ring and pinion which we are about to replace. The crush sleeve had to be over tightened from the factory as ive never had any work done on the rear end until now. If you have access to a chassis ear you should listen to see if you hear the clunk at other times when you can't hear it via your ear. You may discover the clunk is more frequent than you think as mine was. Mine is constant whenever I'm coasting at any speed but couldn't be heard by the naked ear except around 20-35mph. Hope this makes sense.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk. My build thread: http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?/topic/192614-Tenscourts'-2016-LTZ/Z71-CCSB-4WD-Silverado

Doug_Scott · August 28, 2020

Back in the 70's when I was doing PDI's and then squeaks and rattles on new Chrysler products I thought I have discovered the source of a clunk in the rear end of a new van. Axle end play seemed to be about twice as much on the passenger side as it was on drivers side. Took a while to finally figure out that in order to clunk, both sides would have to move excessively since the tight side will stop the loose side from continuing to move. Easy way to prove this is have a bunch of people push on each side of the truck to try to duplicate the noise.

Is your truck out of warranty? It is less than 3 years old, why not get the dealer to take a listen to it. Did you put the locking axle additive in when you changed the fluid? BTW, the fix to the above van was a missing shock washer.

Pearl2017 · September 1, 2020

When i turn left pulling into the office each day i do get a clunk on the right side when wheel hits the bump. It is normal as there is some tolerance in the axles.

bghurc · September 2, 2020

I have 23k miles on my 2019 and started hearing the clunk a few months ago. I got underneath and didn't see anything but did notice there were a few loose nuts on the shackles though! Took to dealership and they replaced the leaf springs saying they were faulty. That was about 2 months ago. Yesterday I noticed the clunk returned. it's going back to the dealership Wednesday.

Spend all this money on a new truck, only to have major suspension components fail. sheesh!

Nickhall88 · September 7, 2020

My 2019 (14-19) body style. Does this. Sounds like a loose Reese hitch rattling around but no hitch!! And people outside hear it... I can’t tell you how many people say it’s the spare tire when I already looked at it...

Shall · September 10, 2020

I have this same issue and have had my leaf springs replaced twice and was told by two separate dealerships that all 5 times my truck has been inspected to figure out the noise that my leaf spring bolts were loose and needed re-tourqed and that needs to be done once every few months because they naturally come loose. I literally told the service writer to record his self saying that and listen to how dumb he sounds.

Need More Coffee · September 17, 2020

I've got a 2016 Z71 and the rear started clunking at 52000. Got underneath and beat on all the metal, shook, pulled, you name it. Took it to my mechanic and he looked it over for a day. He could hear the noise but never found anything. Turns out I was using the wrong terminology. "clunk" was not the word I needed to use, "squeak" is what brought up the posts and memo from GM about the bad leaf springs.

I do have a clunk, squeak, bonk, coming from my right rear end, I thought it was the axle, it was just the spring. I have re-torqued the bolts and sprayed the spring down with lithium grease. The grease has helped a lot. Next I am going to put some thin rubber strips between the leafs.