Shake or Vibration Issues

[07Softail]

Guys I did NOT Balance the Driveshaft it was trued they checked balance and it was fine. read my fvcking post! Damn! My stock converter balance was good! In lay mans terms my driveshaft looked like a jump rope when chucked in a lathe.

 

RT

[Brianibew]

slopra said... "Let's keep those brain juices flowing and figure out these vibration issues, at the end of the day there is a logical and scientific explanation, we just have to find it! The ideas I bring up may sound far fetched and are historically rare, but the logic is valid. I almost never speak off the top of my head in these posts and verify it all on the spot as I'm writing. Also, I think we're well past sticking with orthodox solutions/troubleshooting!​"

 

​I agree with you. I'm not an engineer or mechanic, but am somewhat mechanically inclined, and do generally understand the physical aspects of things, and generally understand something once it is explained to me. That said, and this is just is totally a shot in the dark, for some members here tire and or wheel replacement has worked. For some, such as 07softail drive shaft balancing has worked. But for many if not most who have had the tires/wheels and or driveshaft balanced or replaced, the vibe is still there. Couple of weeks ago the dealer man told me he test drove the truck and felt the vibration. Said he/they checked the tire balance, suspension, steering, drive train, and all was ok. Well, it is not ok. 10/11 when I drove the truck there was little to no vibes at all. Truck was not driven yesterday 10/12. I drove truck today to an appointment and after leaving the driveway I got a real and very noticeable vibe at 45 mph...worst ever in fact. 4 miles to the highway and at 74 mph the vibration started and stayed up to 85ish mph. So, the vibe has been present every time I've driven the truck, except for one time 11/11....weird.

 

Guys here have replaced hubs, rotors, cv's, driveshafts, rear end parts, fk'ed with springs and the u-bolts, exhaust, and unfortuneatly I don't recall reading a whole lot'a success stories, although I have read a few. I think about the only things that guys here have not yet replaced are transmissions and tq converters. And I'm wondering if one of those, or both, might be the main issue. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm guessing GM knows what the main problem/s is, or are, and they're avoiding addressing it. Just a crazy thought....

If the problem was transmissions, I have to believe that GM would gladly put a new transmission in to make these headaches go away. I've read most of these posts and I believe it boils down to the design of the frame. I wouldn't be surprised to see a "newly redesigned" frame in the very near future.

[LongrangeLauber]

If the problem was transmissions, I have to believe that GM would gladly put a new transmission in to make these headaches go away. I've read most of these posts and I believe it boils down to the design of the frame. I wouldn't be surprised to see a "newly redesigned" frame in the very near future.

The 2018 MY are supposed to have a revised, stiffer frame. Doubt it will be any stiffer, just not resonate the vibrations to the passengers lol

[polarys425]

 

So I've been thinking about this a lot; what could be causing an intermittent vibration, or one that just varies in intensity. I'm getting the same thing, although it has only ever rode completely smooth once. I can't find a correlation between an environmental factor and the vibration intensity.. unless you consider having to gun it from a stop on an extremely bumpy road to get across traffic an environmental factor. After that I was immediately getting on the highway and when I got up to speed, the vibrations were so bad I thought my truck was going to fall apart. After about 10 minutes it finally mellowed out to "normal" vibrations. That time was the only time I've been able to attribute anything specific to a change in vibration.

 

Anyways, back to the basic thought of what could cause a varying vibration:

• Out of round, or not, tires slipping on an out of round, or not, wheel. Obviously at least one of the two must be out of round to produce the 1st order vibration, and only as the high spot slips around wheel/tire.
• The "wheel hop frequency" AKA resonant frequency of the suspension changing. There's a few things to consider with this one:
  • Wheel hop frequency is unavoidable. It's simply the natural resonant frequency of the suspension, it's not the root cause of the vibration itself. This resonant frequency changes depending on the spring constant and/or the weight of the vehicle. This could potentially explain why owners have noticed differences with full tanks vs empty ones, and loaded beds vs unloaded.
  • It is (most of the time) a first harmonic of radial force that oscillates at the same frequency of the natural resonant frequency of the suspension (which is forever changing) that causes the vibration to occur
  • So knowing this, we've opened ourselves back up to all of the other potential components that could cause a 1st order vibration that I went over in my last big post. Since the wheel hop frequency is always changing, anything producing a 1st order vibration might only cause a vibration as the wheel hop frequency changes to a matching frequency and could produce a varying intensity depending on the level of correlation.
  • This could mean that even if every component of the wheel assembly was "perfectly" round (within tolerance) and the entire wheel assembly alone did not produce any noticeable vibration through to the cab, the frequency that it does produce could set off the resonant frequency of the suspension. This could be the vibration that we feel.
  • So again, we're back to an on car balance or a dynamic balancer (Centramatics or BalanceMasters) being a promising fix in theory. They both reduce 1st order vibrations of all components at the same time dynamically.
  • I'm also thinking that an add-a-leaf kit might be a simple way of changing the natural resonance of the suspension enough across its entire range that it wouldn't react to a 1st harmonic radial force from the wheel assembly at highway speeds. I don't know if that would cause it to react at a higher or lower speed though. Relatively cheap thing to try. Has anyone happened to do this already?

Also, just another thing to think about; just like the wheel assembly, the driveshaft and all of it's related components can be out of round and/or out of balance. So just like balancing a tire can't fix a hub or rotor issue, balancing a driveshaft can't fix other components that might have an issue. That being said, there is also the same two solutions as the wheel assembly if replacing parts doesn't fix the issue. On car driveshaft balancing is a thing, although I think there's even less shops that do that then on car wheel balancing. And BalanceMasters also makes a dynamic driveshaft balancer using the same technology as their dynamic wheel balancers.

 

Let's keep those brain juices flowing and figure out these vibration issues, at the end of the day there is a logical and scientific explanation, we just have to find it! The ideas I bring up may sound far fetched and are historically rare, but the logic is valid. I almost never speak off the top of my head in these posts and verify it all on the spot as I'm writing. Also, I think we're well past sticking with orthodox solutions/troubleshooting!

 

This would be substantiated by the results some have found from clamping the leaf with u-bolts.

[14silverado4.3]

All, I found something with mine.

 

Symptoms: Steering wheel vibes constantly, feels like out of balance tire in the front. Highway speed sweeping turns more pronounced vibes than others. Comes and goes in intensity.

 

I have a clicking sound on an unsupported tire when I spin it. Drivers side. Near where the CV shaft enters front differential. Almost sounds like a flat roller or needle. There is no screeching or howling coming during normal operation. But you lift her up and spin the wheel, you can hear the tick, tick, tick..

 

This shaft is always turning when the front wheels rotate, the resonance is going right into the steering wheel.

 

I believe this is covered by powertrain warranty????

[pickmeup]

Is the shaking some have just limited to 4 wheel drive trucks or do 2 wheel drives have it too I wonder ?

[C6Bill]

I live in an unincorporated area that's wedged in between Lewisville on the west, Plano on the east and Carrollton on the south. Name of the community is Castle Hills. I just returned home yesterday from back surgery (stenosis, L1~L5, two rods and bucket of screws). Anyway, can't drive for awhile or I would seriously see if we could hook up for lunch. When on these blogs for awhile we all develop perceptions of some of the players. You strike me as one of a group that I would characterize as "the objective thinkers". Others, well.... There's a myriad of motivations and objectives, too many parse, that these could the categorized in. Back to the vibration though; I haven't been able to determine if the most frequent occurring complaint is vibration and noise caused by road conditions or is the source inherit to the truck? If it's external (road) then I come down on the side "hey, it is a truck". And, even if it cost $50k+ it's still a truck. Maybe, because I learned to drive in my grandfathers 1951 Chevy truck on wash board dirt roads around his east Texas farm I have different expectations, don't know. West Lake is a nice area, wife and I considered building there, and Argyle, several years ago. If you like good ole southern food, have your hosts take you to Babes, in Roanoke, for lunch. Great fried chicken joint. Enjoy your visit to Texas! God Bless Texas

Sorry to hear about your back SB. Get well soon.

 

I have been going to Babes for close to 20 years now, it is always one of my first stops. Went Tuesday night and Hard 8 for BBQ on Wednesday, their sausage is great

 

[Snoringbear]

Sorry to hear about your back SB. Get well soon.

 

I have been going to Babes for close to 20 years now, it is always one of my first stops. Went Tuesday night and Hard 8 for BBQ on Wednesday, their sausage is great

 

Aw Man, that pic is killing me! I'll have to send my wife to the Babes in Friso to fetch some takeout!

Btw, if I may ask what brings you way down here to Texas? Just curious

 

Appreciate the get well comment. SB

[C6Bill]

I travel to TX a couple times a year for meetings. Nice place to visit.

[Schmidt152]

All, I found something with mine.

 

Symptoms: Steering wheel vibes constantly, feels like out of balance tire in the front. Highway speed sweeping turns more pronounced vibes than others. Comes and goes in intensity.

 

I have a clicking sound on an unsupported tire when I spin it. Drivers side. Near where the CV shaft enters front differential. Almost sounds like a flat roller or needle. There is no screeching or howling coming during normal operation. But you lift her up and spin the wheel, you can hear the tick, tick, tick..

 

This shaft is always turning when the front wheels rotate, the resonance is going right into the steering wheel.

 

I believe this is covered by powertrain warranty????

After driving over 2 hours at highway speeds in the last day I concluded that my symptoms are very similar. 70-77 i have vibration in the steering wheel that after driving for 30 minutes you want to let go because it's going to make your hand numb. Going around bends there is a noticeable increase in the strength of the vibration. Really any pressure on the wheel left or right the vibration is more noticeable.

 

Anyways after jacking up my truck this afternoon to see if my wheels "ticked" I found that neither of them did. What I did find however what a very distinct sound difference between the front driver and passenger wheels. When turning the driver front wheel by hand I heard a very consistant sounds of what I can only assume is the bearings rolling. (Keep in mind I don't have experience working on trucks, but I do understand basic mechanics and where most parts are on the truck) When I moved to the front passenger side and moved the wheel by hand it was intermittent but I hear it at the same points as wheel turns. Are any of these noises normal? I'm assuming there is something on the passenger side that maybe the cause of my vibration, whether it's a bearing, CV joint, axel etc... Wheels were both in the same neutral (straight) position when I turned them. I'm thinking that there has to be something up front that is causing my issue because it's mostly isolated to the steering wheel. Also as mentioned before the tireshave been RF balanced several times and have 7,000 miles on them. The rear tires are new because the dealership deemed them bad because they were unable to balance them.

[Brianibew]

Did you remove the brake calipers before you listened to how the wheels spin? Without doing so, your sort of wasting your time. Your brake pad may drag at a certain point on the disc causing some degree of noise.

[Snoringbear]

I travel to TX a couple times a year for meetings. Nice place to visit.

Thanks, C6Bill. I think, lol....

[Snoringbear]

The 2018 MY are supposed to have a revised, stiffer frame. Doubt it will be any stiffer, just not resonate the vibrations to the passengers lol

====================

John Deere,

Below is the 2018 Silverado Rumors article I referenced a few days ago. This excerpt from the full article is what I found interesting concerning the new frame. Not sure what it means. "GM might design the new chassis so it will be backward compatible".

 

"Still unconfirmed at this point, the future 2018 Chevrolet Silverado might be the all new truck everyone is expecting. This could be released in late 2018, most likely in December, and it should hit the market a few months after.

 

The new truck should get pretty much an all new design. However, the actual details are still unknown. We do know for sure though that the upcoming pickups are all going to receive an all-aluminum body as well as probably other aluminum parts. This has been made clear by GM a while ago, and it should be a step in the right direction. On top of that, their trucks are going to use a new chassis. This will still be the usual ladder frame, but it will now be more rigid and lighter. Most of the running gear will also change with the new chassis, but something interesting came up about this.

 

NEW DESIGN & CHASSIS – RUMORS

 

GM might design the new chassis so it will be backward compatible with older parts. This could make the 2018 Chevrolet Silverado a great buy for those already having a model. Why? Because the chassis would easily allow swapping parts between the two which are usually very important, especially for a workhorse. There is still no word on what GM is going to do with the aluminum body. Some people even suggested that they worked with Ford in developing the process.

 

We are not quite sure about that, though. While they did work together for the ten-speed automatic gearbox, the aluminum body is something specific to Ford. We do hope that GM will be able to offer the same type of quality aluminum as Ford even though they might end up with a heavier body.

[mookdoc6]

All speculation! FERD saved 700lbs? OK, great so now it's V8 to V8 comparison is what 200lbs less than GM's.....Nobody talks about that so the GM was was properly engineered to begin with? SHOCKING!

 

Look, I think when you go back over the years it's very clear GM'S were more reliable, easier to work on, chearper and more readily available parts etc! Nothing has changed except FERD continues to change everything about their trucks and the people think there better than sliced bread!

 

GM's will have a AL body from bed to nose for skin WITH DECENT LOOKING LINES.....BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE PRESSES TO STAMP AL PANELS LOOKING LIKE STEEL! You can thank Cadillac for that. Expect a V-8 yes, a V-8 with advanced AFM meaning. Each and every piston stroke/cylinder is optimized and not banked! WHICH TRANSLATES TO 15% FE gains......arghhh...Magnesium used more than any other MFG! AL/FE welded with foil sheets and a BED MADE OUT OF HIGH STRENGTH STEEL! 200-300lbs lighter than FERD'S See you in 2018!

[SierraMyst]

So have officially heard twice now in a week.

 

Once from the General Manager from one dealership and again today from the service manager at another dealership.

 

GM has revised the body mounts on the Sierra and Yukons for 2017.

 

I think they know what the issue is.

 

My service manager seems the think that they are waiting for customer feedback on 2017s before they put out a TSB.

 

Anyone else hearing anything similar.