Shake or Vibration Issues

[Jon A]

I did watch the fast lane truck pulls going up Ike Gauntlet on youtube. I watched the 1st and 2nd round they did. The 6.2L Silverado was outperformed by the Ecoboost F150.

 

Just so you know, that had nothing to do with the 6.2 and everything to do with GM's transmission programming in tow mode (too much emphasis on mileage instead of maintaining speed). Easily fixable with a tune. It would have gone dramatically faster if they had just left the thing in drive with the stock tune.

[Silverado-Hareek]

Final Conclusion Followup;

 

Short of the vibration returning, I am going to say it has been resolved at this point. I just finished a 300 mile trip, drove the truck all weekend and while the ride isn't a perfect ride I think the vibration is acceptable now.

 

To recap again this is what it took to fix the truck, each of these items corrected some of the vibration. It took the correction of all to eliminate the vibration.

 

• Road forced and balanced the tires, make sure there are no bad tires. Eliminated seat and console vibrations.
• Changed the Drive shaft eliminated some of the mid range vibration.
• Changed the rear end, this eliminated the high speed vibration.
• After the rear end, balanced the replacement drive shaft,this eliminated the 40mph vibration.
• Aligned the front end, eliminated the drag in the front end.

Some comments;

 

The vibration issue is a compound issue. If you only have one type great for you it will be a an easy fix. If it has multiple sources you are not so lucky.

 

It took 4 1/2 months to get to this point. There are still issues I am working through. One is the repair and balance on the drive shaft, you can see my pervious posts. At least I know the drive shaft fixes the last vibration issue. The High Country rides rough, more so than a Z71. I have been told this is the nature of the truck. At my expense I am going to upgrade the shocks. If I find the stock shocks are defective I will be going back to GM and asking for them to pay for the upgrade.

 

It took me over 2 months before the dealer to take notice. I had to file a complaint with GM to get them to move. Even then they wouldn't acknowledge the problem until I demonstrated it to them.

Once I was able to convince them that it was a problem they did stay with the problem until resolution.

 

If you have this issue be prepared for a long drawn out resolution. Be prepared to document and show your issue.

 

I have been a Chevy man for over 50 years. After the 2014's I have now I should evaluate if I should let my Chevy Loyalty die with GM's 2009 bankruptcy filing. The new GM isn't the old GM I grew up loving.

 

I am beyond disappointed.

Put Bilstein shocks on! Trust me. I've never seen a GM truck forum that didn't recommend those and they were awesome on my 2007.

 

As for my truck, I decided to pull out my tire gauge and check the pressure in all my tires. The door sticker recommends 35psi. The TPS system read 35 all around. My tire gauge, which is fine I checked it against a mechanics a month ago, was reading 40 psi all around. So I took all the tires down to 35 per my tire gauge and the ride was noticeably better!! It rides as smooth as I remember back in February. So the heat was definitely increasing the pressure which is why I was noticing the vibration more recently. I still plan to take my side mechanics advice and do an alignment and check the balance on the tires to be certain. But so far just fixing the pressure helped tremendously.

Edited May 4, 2014 by Silverado-Hareek

[HDNitehawk]

Same here, every time I took it to the dealer it came back at 42psi. Can they read the recommendation on the door?

 

I lower the pressure to 34 and the ride is much better. I am thinking about putting Nitrogen in, my Terra Grapplers heat up and vary by 4 or 5 psi when driving.

 

I want the Bilstein's I am not sure they have a 2014 version yet.

[glcbn]

I was reading some financial articles this morning. Some as new as Friday. The old 2009 model F150 has sales up 3.9%. Ram is up like 22.5%, outselling Silverado now. Silverado is down a few points. So GM threw April money and now May money at these '14's. GM is worried about losing the #2 spot to Ram making them 3 for the year. I think for one, maybe GM should build a truck that doesn't shake and vibrate, then maybe people taking test drives won't be like... "Man this Ram drives smooth compare to the Silverado I drove this morning". Same with the F150. GM is losing sales to a 2009 F150 and 2009 Ram platforms. Pretty sad, the F150 is a 2009 truck with updated engines from 2011. And the Ecoboost V6 has a slew of issues on the ford forums too. Ram only was updated in 2012 with cosmetics really. And the Ford's interior is outdated. Sad GM will let the best truck of the 3 get hammered over not addressing some QC issues. GM's new truck has the highest safety ratings, good brakes, quiet cab etc. But you can't buy a $37-45k truck that shakes going down the road in 2014. And people do not take "it's a truck, that's normal". That' old school mentality is gone.

 

I did watch the fast lane truck pulls going up Ike Gauntlet on youtube. I watched the 1st and 2nd round they did. The 6.2L Silverado was outperformed by the Ecoboost F150. Again, a truck from 2009 and engine from 2011 with a bad wrap. And right now, as of this morning Ford has minimal May incentives for the F150 and GM has 8k+. I was thinking, hey I'm looking for a work truck, who cares about the interior as much. I have my BMW and wifes new car. But the old F150 is actually more expensive!!!

Too bad more aren't like mine. Smooth as glass. Aside from the V4 drone at low speeds (which is no big deal) this thing will put you to sleep going down the road.

[Silverado-Hareek]

Same here, every time I took it to the dealer it came back at 42psi. Can they read the recommendation on the door?

 

I lower the pressure to 34 and the ride is much better. I am thinking about putting Nitrogen in, my Terra Grapplers heat up and vary by 4 or 5 psi when driving.

 

I want the Bilstein's I am not sure they have a 2014 version yet.

If they're going by the trucks tire pressure monitor system they shouldn't. I don't know what they did in my case but my TPS is off. So I'm going to bring that up at the next oil change

[HDNitehawk]

My tire pressure monitor is off a few points above 40psi

At psi in the 30's it is accurate.

I use my own gauge, they overfill every time.

[20SierraL8T24]

Might be a dumb question but does the front drive shaft still spin while in 2wd to some degree at high speeds? I was reading about a 07/08 truck where they replaced the front/rear difs, t case, rear d shaft, front wheel bearings, CV joints, tires balanced, and tranny rebuilt all for the front shaft being out of balance.

 

I went to the Key West this weekend and before I got going, I stopped at the Home Depot and bought 500 lbs of sand to "test" and no change in vibration at all with added weight. That's why I think its the front shaft because I had everything but that changed in my other truck and vibration 72+ was always exactly the same even with a new rear end.

Edited May 5, 2014 by 20Bowtie14

[FL335i]

on the previous gen truck the front CV's did spin at all speeds in 2wd. The T-case disengaged. Not sure about the new trucks. But I think some folks here have 2wd's with vibration correct?

[20SierraL8T24]

As others said, I think it's a combination of shitty parts. I drove a 2wd and it had a slightly different vibration. More like the 20 LS2 tires out of balance. I had 2 LS2's road force right around 41 and 35 from the factory. I might take out my front shaft and go for a ride. With everything done to my old 14, we never checked the front shaft. I'm going to go to a drive line shop and have them balance both of my d shafts and go from there.

[Silverado-Hareek]

Might be a dumb question but does the front drive shaft still spin while in 2wd to some degree at high speeds? I was reading about a 07/08 truck where they replaced the front/rear difs, t case, rear d shaft, front wheel bearings, CV joints, tires balanced, and tranny rebuilt all for the front shaft being out of balance.

 

I went to the Key West this weekend and before I got going, I stopped at the Home Depot and bought 500 lbs of sand to "test" and no change in vibration at all with added weight. That's why I think its the front shaft because I had everything but that changed in my other truck and vibration 72+ was always exactly the same even with a new rear end.

Yes it does still spin with the rotation of the wheels but it's not under any torque/load. It just freely spins.

[FL335i]

^41 and 35 Lbs of road force? !! OMG. That's crazy high. 12 LBs for cars, 15 for trucks man. I've always managed to get them down. Takes work. Clocking the rim and tire, matching the rims and tires etc. But it can be done. Like I said before, my favorite tire to balance is a Michelin.

Edited May 5, 2014 by FL335i

[HDNitehawk]

Might be a dumb question but does the front drive shaft still spin while in 2wd to some degree at high speeds? I was reading about a 07/08 truck where they replaced the front/rear difs, t case, rear d shaft, front wheel bearings, CV joints, tires balanced, and tranny rebuilt all for the front shaft being out of balance.

 

I went to the Key West this weekend and before I got going, I stopped at the Home Depot and bought 500 lbs of sand to "test" and no change in vibration at all with added weight. That's why I think its the front shaft because I had everything but that changed in my other truck and vibration 72+ was always exactly the same even with a new rear end.

 

Not sure how far they have went with yours but on mine after the rear end was changed and when some vibration was left the dealer called in the GM Engineer.

The dealer has new equipment to measure pinpoint vibration, but the dealer tells me the Engineer has equipment even more sensitive. I would push to have an Engineer come and check if you haven't yet. You never know, you may have drawn another bad rear end.

[FL335i]

What is wrong with the rear-ends? I don't get it. New axle assemblies should be spot on.

Edited May 5, 2014 by FL335i

[20SierraL8T24]

 

Not sure how far they have went with yours but on mine after the rear end was changed and when some vibration was left the dealer called in the GM Engineer.

The dealer has new equipment to measure pinpoint vibration, but the dealer tells me the Engineer has equipment even more sensitive. I would push to have an Engineer come and check if you haven't yet. You never know, you may have drawn another bad rear end.

I doubt that every vehicle I drove that had a vibration had a bad rear end... Mine had one put in and the vibration was exactly the same as it was before... I have one that's almost not noticeable now so I'll sit tight and wait and see if a definite answer is found.

[HDNitehawk]

Follow Up; PIPE CLAMPS FOR DRIVE SHAFT BALANCE

 

I was just told by the GM rep after he discussed the pipe clamp concern with the Engineer that the recommended way GM balances drive shafts is to use pipe clamps.

 

They no longer use welded weights and the reason is the light weight thin aluminum shell of the shaft would be difficult to weld on.

 

This is GM's permanent fix.