2500 clunk

Cool Zr2 · March 22, 2005

My brother has a crew long box 2500 with a 6.0. He has this wired clunk once in a while while driving, mostly when hitting bumps.

Any ideas? Is it a common problem?

Freyguy · March 22, 2005

There are two common types of clunks that come from the front of these trucks. The most common is the steering column rattle that occurs at low speeds hitting bumps and sometimes turning. You can tell if this is it because it sounds like it's coming from right behind the steering wheel. The new TSB fix for this is a new intermediate steering shaft which is about $75-$100, or the old TSB is a grease kit for $15. Both can be done easily at home. I went with the grease kit on mine and it's been fine for about 6 months now.

The other one that I am dealing with now is the clunk that comes more from underneath the truck. I found that it is more common than I thought and it turns out to be the pitman and idler arm wearing down. I first thought it was a bad shock, but after replacement it's still there. One way to test is to watch the steering linkage as someone turns all the way to both sides and if the linkage moves up and down at all, they are bad. This most commonly happens to guys who turned up their torsion bars and put bigger tires on because it makes it wear down faster. Mine 2002 has 72k and it is just happening. You can buy Moog parts to replace the factory and they cost about $75 a piece, but Fabtech makes a Pitman/Idler/Steering Stabilizer Kit for $250 that has very beefy parts. Mine will be here Friday and hopefully fix this dang noise.

ms kay · March 25, 2005

Just had the Intermediate Steering shaft replaced today...warranty, of course. Clunk noticed not only when going over bumps, but also when steering. Plus the steering felt a little loose, causing some drift while driving. So much better now.

kjjz28 · March 28, 2005

I'm about to have the same thing done for mine. I've a got a Dmax under 100k miles which I would have to pay a $100 deductible for any warranty work. With this known problem on the steering column, will GM waive the deductible or am I still on the hook for it? Thanks!